Learning takes on an international flavor in joint CECS-THI course
Globalization has really taken hold in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, with international partnerships and collaborations continuing to proliferate. The most recent example took place last fall, when Shereazad Jimmy Gandhi, assistant professor of engineering management and director of the Ernie Schaffer Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, planned and taught a research class in supply chain management and sustainability jointly with an instructor at the Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (the Technical University of Ingolstadt, or THI). Both classes were closely aligned so that students in California and in Germany had essentially the same experience. In November, following two months of lectures and background reading, the ten CSUN students in the class traveled to Germany for a week, where they joined up with their ten THI counterparts to visit five German companies to see firsthand how they manage their supply chains. The students met with industry professionals in the companies’ supply chain and sustainability departments and took part in interactive workshops.
Perhaps the best-known company they visited was BMW, where they met with the sustainability manager in Munich. (BMW values sustainability so highly that it ranks first in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.) The students also visited Audi, as well as three major suppliers to both car companies: Continental, Faurecia and Lebenshilfe. In addition to tires, Continental makes intelligent cruise control systems and backup cameras. Faurecia manufactures front bumpers and seating. Lebenshilfe is a nonprofit that employs people with special needs to make parts for Audi.
“It was really interesting for the students to be able to understand how supply chains work—both from the perspective of a large OEM and from the supplier perspective,” says Gandhi.
The five companies then gave the students projects to work on related to issues they were having with incorporating sustainability into their global supply chains. Teams made up of two to three students each from CSUN and THI collaborated virtually on the projects using Skype and the Internet, exposing them to working on virtual teams as well.
Gandhi notes that for some of the CSUN students, the trip was their first time in Europe, and it was “a life changer.” It was not, however, the first collaboration between THI and CSUN. In fall 2014, ten German students visited CSUN for a weeklong seminar in international sourcing that featured speakers and site visits to local companies. And it won’t be the last collaboration between the two universities. THI students will again visit CSUN in April 2016 for another weeklong seminar, extending the partnership between the two institutions and the friendship between their faculty and students.
