New program manager Innovation Management master program
On June 30, Jeroen Schepers handed the program manager baton to Sonja Rispens
Overlooking his 5 year term, Jeroen Schepers feels he has been able to contribute to making an excellent program even better: “We have increased the enrollments from 35 in 2016/2017 to 113 students in the current academic year! Over 25% of this new generation is female and has a desirable mix of about 1/3 of the students having a TU/e Industrial Engineering, 1/3 coming from another TU/e major, and 1/3 coming from another (applied) university.”
The higher enrollment has not compromised quality... on the contrary! Jeroen points out: “In the most recent National Student Evaluation (NSE), the content of the program is rated 4.19/5, teachers 4.08/5 and overall satisfaction 4.16/5. Accordingly, the statement "I would choose this program again" scores an agreement of 4.24/5.”
Awesome job
Jeroen is delighted over these numbers and the status of the program but points out: “I did not realize this alone. I want to thank all students, teachers, mentors, and support staff who contributed to this achievement; they did an awesome job!”
A perfect example
As of 1 July, Sonja Rispens is the new program manager. She is excited to take over the position of IM program chair: “I consider the IM master a perfect example of the type of education the TU/e envisions in their 2030 strategy document. The influx of students in the IM program is diverse, students come from different bachelor programs within as well as from outside the TU/e, and we also host international students. The high-quality program that is offered to students is multidisciplinary including courses on managing new product development processes, the psychology of innovation processes, design science methodology and data analytics for business intelligence to name a few.”
Challenging for students and professors
Sonja’s plans for her term are already clear: “This diverse and multidisciplinary environment is challenging for students but also for the professors. In the four years that lay ahead of me, I want to guard the high quality of the program, enhance the commitment and engagement of both students and faculty to the program, and to continue to build on the vibrant and cohesive TU/e IM community.”