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International Master of Science

In Aerospace Engineering Sciences

A Joint US/EC Consortium

The IMS Program

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IMS Goals:

The universities in the joint US-EU consortia will cooperate under the grant to form the International Masters in Aerospace Engineering Sciences (IMS) degree program, based upon course and project curriculum modules developed under the grant.  Students will earn the degrees at their home institutions through participation in modules at home and abroad.

Objectives:       The intention of the proposed program is to promote the development of competent technical and scientific managers in the field of aerospace engineering who have both international experience and the ability to work effectively in foreign locations with languages and cultures different from their own. It is intended that these students will and who will become, upon graduation, effective project leaders in international aerospace development.

Concept:          The market for aerospace technology is now world-wide, and aerospace engineering projects, in both manufacture and research, are increasingly undertaken and managed as collaborations between partners from more than one nation or continent.  The purpose of the proposed IMS degree is to develop the professional capabilities of engineers for employment in the manufacturing, technical development and research functions of such projects, and to enhance their understanding of the operation of the global markets driving aerospace industry.

Management:   Two partner consortia will develop the program, one in the US and the other in Europe.  Each consortium will consist of four members, principally University Departments of Aerospace Engineering.  Each consortium will have a consortium leader, responsible for the production, implementation and administration of that consortium’s contribution to the overall IMS degree.

The Students:   Students accepted for the IMS will normally be immediate post-graduates in aerospace engineering, or related disciplines, including mathematics and physics, or graduates in these subjects with some years of industrial experience.  Students will normally be sponsored or self financed.  Each partner institution would be expected to exchange a minimum of five students between the consortium over the three-year grant period.

Degree Program Structure: The IMS program will extend over one-and-a-half academic years.  The curriculum will be based upon taught modules and individual research (design) projects performed under supervision.

Inter-Consortium Mobility: This is the distinguishing feature of the proposed IMS course.  All students will be enrolled in the degree program in an academic institution of one of the two consortia, but will interchange between the partners in each consortium in exchange programs designed so that at least four months of the students total study time is spent in the overseas consortium.

Implementation of the Proposal: The proposal requires funding for three years.  During the first year, the structure of the degree program will be established, the syllabus and the content of the modules will be defined, and the details of the proposed exchange programs will be finalized.  During the second year a pilot first year of the degree program will begin, and management structures and exchange programs will be modified in the light of experience gained. In the third year the first full year of the exchange program will be launched. At the completion of the grant (the end of the third year), cooperation between the consortia will be fully in place, and the first IMS degrees will be awarded.