Online courses
Lifelong learning
Text Dorine van Gorp
For almost a decade, TU Delft has been offering relevant online courses to engineers and other technical professionals who want to keep up with developments in their field, retrain or improve their skills. Lifelong learning is a core teaching activity of the university. “TU is a front runner in this field in the Netherlands”, says programme director Willem van Valkenburg.
“Energy transition, climate, AI, health, resilient cities and mobility”, reels off Van Valkenburg. “Our lecturers and academics develop subject-specific short training programmes and courses on all current social topics relating to their field of research. Often by working with companies and based on the needs of engineers, so applied to practice. Most courses last four to six weeks and require four hours’ per week study time. They are all work-oriented and you can start them straight away. At our university, you can access the latest technologies and we also offer this knowledge in our courses.”
© Tsvetan Ivanov
Extension School
Every year, around 20 to 30 new training programmes are added and every course is updated and checked for quality annually. Almost all courses are currently provided via online platforms. “In the future, we will also offer more physical courses in an inspiring, appropriate environment on the Delft campus or on our campuses in Amsterdam, The Hague or Rotterdam”, says Van Valkenburg. “The task of the university doesn’t stop at graduation”, says Van Valkenburg.
“Our programmes are intended as refresher courses and for retraining and brushing up skills. You can come to us as a professional individual but also with your company by enrolling as a group, for example. The latter is often the case. In addition, a lot of companies have incorporated our courses in their corporate academy.” The offering ranges from a basic course on solar energy if you want to learn about solar panels, to accredited training programmes for compulsory certificates, for example. “We even have pre-university courses for students who want to brush up on their science subjects.”