Ergonomics and Human-Technology-Organisation 60 credits
The programme is provided at the Campus Flemingsberg.
These courses are conducted in Swedish. Next start is autumn semester 2012.
Jobs and the future
Ergonomics is an interdisciplinary area of knowledge on the borders of technology, medicine and behavioural science. It concerns the interaction of people, technology and organisation (PTO), and its purpose is to optimize health, human well-being and systems efficiency/effectiveness when forming technical systems and work tasks.
The programme provides broad insight into Ergonomics/PTO with reference to human prerequisites and needs, and also people’s interaction with the technology, the organisation and the environment in the PTO system. It comprises knowledge of basic Ergonomics in physical, cognitive and psycho-social respects, creation and analysis of work environments, products and production systems. There are also elements on planning, management, running and evaluating development projects and change management. The programme provides knowledge that is directly applicable in applied organisational development and at the same time gives a good basis for PhD studies in the areas of Ergonomics/PTO.
In future it will be possible for students to get work as consultants, self-employed business owners, or to be employed in companies, government authorities or within teaching and education. Students who have completed this programme are sought after and their labour market is very promising.
The Programme
The programme is aimed at professionals who are able to study part-time and to full-time students. The course is designed with distance studies to give professionals from the entire Nordic area the opportunity to participate. It has an interdisciplinary orientation, which is reinforced by the admission of students from three scientific areas - the students have technical, behavioural science or health science backgrounds. The programme is divided into five courses, each awarding 6 credits, an in-depth project giving 15 credits and a degree project of 15 credits.
The course tuition is designed in sequences of two to three days a month and comprises lectures, seminars, discussions of applied cases, lab sessions and group work. The course design is based on the participants maintaining contact with each other, with the course director and their teachers/supervisors in between scheduled tuition days.
The aim of the programme is to build up the participants’ competence in the area and also to contribute to personal development. It has a clear academic and theoretical basis, and the focus is on the ability of the participants to apply their acquired knowledge. This is illustrated by the fact that project tasks, that are to be presented and discussed during the concentrated course meetings, are a part of the courses.
Course Content
Ergonomics and PTO, 60 credits, can be completed in one year full time or two years part-time.
The following courses are included:
Courses:
Organisation, change management and work environment legislation, 6 credits
Humans-Technology-Organisation, 6 credits
Research methodology and methods of study, 6 credits
Workload Ergonomics, 6 credits
Cognitive Ergonomics, 6 credits
Project work, 15 credits
Degree project, 15 credits
Language of instruction
The courses are conducted in Swedish. Some of the course literature is in English.
Degree project
The degree project giving 15 credits is to be carried out individually or in pairs with another student. The students are to use this project to show that they can carry out an advanced task in a methodical, scientific manner. The task may be taken from the company where one of the students works. The project is to be presented at a final seminar where another person or group will critically examine it.
Other information on the programme
Number of places: 30
Contact
For questions about programme please contact:
Jörgen Eklund, phone + 46 8 7904866
Anette Karltun, phone + 46 70 2137427
Admission and qualifications
The qualification for this programme is a basic degree comprising at least 180 higher education credits/120 credits from a Swedish institute of higher education/university, or equivalent degree from another country in one of the areas Health Science, Technology or Social Science/Behavioural Science, where at least 60 higher education credits/40 credits belong to subjects in the areas Anatomy, Physiology, Psychology, Sociology, Pedagogy, Cognitive Sciences, Production Technology or Product Development.
In addition, qualifications equivalent to Swedish B and English A are required.
Exceptions from the requirement of a basic degree may be made if an applicant is judged to meet the requirements for such a degree at the time of registering for the chosen programme. The applicant is to provide a certificate from the university/institute of higher education to prove that the current education will lead to a suitable degree or equivalent. (This is in accordance with the local KTH admission procedure.)
Selection
If there is competition for places, a selection is made whereby merit credits are awarded for the number of higher education credits already earned (max 225 higher education credits/150 credits). In addition, the applicants can increase their credits by 45 higher education credits/30 credits if they can provide evidence of 5 years’ work experience comprising at least half time employment or more.
