Structure:
The two-year programme is divided into two parts: the study period (lasting fourteen months) and practical work for industry or government organisation (nine months). The study period is divided into one- or two-week modules, during which students receive lectures from home or visiting professors and are given design assignments (either spread over the two weeks or during the second week only, depending on the lecture organisation). The participants work in multidisciplinary, multinational teams of three or four people to take full advantage of the richness of skills and viewpoints.
The regular curriculum includes interactive workshops, working lectures, practical training, individual and group assignments, self-study, experiment set-ups and laboratory work for design and evaluation. Students have an unlimited access to modern laboratory equipment and relevant software applications.
The second part of the programme is reserved exclusively for the large assignment in the industry. These assignments are carried out upon the request of companies or institutions and there is professional supervision both from the company and TU/e.
More information about the projects will be available on the projects page.
Components:
The study programme has 5 major components:
1. Homologation phase
2. Obligatory courses
3. Design assignments and electives
4. Industrial Project
5. Professional Development
The homologation phase is meant to synchronise various educational backgrounds of the participants to create a common frame of reference for various specialisations. Engineers are given an introduction to Perception and Cognition Theory. Graduates from non-technical sciences receive introduction to Software Engineering. Other modules: Graphic Design, Flash and HTML.
After the homologation phase, there are obligatory courses group in five main clusters (the modules mentioned are in random order):
The User Experience
Modules : Human Capabilities, Human Factors, Multimodal Perception, Persuasion and Trust and Social User Interface Design
Interaction Technology
Modules : CSCW, Controllers Sensors and I/O Devices, Interaction Engineering, Speech Interfaces and Information Visualisation
User Interface System Technology
Modules : Interaction Design for the Semantic Web, UML Modelling, Database Technologies, Tangible Interfaces, Multimodal Interaction Design
Understanding User Needs
Modules : Introduction to User Centred Design, Qualitative Research for User Requirements Acquisition, Video interviews and Prototyping
Evaluation Methodologies
Modules : Observation studies and non-verbal user behavior, Data Analysis and Methodologies, SPSS and Measurements.
In the last phase of the regular curriculum, students work in small project teams on design cases, in which they apply their knowledge and skills to concrete problems from projects mostly outside the USI program.
Professional Development includes language and presentation skills, personal presentation, multicultural management, Technical Writing & Editing and Project Based Management and courses based upon individual needs.
