The Analytics for Transport and Mobility track is one of the tracks in the two-year Operations and Management Logistics master’s program. Both years are divided into semesters that run from September to January and from February to July; each semester is divided into quarters of eight weeks in which you take courses. Knowledge is tested throughout a quarter and/or in subsequent examination periods of two weeks. As with all TU/e programs, the necessary skills are imparted through a mix of interactive lectures, engaging assignments and group work covering topics related to state-of-the-art research by the university’s professors, all of which is delivered in English.
Structure overview
Visit the education guide to find more information about the general overview of this track. As a whole, the program is structured as follows:
Year 1
- Track core courses (35 ECTS)
- Specialization electives (10 ECTS)
- Free electives (15 ECTS)
Year 2
Q1 + Q2:
- Literature review (5 ECTS)
- International semester/internship and electives/electives (25 ECTS)
Q3 + Q4:
- Graduation project (30 ECTS)
In the first year, Analytics for Transport and Mobility students take seven core courses, some of which allow for a choice between multiple options. These courses focus on research methods in operations management and logistics, artificial intelligence, work and organizational psychology for operations management, decision-making in transport and logistics, business analysis, advanced transport or logistics, and design for transport and mobility. Alongside these track core courses with a limited amount of flexibility, students can choose 10 ECTS (usually two courses) from a list of courses that are closely related to Analytics for Transport and Mobility and 15 ECTS (usually three courses) of free electives. This elective space allows students to deepen and/or broaden their knowledge even further by offering full freedom to design their program according to their interests and ambitions.
The second year consists of 25 ECTS of additional free electives, which can be used by the student to go abroad for an international semester. The final 35 ECTS are used for a literature review and the graduation project. Students who do not choose an international semester may opt for an academic or industrial internship as part of the free electives.
Relevant courses
Visit the education guide to find more information about the curriculum of this track. Examples of relevant courses for Analytics for Transport and Mobility include:
- 1CM110 Decision-Making in Transport and Mobility. In three assignments, students learn to develop mathematical models and implement simple algorithms for decision-making problems such as collaborative freight transport and railway planning.
- 1BM20 Business Analysis for Information Technology Systems. This course involves defining needs and designing/describing IT solutions for business problems, ranging from novel commercial software products to large-scale business/enterprise information systems. In addition to learning methods for analyzing IT systems, students will work in groups to develop and verify the requirements of an IT system or a specific part of it.
- 1CM240 AI for logistics and its interfaces. Students learn to use AI methods such as reinforcement learning for transportation, inventory and routing problems, among other things.
- 1CM260 Large-scale optimization in transportation and mobility. Through hands-on experience, students learn to develop and implement heuristics for large transport problems.
- 1CM130 Design for Transport and Logistics. In this challenge-based course, students increase their knowledge of modeling and algorithms by improving the operations of a company using historic data.
You can also complement the Analytics for Transport and Mobility track with courses from other tracks or electives to boost your field of expertise and increase your employability. The program provides ample opportunity to select courses that are closely related to the focus of the track, courses aimed at broadening general knowledge, and courses with a more methodological focus. For example, all students have the opportunity to deepen their methodological knowledge on artificial intelligence/data science by selecting a package of AI courses alongside the compulsory course on artificial intelligence.
Graduation project
Master’s degrees at TU/e conclude with a graduation project, often conducted within an organization in the relevant domain. Given that Brainport boasts over 5000 high-tech and IT companies, the region provides a wide array of options for students to find a place that suits them. Together with their company supervisor and academic supervisors, students formulate a practical, scientific and relevant research question. This results in a master’s thesis based around three elements:
- Literature survey (5 ECTS)
- Project proposal (no separate ECTS; part of 3)
- Graduation project (30 ECTS)
The literature survey is evaluated on a ten-point scale. The project proposal is conducted as the first part of a thesis and is evaluated on a go/no-go basis. Projects from years gone by include:
- Designing efficient algorithms to help DB Schenker to distribute goods between their three warehouses in the Netherlands.
- An analysis of the impact on transport operations if HelloFresh were to use returnable plastic crates instead of single-use carton boxes.
- An investigation into the factors that help or hinder the adoption of in-car parcel delivery.
- Designing algorithms to allow the delivery company GVT to assign time windows to customers before all demand is known, thereby increasing the service level.
These are just examples; students also have a high degree of freedom to choose a topic that appeals to them and matches their career vision.
Studying abroad
In an increasingly interconnected world, the opportunity to spend part of your program elsewhere can provide valuable experience for an international career in (technological) innovation, including transport and mobility. A master’s degree in the Analytics for Transport and Mobility track of Operations Management and Logistics therefore offers the option to go abroad in the first two quartiles of the second year of the program.