Development of a Jordanian-European Double Degree Master Program in Mechatronics Engineering

Transcription

1 Development of a Jordanian-European Double Degree Master Program in Mechatronics Engineering Nathir A. Rawashdeh Dept. of Mechatronics Engineering German Jordanian University Amman, Jordan [email protected] Tarek A. Tutunji Dept. of Mechatronics Engineering Philadelphia University Amman, Jordan [email protected] Mohammed Bani Younis Dept. of Mechatronics Engineering Philadelphia University Amman, Jordan [email protected] Abstract This paper describes the procedure followed to implement a double-degree master program in mechatronics engineering between Jordanian and European universities. Initially, a study of world-wide master curricula was carried out, followed by a survey of Jordanian industry and academia. This helped clarify the structure and content of the desired master program, such that it addressed the needs of the perspective students and the job market in Jordan and the region. To formulate a final degree structure and course content, it was necessary to work closely with European partners in an iterative approach. Some of the problematic questions that had to be answered pertained to: varying course credit systems; amount of time students spend at each university; student academic background; country-specific accreditation rules; university specific needs. This work is one result of a three-year European funded TEMPUS project between October 2011 and October The first double degree students enrolled in the developed program at Philadelphia University, in Amman Jordan, in October 201 with two German universities as partners. Keywords Mechatronics; Double-degree program; Master degree; TEMPUS; engineering education. I. INTRODUCTION The TEMPUS program is a European Union program which supports the modernization of higher education in the partner countries, and is managed by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) [1]. The work in this paper describes one outcome of a specific TEMPUS project, which is the development of a double-degree masters program between Jordanian and European universities, as well as between Egyptian and European partners [2]. The first group of students enrolled in the developed program at Philadelphia University (PU) [], in Amman Jordan, in October 201 with two German universities as partners. The TEMPUS project consisted of a consortium of: two Jordanian partners [, 4]; three Egyptian partners [5-6]; four European partners [8-11]. Previous TEMPUS projects had similar objectives and some published results include efforts in master program, laboratory and international, as well as local, professional and academic network development [12-17]. The goals of the discussed project include: the development of double-degree Master of Science programs in mechatronics Sponsored by a European Union grant: TEMPUS-2011, Development of Joint International Master Degree and Life Long Learning Framework in Mechatronics engineering; the establishment of modern mechatronics laboratories relevant to both research in the beneficiary countries and well as industry in the framework of life-long-learning training centers; strengthening of mechatronics related national and international networks. This paper describes the development of the double-degree masters curriculum between non-european and European partners. The process includes a survey of the structure of available mechatronics engineering masters curricula worldwide, as well as the study of local industry needs. A main objective of the developed curriculum was to enable students from non-european consortium partners to conduct course work and research in European universities in a way that does not facilitate a brain-drain for the non-european universities. Thus, the resulting curriculum enables the students to spend a year of study and research at a European university, and upon its completion, return to their home country to complete the research started at the European university. This enables the non-european university to enhance its research capacity by transferring the European knowledge for its benefit. In this scheme, the European partners benefit by furthering their research though the work of the double-degree master students, who will be well prepared for this task by studying in their home country for a year preceding the stay in Europe. Several details had to be discussed to satisfy the needs of the universities in the home and host countries. These include country and university specific requirements ranging from degree awarding minimum requirements and government accreditation requirements. In addition, the different education systems had to be merged in order to facilitate a unified course credit weighting system. A course pre-requisite structure and language requirements also had to be defined. In Jordan, the bachelor program in mechatronics spans five years of course work that includes industry training and a graduation project. A master degree spans four semesters after the bachelor. Detailed studies of the bachelor programs at the two Jordanian partners relevant in this work have been published recently [18, 19]. The initial focus of the double-degree program is the cooperation between Jordanian and German universities of applied sciences. The Jordanian engineering programs and those

2 of German universities of applied sciences are based on different terms and written in differing languages. Most Jordanian universities follow the American Credit Hour (CH) system where a typical course of three credit hours meets for lecture three times a week for 50 minutes, or twice for 75 minutes. Course performance and the grade point average are given as a per-cent grade. A full-time load per semester is 20 CH s. The basis of all European study programs, following the Bologna process, is the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and related Credit Points (CP). The number ECTS-credits is a measure of the student s working load that is required to successfully pass the study course, where 1 credit is equivalent to 25 to 0 working hours of an average student. Each study semester contains modules that total 0 ECTS credits. Each module is finished by one exam and a grade. The grading system spans from 1.0 (excellent), 1., 1.7, 2 to.7, 4 (sufficient), 5 (failed). Alternatively, A (best10% of students), B (next 25%), C (next 0%), D (next 25%), E (next 10%), FX (incomplete with more work required to award credit), and F (failed). Comparing the 20 CH and 0 ECTS full-time loads per semester, it can be assumed that 1.5 ECTS are equivalent to 1 CH. A recommendation of curricula for undergraduate and graduate education in Mechatronics was published in 2005 by the Mechatronik e.v. - mechatronics association Germany - defining minimum requirements [20]. Following these recommendations, a bachelor and master degree program must encompass 00 ECTS, that is, 5 years, i.e. 10 semesters. The individual schools have some the flexibility on how the work load is divided between the bachelor and master degree programs. There are three models: 6+4; 7+; 8+2 semesters. The 7+ model is dominant in engineering degrees at German universities of applied science. Similarly, the 6+4 model is prevalent in informatics, for example. II. ANALYSIS OF WORLDWIDE MASTER PROGRAMS In order to develop a high-standard MS program in mechatronics, a total of 24 world-wide MS programs were analyzed. These programs were chosen as follows, 6 in the United Kingdom (UK); 4 in Germany; 1 in Austria; 1 in Poland; 1 in Turkey; in the USA; in Canada; in the Middle East; 2 in the far east. The collected information included the following information: University name; country; offering department; program name; website; program mission, vision, and objectives; pre-requisites for the program, program requirements (which include compulsory courses, elective courses, and thesis); laboratories; research tracks; industry cooperation. A two-stage study was conducted. In the first stage, the percentage distribution among compulsory courses, electives, and thesis credit hours were analyzed. The results are shown in Tables I through IV. In the second stage, the distribution among the fields of study was analyzed. The results are presented in the following list where the average among all universities was compiled: TABLE I. US AND CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES Lawrence Tech USA 80% -- 20% Stanford USA 54% % 1% San Jose USA 60% 20% 20% Simon Fraser Canada -- 40% 60% Alberta Canada 0% 70% -- McMaster - Canada % -- TABLE II. EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES HBO Germany 50% 17% % Hamburg Tech Germany 54% 21% 25% FH Achen Germany 47% 28% 25% HK Technik Germany 65% 10% 25% Mangmnt Center - Austria 75% -- 25% SUT Poland 57% 19% 24% Sabanci - Turkey % -- TABLE III. UK UNIVERSITIES LSBU 67% -- % Kingston 6% 25% 12% DeMontfort 90% -- 10% Newcastle 90% -- 10% Southampton 54% 8% 8% Univ of Bath 67% 22% 11% TABLE IV. MIDDLE EAST AND FAR EAST UNIVERSITIES National Taiwan Univ. 44% 56% -- Nat. Univ. of Singapore 40% 50% 10% JUST Jordan 29% 44% 27% Polytechnic Palestine 50% % 17% AUS - UAE 60% 20% 20% A. The major fields 11.5% Mechanical 7.8% Electrical 29.% Control/Informatics 25.9% Systems 25.5% other B. The Control/Informatics field 9.5% Control 8.6% Informatics and Embedded Systems 5.% Artificial Intelligence 1.4% Industrial Automation and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC).

3 C. The Systems field 45.1% Mechatronic System Design 16.% Robotics 17.1% Industrial Applications 16.7% Modeling and Simulation. The results show an emphasis on topics of control, informatics and embedded systems, and mechatronics design. These areas are also well represented in the double-degree program developed. More detail about the MS program structure and content is presented in Section IV. III. SURVEY OF JORDANIAN INDUSTRY AND ACADEMIA One of the main objectives of the TEMPUS project is to establish applied research tracks relevant to Jordanian industry. To serve this objective, Jordanian partners conducted an on-line survey to predict which fields of mechatronics are important to Jordanian companies and industry. The survey was carried out between 22 September and 9 October, There were 20 complete responses in total. The main result of the survey has highlighted that 70% of the engineers in Jordanian industry are interested in obtaining an MS degree in mechatronics engineering. Table V summarizes the important mechatronics technical areas for industry in Jordan. In addition, Table VI shows the less important areas. The results highlight the fact that Jordan is currently not a well established country regarding robotics and embedded systems. The majority of engineers in Jordan work in the fields of maintenance, troubleshooting, industrial automation, and engineering sales and management. Practicing the major skills dedicated to design, modeling and simulation is rare. Similarly, the results highlight the fact that industry in Jordan lacks the use of robotics and embedded systems in manufacturing plants. Field TABLE V. IMPORTANT FIELDS Very Some -what Not Mechanical Design 5% 0% 0% 5% Electronics Design and Testing 5% 0% 20% 15% Electrical and Power Drives 55% 25% 10% 10% Control 5% 5% 20% 10% Industrial Automation and PLC 0% 25% 0% 15% Production & Proj. Management 0% 25% 40% 5% TABLE VI. Field LESS IMPORTANT FIELDS Very Some -what Not Hydraulics & Thermo Fluids 40% 5% 5% 20% Modeling and Simulation 15% 15% 15% 55% Robotics 5% 5% 5% 55% Embedded Systems 15% 15% 15% 55% with different knowledge and backgrounds related to industry. Mechatronics students in their final year and close to graduation where also represented. The following are the main findings of the survey: 95% of the respondents are aware of the definition of mechatronics engineering. 72% are interested in mechatronics engineering as a study discipline. 74.2% think that it is important to broaden their knowledge through MS studies. 77.% believes that obtaining a master degree in mechatronics is useful in industry. Table VII summarizes the opinions of the respondents to the questions regarding the benefits of MS studies in mechatronics. Each question had five multiple choices: Strongly Disagree (SD), Disagree (D), Neutral (N), Agree (A), and Strongly Agree (SA). The points allocated to a SD, D, N, A, and SA answers were awarded 1, 2,, 4, and 5 points respectively. The results show that obtaining an MS degree is favorable, with a mean around 4.0 (i.e. Agree) for most categories. TABLE VII. RESPONSES ABOUT THE BENEFITS TO MS STUDEIS Statement Mean Std. Deviation Develop knowledge Improve quality Wide job domain Research experience Improve job conditions Improve Ph.D. opportunities Improve salary Improve employment opportunities TABLE VIII. OBSTACLES TO OBTAINING A MASTER DEGREE IN MECHATRONICS Statement Mean Std. Deviation High cost Not enough time No management support Lack of mechatronics knowlegde No PhD guarantee No new job opportunity No demand for degree Availability of other degrees Travel distance to university Transportation problems Availability of similar training Weakness of applicants Over qualification PU has carried out an on-field survey in the form of a paperand-pencil questionnaire to find out the needs of the potential students interested in MS studies in mechatronics. There were 260 respondents in total from potential students of different ages Table VIII summarizes the main obstacles to obtaining a master degree in mechatronics in the view of prospective students. The results showed that high cost, time management,

4 and the lack of support by the work place are the main obstacles. These findings are used to design suitable program logistics such as evening classes for working students, as well as input to marketing material that highlights the learning outcomes that are relevant to industry. IV. NOVEL DOUBLE-DEGREE PROGRAM CURRICULUM The TEMPUS project states that the master s degree mission is as follows: to cooperate among partner universities and international academic, research, and professional bodies towards sustaining dynamic international-standard master degree of sciences in mechatronics, which equips its students with the necessary skills to professionally compete within the engineering discipline of mechatronics and its complements globally. From this mission, the partners defined the primary goals of the program to be: Teach engineers with modern engineering systems. Conduct applied scientific research in the field of mechatronics engineering. Contribute in transferring state-of-the-art technology. Provide consultation and technical support to industry. Provide an interdisciplinary and focused approach to designing automation devices. Prepare professionally trained mechatronics engineers who can have an immediate impact in industry. The curriculum consists of 6 credit hours taken over five semesters and includes a comprehensive set of courses, research, development, and training in the fields of mechatronics. TABLE IX shows the curriculum structure. One Two Three TABLE IX. DOUBLE DEGREE PROGRAM CURRICULUM Sem. Courses / Activity CH Advanced Engineering Math Modeling & Simulation of Mechatronic Systems Advanced Sensors and Measurement Systems Advanced Control Systems Distributed and Embedded Systems Mechatronic Systems and Industrial Robotics Advanced Programming Research Methodology Elective I Elective II Four Thesis I (Research at European University) 10 Five Thesis II (Research at Jordanian University) 6 The last two semesters are dedicated to the thesis work. Students are expected to do the first part of thesis in a European university and their second part in Jordan. This in turn, allows students to work with experienced European researchers and bring that knowledge to Jordan facilitating research cooperation between the partners. Before going to the European partner university, students complete the Research Methodology course. It is designed to start the background research for the Thesis I work to be done in Europe. Input from the European partner is required at this stage, to enable a smooth start of the thesis work. The pool of elective courses comprises: Advanced Process Control; Intelligent Control Systems; Advanced Manufacturing Systems; Advanced PLC; Production Planning, Scheduling, and Control; Business Planning and Strategic Management. V. INDUSTRY LINKED LABS The TEMPUS project included fund to establish industry linked labs. The industry needs survey was used as a guidance to select equipment relevant to working engineers that can use the new laboratory facilities in a life-long-learning setting. In addition, it was important to keep in mind mechatronics research capabilities that offer MS students to solve applied problems relevant to local and regional industry. The Jordanian partners chose the following equipment for their laboratories: Software packages for virtually modeling and simulating factories. Programmable logic controllers with the capability of controlling virtual factories via a PC-link. Software packages for developing and simulating mobile robot applications. Programmable mobile robot platforms with a link to simulators (Robotino platform). Software packages for simulating industrial robots. Industrial robot that links to simulators (KUKA robot). Rugged real time controllers with design, deployment and instrumentation software (CompactRIO). Data acquisition systems with various sensors. Machine vision inspection systems. Industrial process control kits with instrumentation and control software and hardware. The practical learning outcomes students will grain from working with the laboratory equipment can be summarized as follows: A. Mechanical Design Knowledge: torque, speed, and inertia calculations; speed and acceleration profiles; maximum and rated torque calculations. Lab equipment: Robotino mechanical structure and KUKA manipulator design. B. Actuators Knowledge: Types, specifications, and modeling. Lab equipment: Robotino servo and DC motors; KUKA servo and stepper motors; process control kit heaters, valves (flow, directional, and pressure), and AC motor pumps. C. Sensors Knowledge: sensors types, specifications, modeling, and selection.

5 Lab equipment: Robotino infrared sensors, analogue inductive sensors, digital optical sensors, gyroscope, shaft encoders, and camera; process control kit level, flow, pressure, and temperature sensors. D. Controller Hardware and Associated Iinterfaces Knowledge: types; specifications, interface, and programming. Lab equipment: Siemens PLC s, CompactRIO, NI DAQ cards, and Robotino processor. E. Control Algorithms Knowledge: PID control and intelligent algorithms. Lab equipment: process control kit on-off, PID, and cascade control; Robotino PID, fuzzy, and neural network control programming. F. Modeling and Simulation Knowledge: modern modeling and simulation tools. Lab equipment: LabView control design & system simulation; virtual D factory simulators; Robotino control algorithm testing. G. Programming and Software Applications Knowledge: C++, MATLAB, Simulink, LabView, and PLC industrial languages. Lab equipment: Robotino C++ programming; NI interface card programming with C++, MATLAB, and LabView; Siemens PLC programming STL, FUN, LDR, SCL, and GRAPH. VI. IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES The double degree partners faced several challenges during the implementation of the double degree master program. These challenges included the following: The different degree program accreditation requirements in the partner university countries. These affect the distribution of student work amongst the two partner universities, and the total number of credited work students have to perform to satisfy the degree requirements. The master thesis for example, must span two semesters in Jordan, but only one in Germany. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) must be established between the two partner universities. It includes the definition of the program structure and content and defines the rules for obtaining the double degree from both universities. In addition, a compatible course work credit system must be defined between the two partners. There are several options for academic cooperation that vary in implementation complexity. The easiest is where MS students spend a research exchange semester in Europe and receive a certificate from the European university and a degree from the Jordanian home university. The intermediately complex implementation is one where a student receives two degrees, one from the Jordanian, and another from the European university. In this case, it is relatively easy to satisfy each university s requirements for degree granting. The most complicated scenario is that of a single joint degree awarded by both universities. In this case, it is difficult to satisfy both university requirements and achieve official accreditation for the degree in both countries. In order to establish a mechanism for joint research between the Jordanian and European universities, students must be prepared to split the Master thesis work amongst both partners. The topic must be relevant to Jordan, while being initiated at the European university. Close joint advising is required. It is likely that candidate students for the MS in mechatronics will have varied backgrounds spanning electrical, mechanical and computer engineering. This requires the degree program to include sensible choices of courses that complete the, eventually lacking, student interdisciplinary mechatronics knowledge. Students must spend time learning the language of the European university s country in order to ease interaction between the Jordanian and European students and teachers. Purchasing the equipment through the European grant proved to be complex. Official paper work covered tax and customs exemptions, and shipping and inventory procedures. VII. CONCLUSIONS The process of establishing a double-degree master program in mechatronics engineering was presented. It included a review of world-wide curricula, as well as surveys on local industry and potential student needs. The dual degree program started in October 201 at Philadelphia University with German partner universities Hochschule Bochum and Hochschule Merseburg (cooperation under development). The definition of the structure and content of the dual degree program required iterative work between the Jordanian and German partner universities to satisfy country specific regulations and university rules. Some of the difficulties in merging the two sides, including pre-requisite knowledge, course credit, and joint research, have been presented. Laboratory equipment was purchased to serve two purposes: advanced mechatronics research for master students; life-long learning courses for working engineers. VIII. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work has been funded by a European Union TEMPUS grant [2] and was developed through work by staff members of the project consortium that consisted of the partners: Bochum University of Applied Sciences [8]; Philadelphia University [2]; German Jordanian University [4]; Zagazig University [5]; The Higher Technological Institute [6]; Heliopolis University [7]; London South Bank University [9]; Silesian University of Technology [10]; Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Mechatronik [11].

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