Innovation lready today, every time you jump on a plane, you are sitting inside a giant integrative system: a host of technologies that not only need to work seamlessly together but also accumulated design thinking on the best way to make people comfortable, safe, and the experience pleasant enough to encourage a return journey. Just ahead lie internet-of-things homes, lled with smart appliances and perhaps a robot helper, autonomous cars, as well as mega-complexities demanding solutions, such as climate change and eco-friendly cities. All will require graduates who themselves serve as integrative elements, working with the insight of an engineer, scientist, business executive, economist, designer and philosopher to solve the challenges and create the . innovations to propel lives sustainably forward. Post-millennial talents The Division of Integrative Systems and Design is HKUST’s bold response to the provision of these post-millennial human talents. Fittingly, it is designed with a distinctive style of its own, o ering original multidisciplinary education with a curriculum based on a “need-to-know” basis rather than the traditional “learn this because we feel it is good for you” approach. This has led to the adoption of a project-based mode of knowledge-gathering, where students are responsible for achieving a real-world objective as a team. As a result, learners realize how certain theories and skills will help them attain that task. “Many students these days do not simply accept what is being taught. They always want to know why. This way, students see for themselves the purpose in taking courses,” said Prof. C. Y. TSUI, Head of the Division. “They understand why they need to acquire speci c knowledge.” A 14 IN FOCUS It’s all go in the pioneering Division of Integrative Systems and Design as it prepares students to lead the way toward Industrial Revolution 4.0 Ready for Generation Z Prof. C. Y. Tsui, Head of the Division of Integrative Systems and Design, with undergraduates: “I want our students to be diverse in how they apply their knowledge.”
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