Today we visited the InHolland University of Applied Sciences, which has multiple branch campuses across the Netherlands. Each branch focuses on one discipline. We got to see and learn about the Delft campus, which specializes in aeronautical engineering. The school’s faculty and students prepared a really nice program for us. As soon as we got there, they gave us a presentation about their program. They teach in English although 65% of their students are Dutch. What was really shocking to me was that only 5-10% of their students are female. For me (a 19 year old girl living in 2024 United States), that’s unheard of.
One of InHolland’s professors told us the distribution of their program throughout a student’s 4 years of studying there. We also got to see some really impressive projects that their students have completed. One student told us that only 60% of their classes are lectures while the other 40% are hands-on projects. That was interesting to me as it is pretty different than how my classes are set up at Pitt. We have fewer projects and more lectures, but maybe that is because I’m a business student and not an engineer.
After that presentation, another lecturer gave us a basic overview of how aeronautical engineering as well as a history of air travel. We learned about how the concept to customer has changed a lot since the Wright Brothers first achieved controlled flight in 1903. At that time, the main goal wasn’t to please a customer. The goal was simply flight. After that first flight, the goal became distance. Everyone wanted to make the aircraft that could travel the fastest. Once it became possible for people to ride long distances in airplanes, planes were commercialized, which brought on a new goal: comfort. Today, we have extremely comfortable airplanes. In my marketing class, we looked into the pricing of Singapore airline tickets. For $15,000, you can purchase a small bedroom on an aircraft to transport you from London to Singapore. So, we have achieved comfort on aircrafts.
Now that that goal is met, we’re moving onto the next big question: how can we make airplane travel sustainable? I don’t have the answer to that question, but applied science universities like InHolland are trying to figure it out. When they do, business majors like me will be ready to market the idea.
After that lecture, InHolland provided us with lunch before showing us two of their facilities. Finally, they presented us with a challenge: to make our own airplanes (with very specific instructions!). We split into groups and had some time to assemble our cardboard airplanes and balance them about their center of mass using washers and paper clips. Each group competed to see whose airplane could travel the farthest. Although my group’s plane did not win, I think we did a pretty good job!
That was the end of our InHolland visit, so we took the bus over to an ice cream shop, where our lovely faculty treated us each to a very fancy milkshake (thank you, Frank and Dr. Bursic!). Shortly after, we took a boat tour of Delft, which looks like a much smaller version of Amsterdam, so it was beautiful and historic.
To finish our day off, a few of my friends and I went to a restaurant where we sat outside to enjoy the scenery. I got a very delicious pumpkin stew (which I’ve unexpectedly been seeing on a lot of menus). That’s all for today!
