Reporting meetings for ALPS 2010 proposer companies and discussions with ALPS students

The AY2010 Design Project ALPS (ALPS 2010) sponsored by The Norinchukin Bank held its fifth workshop on November 19 and 20, which was followed on December 13 by a discussion with ALPS students and reports to companies proposing themes for the year's topic, "safe and secure system design".

The discussion with students featured five students and a total of eight teaching staff, including Dean Yoshiaki Ohkami, Professor Shinichiro Haruyama, and Assistant Professor Sun Kim. The students learned a great deal in ALPS. Asked about the program's strengths, they shared the following comments:

• Solicitation of themes from proposer companies
  Course structure
• Workshops are logically sequenced and explanations are easy to understand
  Simulated project experience
• Lecturers from MIT, Stanford, TU Delft and SDM
• Experience taking classes and giving presentations in English
• More or less monthly meetings with proposer companies and lots of feedback
• Participation of proposer companies makes it easier to maintain motivation

They also noted some problems:

• Large gaps within the teams in English ability and comprehension, with the gaps only widening as the workshops progressed
• Large amount of work and effort for team management
• Excessive assignment load

They offered proposals too:

• Could themes be freely selected?
• After admission and prior to the commencement of ALPS, participants' English ability should be subject to a strict check, with training provided as needed.
• Consider a test to ensure that individual students have an adequate understanding
• There should be mechanisms to assess the degree of effort put into ALPS projects and demonstrate the growth achieved
• For newly-graduated students, ALPS would be more interesting if it were reworked to provide an internship-like experience

Reports were also furnished to companies that proposed themes related to the year's topic of "safe and secure system design." After the reports, there was an opportunity for discussion between the 12 representatives of proposer companies and 11 members of the SDM teaching staff.

Opinions received from the proposer companies include:

• Student reports delved deeply into the subject matter
• Students rigorously analyzed and provided proposals for difficult themes
• Mailing lists enabled excellent communication between students, proposer companies, and mentors
• It is difficult to balance the creative ideas of students and the expectations of companies
• It is difficult to understand how proposer companies should provide support
• Students need to understand that, inside a company, if they fail in a project they probably will not get a second chance
• There should be a mechanism for donations of scholarships and other funding from companies

We look forward to using these opinions to improve ALPS in the future. We would like to thank everyone who participated in and provided cooperation for  ALPS 2010.

Meeting with proposer companies

Group photographs for ALPS 2010