Real-life case studies, teamwork, industry knowledge – straight from the forefront of the profession

What can a BME student learn from a professional who has worked in Knorr-Bremse's global senior management? How does engineering thinking meet economic thinking, and why is it valuable to learn about this during your university years? We talked about this with Gergely Rátki, a master's student in mechatronics engineering. (The video is in Hungarian, but below we sum it up in English.)

The expert in question is Jürgen Steinberger, former chairman of the board of directors of Knorr-Bremse's commercial vehicle branch. He has been teaching two special courses at BME for years, which anyone can take, whether at BSc or MSc (completing one of them is not a prerequisite for enrolling in the other) – and he will continue to do so next semester.

Gergő considers it a very good decision to have enrolled in the course. "He tries to approach engineering problems from an economic perspective. It's not too engineering-oriented, not too economics-oriented – it's more about connecting the two," he said, adding that 

"we didn't focus on small, detailed problems, but rather on global ones."

According to him, one of the greatest values of Mr Steinberger's classes is the approach and teaching methodology. The assessment is also practical: there are no exams or tests, but students have to present two homework assignments, for which they receive a grade. All of this is, of course, in English.

Previously, in an interview with Mr Steinberger, we talked about how he sees the role of engineers in the rapidly changing automotive industry.

Rector's Office, Communications Directorate