Modern products and facilities are becoming increasingly complex, interconnected, and software-intensive.

The Systems Engineering module is designed to enable students to understand complex technical systems holistically, manage them strategically, and assume responsibility for them successfully throughout their entire life cycle. A systems-driven approach ensures that technical, organizational, and economic requirements are understood, controlled, and safeguarded in a holistic manner.

Systems Engineering provides a structured framework for this purpose and focuses essentially on an interdisciplinary approach for planning, developing, integrating, and operating complex systems throughout their entire life cycle. The goal is to develop the ability to coordinate technical, organizational, and economic aspects in such a way that a system is created reliably, efficiently, and in line with actual needs, in close coordination with all stakeholders.

In practical terms, this means that all disciplines — including maintenance, service, training, and recycling — must be involved from the earliest stages. The methodology conveyed in this module is intended to ensure that:

•         requirements are clearly defined and understood,

•         solution options are evaluated systematically,

•         design, implementation, integration, and testing activities are coordinated and optimized,

•         and that the finished system meets the actual need.

A key objective of the SE module is to show that good design reduces risks, enables early detection of errors, keeps costs under control, and ultimately delivers a functional, reliable, and maintainable system.

A modern and increasingly central element of this module is Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). MBSE largely replaces document-centric approaches with model-based practices in which digital, consistent system models serve as the central source of information. The module also places a special focus on key aspects of Digital Twins. A Digital Twin is a digital representation of a real system across its entire life cycle — from concept development to operation.

Combined, this results in a holistic approach that the module aims to teach:

•         Systems Engineering provides structure, method, and process – based on a profound requirements management foundation.

•         MBSE provides model-based consistency, automation, and transparency.

•         The Digital Twin enables an ongoing data loop, aligning model and reality.

This combination leads to measurably higher quality, reduced development risk, more efficient operation, and more sustainable system management. In addition to methods and tools, the module also conveys the management-strategic perspective of the Systems Engineering approach.