Impact of the Pathway in Enterprise Systems Engineering (PENS)

The Pathway in Enterprise Systems Engineering (PENS) is an innovative project that aims to establish a curriculum for enterprise systems engineering as an integrated pathway within the computer engineering programs of Palestinian and Tunisian universities. The program is supported by the European Union and is headed by Birzeit University as the coordinating institution, with Al-Quds University and the University of Monastir and the University of Sousse drawing on the experience of the directors and faculty members of similar programs at the University of Alcala, University of Cagliari, and Middlesex University. The project also includes two private-sector partners: the Palestinian Al-Andalus Software Development and the Tunisian Proxym IT, which ensures that the project’s modules, workshops, and activities present students with skills and personal networks that can be beneficial in the workplace.

At its core, the program aims to create eight courses that focus on different aspects of enterprise systems engineering: knowledge management, business intelligence, enterprise-resource planning technology, inter-organizational information systems, business process engineering, enterprise architectures, interoperability, enterprise application integration, enterprise modeling, and system thinking. Additionally, four case studies will be developed that would help present students with real-life examples and applications of the theories and frameworks that they're introduced to as part of the integrated pathway, thus helping orient the program towards a student-centered approach.

The program also features a course in digital entrepreneurship that will see the students develop management and business ideation skills for the digital world. To help faculty members support students in this field, and carry out cutting-edge research, the program offers instructors and researchers from the partner Palestinian and Tunisian institutions the chance to collaborate and train with faculty and staff members from the European universities.

Enterprise Systems Engineering is a multidisciplinary approach combining systems engineering and strategic management to address methods and approaches for aligning system architectures with enterprise business rules and the underlying IT architecture. The field focuses mainly on making development and implementation consistent with enterprise strategic objectives as well as the total enterprise system and capabilities. Against this backdrop, PENS uses the systems engineering life cycle as a framework for linking outcome-based engineering analysis and decision making with enterprise strategic objectives, addressing methods and tools for managing complexity, determining measures of effectiveness, and assessing return on investment from an engineering perspective.