The aim of the Master of Science in Engineering in Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management [MSc(Eng)(IELM)] curriculum is to offer advanced postgraduate education in industrial engineering and logistics management to graduates who hold managerial, supervisory or administrative positions in industrial and service sectors. The curriculum enables students to acquire necessary knowledge in logistics and supply chain systems and operations, operational research, ergonomics, finance, shipping law, e-commerce, and industrial data analytics. To enhance the skillset of modern industrial engineers/managers (IE), other courses such as healthcare engineering, cyber-physical systems, virtual reality, financial engineering are also offered. Also included in the curriculum is a major capstone project that aims at strengthening students’ capabilities in research or development, or both.

Essentially, IEs are involved in the design and management of operations for the production and delivery of products or services to customers. Therefore, they play a very important and direct role in providing value to their customers. Their job nature was usually, and neatly, described as the utilisation and management of the 5M, namely Machine, Man, Material, Method, and Money. However, this traditional view has been significantly challenged by recent phenomena such as de-globalisation (or trade regionalisation), greater degree of customisation of products/services, evolving digital economy, and not least, greater risks arising from geopolitics, and natural disasters. All these have greatly increased the complexity involved in the management of supply chain and logistics operations. The IELM curriculum is designed to offer students the fundamentals together with suitable specialisations, whereas the depth elements come from their R&D undertakings through capstone components within the curriculum.

The world economy is suffering from the undesirable competitions among the world’s great powers. While these threats are worrying and affecting many aspects of our lives, the opportunities for economic growth, particularly in this part of the world, are still plenty. For example, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is expected to significantly enhance the economic development in Asia Pacific. Also, the Greater Bay Area (GBA) initiative for which the HKSAR plays a unique role will provide enormous opportunities to young engineers. With the developments of various smart cities in the GBA, jobs in advanced manufacturing and logistics, innovative services of sorts, and R&D will be available to them aplenty.  Especially, IE’s contributions to these developments are underlined by their specialised capabilities in products/services realisation and delivery, in using new technologies in the design of work, etc. The IELM curriculum aims at educating IEs with such vision and competence.

Students are required to successfully complete 72 credits to graduate. The mode of study may comprise 48 credits of taught courses plus Dissertation (equivalent to 24 credits) or 60 credits of taught courses plus Project (equivalent to 12 credits).