Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis & Management

In everyday life, private and public organisations are confronted with new technology developments, new business opportunities and societal changes presenting endless opportunities. To take advantage of these opportunities they need effective management strategies and system engineering approaches that deal with both technological complexity and the management of stakeholders with widely diverging interests. Find more information on the TPM website.

The Master's Programme in SEPAM gives students the ability to solve large-scale and complex problems in the world of management armed with technical knowledge. It focuses on engineering and decision-making processes at the interface between the public and private sector. The curriculum is built on the three pillars of systems engineering, multi-actor network stakeholder theory and technology specialization. Students learn to weigh the importance of technical as well as social factors in design and management processes. They look at both the physical technical system and at the organisational network in which a technical solution must be embedded. SEPAM is an interdisciplinary Master, which means that the students have gained knowledge within various fields such as strategy, decision-making, management and organisations, statistics and system modelling. This multi-faceted approach makes SEPAM engineers extremely valuable in most types of organisations.

Students learn to design solutions that have been tested for technical and organisational feasibility and learn to manage this process. They study methods and tools for system design, and gain an understanding of the principles underlying the design and management of decision-making processes within constellations of actors. Students will find similar foundations as in Industrial Engineering programs by focusing on design, quantitative methods and complex problem solving, SEPAM equally gives attention to the management of the diversity of stakeholders and the broader socio-political context. Graduates are equipped with methods, tools and techniques for creatively designing and assessing the impact of technical solutions in organisations: SEPAM engineers look at both the physical system and the actors' network, confronting not only technical challenges, but management and ethical choices as well.