"Turn your students into true professionals"

Integrating standards in courses and lectures? For Marc Van Overmeire, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering (VUB) and part-time employee at Certifer Belgorail, it's a given. "Standards used to seem like a dusty affair. Now they are closely linked to daily reality. In a lot of jobs, you can't do without them anymore."  

Marc notices that students are rarely familiar with standards. "Often it is only during their graduate work or master's thesis that their supervisor urges them to use standards," Marc knows. He always simply explains to his students what a standard is: "an agreement to make a product, ensure a service or standardize a process. You can compare it to a recipe for cooking. A standard explains step by step how to get to the final product. There is usually no background as to why something should be done, but the standard is based on the knowledge behind it. In my course, of course, I do explain the basics on which the whole standard is based."

Good source of inspiration

But according to Marc, why are standards so important? "Are you buying an external memory? Then it has to match your computer. Compatibility is hugely important in our time, and standards provide that. They encourage sustainable design ánd a standard can be a source of inspiration. I also tell my students that the use of standards is part of good craftsmanship. Because a standard is always a reliable source and is considered the latest official state of technological knowledge."

Incorporating standards into learning content

Finding standards is not always easy for a student. "That's why I refer them to the NBN EDU portal. For the student, that's the most accessible way to find standards." He has also referred colleagues on occasion. "Because standards are also often insufficiently known to them. I also work in practice and know better than anyone else how important standards are in later professional life. I therefore like to urge my colleagues to delve a bit more into the ins and outs of norms. You can naturally incorporate standards into your teaching materials. Standards will be one of the many tools of our students in their later professional lives, alongside a phone, laptop and AI. It should become automatic to wonder if there is a standard for something. Because standards make life a lot easier."

Standards in your course? 3 golden tips from our expert!

• Take an interest in standards and immerse yourself in them. Academia does not always have both feet in the field. Realize that using standards, a tool from practice, can enrich your lecture.
• Don't go into too much detail. Not everyone finds a standard exciting literature. Consider it self-evident to refer to it; sometimes that's enough. But in certain calculations you do need to get to the bottom of the standard!
• Make the link to everyday life. A student understands standards better if you refer to concrete examples from their lives. Such as? Chargers for phones or charging stations for electric cars.

Want to know more?

Discover the EDU Portal for free.
Download the EDU Portal flyer here.
Interested in a guest lecture on standards? Contact Yens Van Overloop at yens.van.overloop@nbn.be.