Raising the Standards
Raising the Standards
27-05-09 By Yosef Safi HarbSuccess is not the result of spontaneous combustion, First you must set yourself on fire Fred Shero [0]
As I look around my wonderful university, I can’t help but wonder, why are there so few volunteers that want to put themselves on fire? Why are there so few students working overtime to help solve the problems of the world? Why are there only eight students participating in the honors track out of the thousands of master students?
This article will try to analyze the situation of two very diverse educational environments Delft and Massachusetts-Boston and deduce what could make Delft a more striving environment.
Delft University of Technology (DUT)
DUT slogan today is “challenge the future”. DUT has done a great job with its recent research, student projects and start-ups. However I can’t help feeling that we are challenging the future hard and fast enough.
The local student culture tends to be characterized by a couple of publically accepted notions; most significant is the “6 is a 10”mentality. Where the goal of most lectures is to pass with minimum effort in order to be one step closer to a certificate that claims you are sufficiently competent in your field. At my faculty, studying old exams gives you a 90% chance of passing, with sometimes a minimal 20% understanding of the examination subject. Trying to resit an exam for the sake of improving your grade is almost unheard of. All this makes one question: “Are we prepared to become leading engineers of the future?”
The few who go against these notions and strive to get the best out of their education, find themselves demotivated by their surroundings. Very little or no incentives, coaching or acknowledgements are offered in to make their lonely path more stimulating. Thus those who wish to thrive need to rely mostly on inner motivation and ambition with little or no support from their peers.
Why is there no thirst for knowledge and competition? Is this the right way to go if the DUT wants to position itself as a top technical university in the world?
Before answering these questions, let’s have a look of a world leading institution known for its ground breaking innovations and talented students.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
When one looks overseas, it is a different story. MIT is surprising the world with a daily scoop of amazing innovations and home to 73 Nobel Prize winners [1]. These include for example a flying car [2] and a battery built from viruses [3]. The amount of hours and drive of the students and professors who worked on it is incredible. What makes those students tick, and could we learn from them?
The competitive culture
United States high schools are known for their competitive cultures, where the corridors are filled with honor list displaying the top ten students of the quarter. The students find themselves in a continuous battle for the top, and the competitive spirit present makes them work harder. It’s part of a culture, where sitting down is regarded upon a waste of time. [4] The top students fight for the yearly scholarships and when approaching high school graduation date , the top university start recruiting selecting a lucky few of the group.
The selection process
The selection process is unforgiving and rejected 90% of the applications in 2008. [5] Applicants are selected not only on the basis of their high grades, but also their ability to demonstrate leadership in society based on their extra-circular activities, sports, jobs and achievements. MIT’s goal is to develop future leaders and inventors.
The university profile
MIT is a private academic institutions funded indirectly by the industrial conglomerates [7]. MIT is a corporation that needs to make profit and see result. As a result, it operates similarly to a business, as efficient and cost effective as possible. MIT applies the survival of the fittest principal to its departments, where students that are wasting time and taking up space are expelled. The MIT tries to spread entrepreneurship spirit along its students, the MIT annual entrepreneurship competition has led to 120 new companies and more than 2500 jobs. [8]
Teaching staff & Facilities
The teaching staff consists of numerous prize winners, renowned researchers, and former top executives. Constantly challenged by their professors. [9]
Summarizing: a MIT student was raised in “the survival of the fittest” culture in order to enter the academy. They are used to working overtime in order to win and succeed; this high school behavior is extrapolated to the university years. Students who are granted entry feel like they are one step closer to changing the world. Moreover the university inspires students to think big, as its alumni have created IPO Initial Public Offering) companies such as Intel and Genentech. More specifically it challenges and pushes them to achieve more. As a result almost all if not all students are thirsty for knowledge.
DUT versus MIT
As I browsed through the educational program and facilities of both universities, I noticed that we were quite on equally high grounds of quality in terms of teaching and research. In terms of engineering & IT in the world, MIT is ranked number (1) while Delft comes in relatively close at number (18) [10]. DUT has all the resources available but this still does not explain why we have only 2 Nobel laureates: Jacobus van’t Hoff (Chemisty 1901) & Simon van der Meer (Physics 1984).
During a debate evening with the Rector Magnificus of DUT (page 9), I posed the following debate topic:
“TU Delft slogan today is “challenge the future”. TU Delft has done a great job with its recent research, student projects and start-ups. However I can’t help feel that we aren’t challenging the future hard and fast enough. Moreover, how can we challenge the future, if we are not challenging ourselves enough? Why is it that after 17:30 the TU Delft becomes deserted? Why are there so few professors working overtime to find the solutions of tomorrow?”
Prof.dr.ir Fokkema answers, “It’s certainly a goal of the TU Delft to be one of the technical top universities in the world. However, the TU Delft can’t be compared to for instance Ivy League universities in the US, as the budget of the TU Delft is considerably smaller. The TU Delft and for example MIT acts in totally different societies. The TU Delft is strictly regulated by the government. The incomes of Professors have to be within the Balkenende-standard of 128.000 Euros, which makes it impossible for the TU Delft to compete on staff. The TU Delft is willing to attract only the best students, but is by law interdicted to let students pass an entry exam. Faculties can’t be open 24 hours a day, as the Dutch law obliges the TU Delft to guard the users of the buildings, so 24 hour protection would be needed. Within this close borders; the TU Delft is trying to be the best. On subjects of nano-technology and aerospace engineering, this efforts pay of nowadays.”
So with facilities and educational program at a top level and teaching staff at its optimum within the budget at hand. there is one place for improvement, DUT has to challenge and inspire its students and staff to think big. DUT has to change its passive culture into a more competitive and
entrepreneuring environment. DUT has to convince its students are in state to be equal or even superior to MIT students!
Raising the standards –paths to enlightenment
DUT students run on something very powerful which is personal motivation. Even when nobody is competing they will learn something just for the sake of educating oneself. Imagine combining this with a competitive spirit, and watch the sparks fly.
However there is a limitation. The Dutch culture, by nature, is not by any means competitive. Hofstede describes the Netherlands as a country with high individualism and low masculinity. The high individuality means that the average person, has a more individualistic attitude and relatively loose bonds with others. The low masculinity leads to a modest and nurturing society. A society that is more at ease and relies more on cooperation to get things done.
The US on the other hand has both high individualism and high masculinity. Meaning the society is a very assertive and competitive one. These cultural traits are the ingredients for the “so-called” “American dream”, work your ass off and overtake your competition and provide your family with the best life can give.
So then the question becomes can we change the Dutch culture to become more competitive, or perhaps do we want to change?
Nido Qubein, a serial entrepreneur, formulated the concept of change as follows:
People don’t want to change, until the pain to remain the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. Change is always frightening for the comfortable in our society; change is also threatening, but from change follows opportunity and improvement. “Nido Qubein”
The pain we are talking about in DUT is a result of today’s flat world, especially in economical and business sense. More and more businesses in the Netherlands acquire people from the rest of Europe, Asia and India. Sometimes on the expense of the average engineer who did just enough to graduate. Do those engineers have equal chances to qualify in the international market place? It is clear to see this problem being addressed many times by top politicians such as Plasterk and Balkende who would like to see more out of their students. [11]
So what could be changed in order for students to excel more?
Together with a group of students we came up with the following ideas Incentives
Show them the money! Show them the trips/prizes to be won in case you finish first. Honor lists and recognition will let people work harder to appear in the university’s spotlight and the opening doors of opportunity that follow. This comes back to basic human nature; since we were born our
performance have been rated by our parents. When we do good things, our parents acknowledge this. This is turn motivates us to continue this behavior. When we do bad things, we get warnings in order to stop those actions. When we reach an older age, we lose some of the need of continuous acknowledgement but not all! So being acknowledged for doing well on your test results motivates you more to do so for you next. [12]
To give an example of a small reward program tried at the Aerospace Faculty a couple of years ago. If students were able to pass all your exams in one year, they would get 4 free flying lessons. There were 10% more students who passed that same year. Two years later, Aerospace faculty decided to cancel the reward program since there were too many students to give rewards to!
One thing standing in the way of this program is that the Dutch culture dislikes success more than failure. So bringing this reward system into the university can cause a lot of negativity between the distinguished and their peers. Although I still believe that the good outweigh the bad of the whole concept; a solution to this would be a private incentives program between the university and the student. The student can decide whether or not he would like to share this with the rest of his friends.
A clear enough goal
The average DUT student has no big dreams or thinks too small. After performing some interviews the on campus [13], more than half of the students have no idea what they will do after they graduate or after 10 years. Without a clear goal or purpose you can’t focus all your energy in one direction. Purpose guide education, coined to Jerry Pattengale, began at Indiana Wesleyan University in 1997. When students understood the relevancy of their studies to the outside world, graduation rates increased by 20% during the next ten years. [14] Pattengale argues that “Students are most at-risk when they have no clear understanding of the relevance of college to life after or outside of college. It is important to help alleviate obstacles to educational pursuits, and to address areas of dissatisfaction.” [15] Graduating and passing exams is a given “short term” goal you are bestowed upon when you choose to study. That is why one of the most common question students is always “Why do I have to learn this, I will never use it” (or so he thinks). When I decided I wanted to become an entrepreneur, everything changed. I actively try soak up information like a sponge and continuously try to identify chances or opportunities in what I read and see. I want to completely understand how things work and see if I can improve or revolutionize designs. That is why I believe that having a clear long term goal can be more motivating than a given short term goal.
Counseling & Coaching
If only I knew some of these concepts which I was so blind to a couple of year ago. Tight planning, goal determination and focus are extremely important the more overworked you get. People need to be ready, the sooner the better. Moreover it is quite common to find people with excellent grades to be less social. Having coaches present that are able to teach leadership and teamwork skills to these capable people is a very valuable investment. The UNITECH international is a perfect example of this. The UNITECH program is sponsored by big conglomerates such as Shell, Sony, IBM, SKF and many more. They want to find young talented engineers that have leadership and teamwork capabilities. They invest lots of money to try and coach the select few that are selected into the program. [16]
Think Big
Most DUT students view themselves as average citizens that won’t matter to the world. Students forget that they make up less than 10% of the population [17]. Wubbo Ockels is a very controversial professor, despite the feasibility of his proposed ideas he dares to think big and challenge those around him. After visiting Stanford and Berkely and talking to loads of engineers, you can clearly notice the difference in mindset compared to the one found in Delft. They really believe they can cause change, either inside a company or with their own startup. Although this might be a rare occasion, but last August I witnessed two college guys getting 1 million in funding for starting an online media website called eatlime.com a competitor to youtube. Switch to present day and countless hours of work, and Eatlime has recently partnered up with one of the biggest social network sites Twitter to provide video content on its website. Although we do not have the same financial en growth capabilities as Stanford students, through hard work we can get quite similar global results: Senz Umbrellas and Ampelman are the evidence of world companies that are
dominating in their niche markets. Believing in yourself, hard work, and a little bit of luck make it all work.
Passion for your education
In order to excel in your education, you must breathe it, think it and dream it. Only when work becomes play, you can work endless hours and lose yourself in it. Love for the education is a two way street, and it is the role of the university to stimulate the teachers to transfer their enthusiasm and passion to their students by showing the endless opportunities possible with a proper
knowledge of the field. A very interesting article in the Bangkok Post, confirms this notion. [18] Talent Society
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” -Jim Rohn [19]
A typical characteristic of honor students is that they are driven to succeed in all what they do. They want to get far in life and undertake new challenges. Bring these people together under one roof and great things will happen.
“Do you remember when your mom used to say: “I don’t want you hanging out with this guy from school because he is a bad influence.” Well this is exactly the other way around. If you surround yourself with people that are succeeding and expect you to succeed you are on the right track. This will serve as a stimulus that pulls you towards major accomplishments.
The role of the university is to nurture this society, give them the opportunities to meet. In my honor’s track class, there is not one student who is not interesting, ambitious and inspiring. In the short stay together, we have had very interesting and uncommon conversation. One discussed his shame for resitting exams that he had already passed, whilst the rest of the group smiled admitting they had done the same. Suddenly resiting exams was a commonly accepted notion within the group. I can’t help but wonder what stories the previous honor track students have to share. There is so much one can learn from one another.
Moreover imagine the results and quality of work when these students choose to work together. In entrepreneurship education, we are taught the importance of having a great team.
“An ‘A’ team with a ‘B’ idea, beats a ‘B’ team with an ‘A’idea anytime” – Kenneth P. Morse MIT Director of entrepreneurship. [20]
Perhaps the new Larry Page and Sergey Brin [21] of Delft meet in the Talent Society.
Tailored Education program
Top first year students are given the freedom to replace a very small part of their second year curriculum with subjects of choice so that they can discover passions early. Psychology and philosophy add a 3rd dimension to one’s thinking pattern. Beautiful things occur at the boundary of fields. Take for example, the combination of Medicine and Engineering, which has resulted in the pacemaker. Being multidisciplinary gives you the best of two worlds. Somebody who studies philosophy and engineering, is be able to think about problems in different angles using a
of today’s leaders, they probably had a minor in something totally unrelated to their field of study. In a study performed by Margret Boden [22] called the Creative minds, she demonstrates how being multi disciplinary can lead to revolutionary ideas.
Conclusion
With approval and support of the university, one can start to work on changing the culture into a more competitive one. In a recent talk with the rector, he mentioned that “Only from competition, can the best ideas be found”. Although not in favor of everybody, we need to move out from this safe and calm environment and start sailing toward the storm. It is good to see that this year’s student council ORAS is focused on developing the ambitious students.
Sources
[0] Legendary Canadian hockey coach 1970s [1] http://mup.asu.edu/research_data.html [2] http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/flying-car-0319.html [3] http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/virus-battery-0820.html [4] http://www.americangraduateeducation.com/folder2/subfolder2/americanculture.htm [5]http://www.usnews.com/blogs/paper-trail/2009/3/16/mit-accepts-10-percent-of-applicants.html [6] http://tech.mit.edu/V119/N13/admissions.13f.html [7] http://web.mit.edu/corporation/about.html [8] http://www.mit100k.org/about-the-100k-competition/ [9] http://academicearth.org/universities/mit [10]http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/results/2008/subject_rankings/techno logy/. [11] http://weblog.tekstbureau-tim.nl/index.php/2007/09/08/zesjescultuur/ [12] http://bizblog.freehostia.com/2004/10/31/motivation-it-starts-with-acknowledgement/
[13] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBWe9omqM2o (this video shows the final tailored results of the interviews and is not completely representative of the statement referred to)
[14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purpose-Guided_Education
[15] Pattengale, Jerry “Intrinsic Motivation,” National Conference for Students in Transition USC University [16] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNITECH_International_Society [17]http://statline.cbs.nl/StatWeb/publication/?DM=SLNL&PA=71822NED&D1=0-1&D2=0&D3=0&D4=0-4&D5=a&D6=0&D7=a&HDR=T,G2,G1,G5,G6&STB=G4,G3&VW=T [18] http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/13867/students-should-follow-their-passion
[19] Jim Rohn motivational speaker, author, entrepreneur and “business philosopher” [20] Starting New Ventures Courses @ YES! Delft
[21] Founders of Google
[22] Combinative researcher in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Philosophy, Cognitive and Computer Science
Meeting the Rector - Are we challenging the future? (14-04-09)
____________________________________________________________________________________
Statement 1: TU Delft should demand more from it students by increasing the difficulty of the educational system.
Statement 2: The only difference between the world’s best university and TU Delft is the amount of work and motivation its students and professors have.
Joseph introduces this topic on ambitions of the TU Delft student. He noticed:
“TU Delft slogan today is “challenge the future”. TU Delft has done a great job with its recent research, student projects and start-ups. However I can’t help feel that we aren’t challenging the future hard and fast enough. Moreover, how can we challenge the future, if we are not challenging ourselves enough? Why is it that after 17:30 the TU Delft becomes deserted? Why are there so few professors working overtime to find the solutions of tomorrow? And why are most exams so easy to pass?”
When one looks overseas, you can see MIT coming up with an amazing innovation at a regular pace. These include for example a flying car and a battery built from viruses. The amount of hours and drive of the students and professors who worked on it is incredible. These students have been challenged since they day they entered college and have such a profound understanding of their education that they can build on it to arrive to amazing things. Joseph his wondering what the ambitions of the TU Delft actually are: “is it the goal of the TU Delft of being a top university or does it just want to deliver a great experience to it’s exchange students?
As Prof.dr.ir Fokkema answers, it’s certainly a goal of the TU Delft to be one of the technical top universities in the world. However, the TU Delft can’t be compared to for instance Ivy League universities in the US, as the budget of the TU Delft is considerably smaller. The TU Delft and for example MIT acts in totally different societies. The TU Delft is strictly regulated by the government. The incomes of Professors have to be within the Balkenende-standard of 128.000 euros, which makes it impossible for the TU Delft to compete on staff. The TU Delft is willing to attract only the best students, but is by law interdicted to let students pass an entry exam. Faculties can’t be open 24 hours a day, as the Dutch law obliges the TU Delft to guard the users of the buildings, so 24 hour protection would be needed. Within this close borders, the TU Delft is trying to be the best. On subjects of nano-technology and aerospace engineering, this efforts pay of nowadays.
Joseph indicates that it’s hard to stay motivated as exchanges students, when coming out of a competitive society towards the TU Delft. Dutch students tend to motivate themselves; they just like to understand the subjects they are working on. Within a competitive environment, this motivation comes from competition. Joseph notices talented international students failing their study, because they can’t find motivation by internal drive, when suddenly coming to this less competitive environment. He wonders if this situation could be improved for exchange students by monitoring and periodical progress checking of student advisors.
