University Courses

General information:

  • Academic year 2009-10, blocks A - B (September to December)
  • Study load: 2 ECTS
  • 9 weeks of lectures: Monday, 15:45 to 17:30 (7th and 8th hour), Aud. 13.
  • Examination: final essay
  • Office hour: Thursday, 14:30-16:00, IPO room 1.15.
  • The lectures are available online.

Teachers:

Course context
This course is part of a new range of "University Courses" ("universiteitscolleges"), worth 2 ECTS (see http://w3.ieis.tue.nl/nl/groups/av/platform_academische_vorming/universi...).
These courses aim to buttress and strengthen ongoing activities to stimulate academic competences. The point of departure is a clear distinction between university education and higher vocational education. Under the guidance of the Platform a number of projects are carried out that aim at stimulating and reinforcing (the level of) academic education at TU/e. For more information, see http://w3.ieis.tue.nl/nl/capaciteitsgroepen/av_old/platform_academische_....

The course will introduce a historical perspective on the role of infrastructure development for Europe. For several international infrastructural projects we will explore their history, the projected and realized European use, and the symbolic representations (in movies, PR documentation, newspaper clips etc). The course will provide a number of concepts for the analysis and comparisons of various infrastructure projects such as Europe's system builders, user script, technical regime, governance, and technopolitics.
Throughout the course students read predesignated literature and follow the lectures. In addition to sources shown in the lectures, additional on-line sources on various infrastructure projects are made available at www.tie-project.nl/universiteitscollege). The main material used by students is, first, a reader with selected articles, and second, various internetsites with historical sources including newspaper clips, movies, PR documentation (these will include www.ena.lu and www.eu-history.leidenuniv.nl).
An additional lecture (October 12, 2009) is planned to give thorough instructions on how to write such an essay. Students are also welcome to present problems and draft essays on consulting hours.


Learning objectives
Academic Competences
Most objectives originate from Academic Competences as defined by this university. These Competences are the academic "added value" of studying at this university. For this course, one main goal of this course is to have students gain competences in research outside their field (in this case, history of technology and European history), and use this knowledge to write their final assignment. A second goal is to learn students to critically examine both written and audio-visual sources, and in particular to take into account the temporal and social context. Thirdly, they learn to use their creativity combined with the intellectual skills (reasoning, reflecting, and judgments) as described by the Academic Platform.

Course-specific objectives
Further objectives are, first, to learn students to use concepts and empirical insights as used in the lectures and related literature. Therefore, after this course, students will be able to review processes of European integration and the role of infrastructure, particularly the Trans European Network (TEN) program of the European. They know how to apply a History of Technology-perspective, and several of its concepts. Second, when analyzing an infrastructure plan or a related topic, students are able to place these into account their context ("time and place"). In this case this is European integration, a process with a deep impact on many sectors of the economy and our social environment. It is also a process with long roots, partly related to the development of transnational infrastructures such as roads, railways and energy networks. In the process, they learn the history and the way the current day European Union works.

Testing/assessment
As noted above the final assessment (and only means of testing) is an essay, which is to be written individually at the end of the course.

  • The following is demanded from the final essay:
  • The essay has to relate to the TEN project (use part of its legacy, constitute a harbinger to the TENs etc.).
  • The essay needs to make substantial use of (parts) of the reading material, and refer to at least to three of the texts on the reading list or other relevant and substantial sources (for example as provided at www.tie-project.nl/uc).
  • The essay needs to identity the sources used by means of foot- or endnotes (further instructions will be given).
  • The essay needs to be handed in on December 14, 2009, at noon.
  • A theme needs to be proposed by November 16, at noon.

A non-obligatory lecture is planned for October 12, 2009, and a weekly visiting hour will be held to present problems.

A competitive edge is inserted as well. The best 3 to 4 essays will be the starting point of a virtual exhibit on the TEN project, hosted on www.tie-project.nl.