This year an innovative multi-disciplinary design course is being offered for senior students at Bilkent. It covers forming a company, developing a product, and selling shares on a simulated stock market. Students from five different departments: Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Graphic Design, Industrial Engineering, and Management have gotten together and formed teams to take part in the one-year-long course, which focuses on the fundamentals of product design - from conceiving an idea to marketing the end result. Throughout the year, students find out how to manage projects, use design tools, assess the impact of various social and environmental factors, and implement standards and quality management. Teams propose their simulations to venture capital organizations and if a project is found interesting, it may even get the go ahead for real-life funding!
One of the students, Nergis Büyükkınacı (MAN/IV), said "we work in a team, and most importantly, we transfer our theoretical knowledge into practical experience." Sarp Uçak (MAN/IV) commented that he finds the simulation part very innovative. Gökhan Dönmez (MAN/IV) and Talat Özerdem (IE/IV) added that the course encourages students to be creative and that it is an especially good course to take in one's last year of classes. They are all very pleased to see the results of their creativity and teamwork in the simulated environments they develop.
The course is coordinated by a team of professors from all five departments: S. Aktürk (IE), A. Atalar (EE) who conceived the idea for the course, K. Aydoğan (MAN), M. Baray (CS), C. Gürer (GRA), B. Özgüç (CS and GRA), A. B. Özgüler (EE), B. Tansel (IE).
Prof. Özgüler noted, "This is a unique design course and very likely the first of its kind. Although courses that focus on developing products and encouraging entrepreneurial spirit are presently fashionable at major universities, none of them have covered all of the essential steps in founding an innovative high-tech firm."
At the end of each semester, students are required to submit a final report and make an oral presentation to which all shareholders are invited. More information on the course can be found at www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~eeweb/ge401/syllabus.html.
