Master of Science in Operations Research Engineering (Manufacturing and Supply Chain Engineering)
Operations Research engineers improve the performance of industrial and societal systems through rigorous application of mathematical and statistical models and methods. They play a crucial role in planning, scheduling and running operational processes in such a way that these contribute to the long-term success and sustainability of companies and institutions. They help ensure that companies deliver high-quality goods and services while limiting costs, energy consumption, material losses as well as societal and environmental impacts.
What
The focus of this master program is to analyse, optimise, and design complex operational systems, with the aim of improving their effectiveness and efficiency, thus increasing their productivity in a sustainable manner. Such operational systems are found across all kinds of industrial organizations but also for example in health care, urban mobility, and energy grids.
Operations Research (OR) deals with the mathematical and statistical models and methods for optimisation and simulation. The model-based and data-driven analytical methodologies and techniques of OR are at the heart of decision-support tools for managing complex operational systems within any organization.
Students in the program select one of two main subjects: ‘Manufacturing and Supply Chain Engineering’ or ‘Transport and Mobility Engineering’. Some pertinent application domains include Industry 5.0, connected robotics, and sustainable smart cities.
This master program creates a unique engineering profile that combines technical know-how with analytic reasoning and managerial insights. It effectively prepares students to take up leading roles in manufacturing and service industries worldwide.
Remarks
The Faculty of Engineering and Architecture (FEA) offers most of its Master’s Programmes in Engineering in English. This underlines the faculty's international ambition, as well as the importance of international education and multiple language skills for students.
For whom
The admission requirements may vary. Depending on your prior education, you can either enrol directly or there may be additional requirements.
Structure
The programme consists of a general module, main subject modules, elective courses, and a master dissertation. The general module contains 36 credits worth of courses that cover the core competencies of Operations Research. The main subject module contains 30 credits of specialist courses in a specific application domain.
The Manufacturing & Supply Chain Engineering main subject focuses on analysing, optimising, and designing systems in production and logistics, e.g., from the detailed time and methods study of an operator at a semi-automated workstation in a plastic recycling facility to the strategic network study of a global automotive supply chain of vehicles assembled in Belgium using components sourced from three different continents.
Through 30 credits of electives, students can further deepen and/or broaden their knowledge and skills in technical and non-technical subjects. As part of the electives, students can take up an internship to already start applying their knowledge in practice.
In the master dissertation, covering the final 24 credits, students conduct academic research using OR tools to tackle challenging problems in manufacturing, supply chain, transport or mobility.
Labour Market
Companies in all branches of industry, public services, and scientific research are eager to recruit OR engineers. They have the skills to lead the continuous day-to-day improvement of systems that create products and services, but also to innovate and develop new products and services. OR engineers are typically recruited as production manager, business analyst, project manager, supply chain consultant, etc. They usually quickly grow into senior technically specialised roles or management positions.
Quality Assurance
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
More information:
Unique Selling Points
- This is a broad engineering programme in which various aspects that are important in a business context are combined, i.e., scientific, technological, economical, organisational, and human factors. This master’s engineers are excellently prepared to face concrete challenges, to solve problems, and to take the lead in companies and organisations to strive for “operational excellence”.
- This engineering profile is much wanted in the business world resulting in many job opportunities in very diverse companies and sectors. The programme is also much appreciated by the students themselves.
- The programme strikes a balance between academic, research-related competences and professional, hands-on competences. Most teachers have close contacts with the business world, through their experience in national and international projects in cooperation with industry and/or based on their affiliation with e.g. Flanders Make or imec. During their classes and assignments, they share both their hands-on experience and their relevant research findings.
- Students have a certain freedom of choice to compose their study programme according to their interests. They can choose to subscribe to a mix of technical, managerial and social elective course units; they can select the subject of their master’s dissertation; and they can opt to subscribe to an (international) apprenticeship.
- Student association ORLean joins the students in various extracurricular activities, such as company visits, meetings with alumni, talks from industry representatives, etc. and helps the students to establish networks in doing so.
Strengths
- In many course units assignments and group works are offered in which the theory needs to be tested by and applied in practical cases, which provides the students immediately with relevant business experience.
- The programme takes actively part in the development of new, activating methods in which classical lectures make way for methods in which the students seize the initiative. Various course units are switching over to forms of blended learning and online learning combined with Q&A, independent project work, and feedback sessions.
- Students become acquainted with state-of-the-art software tools and packages for various applications, such as data processing and management, optimisation, statistics, simulation, automatization and operations management (ERP).
- In addition to the formal student representation in the study Programme Committee, the students are also unofficially consulted to keep our fingers on the pulse. This decreases the distance between students and teachers, which facilitates the quick and open discussion of possible problems.
- The programme’s development and implementation is evaluated by the business world by means of the advisory board, whose members hold key positions in both large cooperations and innovative SMEs across different industries and application domains.
Challenges
- We are attending to a better distribution of the project work across the different course units of the programme to avoid that many deadlines coincide or that too little time is left for certain courses (without project work).
- Many students conduct their master’s dissertations in a business context and gain their first hands-on experience that way, which is in theory a positive trend. However, in some cases this is at the expense of the scientific, academic quality of the work produced. We will keep a closer watch on this topic during the monitoring and evaluation.
- Since the IEOR master still has no specific preparatory bachelor programme, students are still insufficiently acquainted with the programme. That is why we intend to draw both students’ and companies’ attention by the programme’s profile and familiarity by means of a prominent presence on various information sessions and graduate fairs. In addition to these measures, we also strive to organise our own bachelor programme in due course.
Accreditation
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here.
Tailored coaching programme: As stipulated in the quality improvement plan, the study programme in liaison with the faculty and the Education Department, is set to eliminate the weaknesses within a reasonable time frame. The study programme delivers regular progress reports to the Education Quality Board.
This information was last updated on 14/02/2023.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.