Engineering graduates for industry - Royal Academy of Engineering

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Engineering graduates for industry The relationships formed with industrialists have led to the recent establishment of a RAEng Visiting Teaching Fellow in the Faculty. The engCETL Panel presides over the competitive bidding process for engineering and technology staff that allocates the Centre’s staff resources to teaching projects. In addition to the internal projects, staff routinely place bids for externally funded projects. One project is WebPA, developed to provide an online method of assessing individual contributions to group work. The Centre also works closely with the co-located Engineering Subject Centre. HEFCE capital funding enabled relocation to new accommodation which combined office space and teaching rooms. The teaching space was designed specifically for group design projects following consultation with students, industry and academics. Perceived benefits The Centre is seen as being responsive to the needs of academics and supportive through the implementation phases of their teaching innovations. The seconded academic system has worked very effectively 74 . The engCETL staff, funded PhD students and the seconded academics constitute a substantial research group whose activity has raised the profile of the Centre, both nationally and internationally. The teaching space that the new engCETL accommodation provides has drawn new academics and their students into the Centre. The 2008 institutional audit team reported that “engCETL has been instrumental in the provision of newly developed design teaching space. Engineering students […] were particularly enthusiastic about the facilities […] Their collaborative project with industry was another benefit provided through engCETL’s extensive industrial network.” Challenges At all stages, Centre staff have had to ensure that activities are driven by the needs of academic staff and their students. Strategically, the Centre must have the unequivocal support of senior staff within the Faculty and work to ensure strong support from the University’s senior management team. Dependence on intermittent, external funding raises understandable concerns over job security. Both these factors bring challenges for recruitment and retention of skilled staff. 74 Tolley H. (2006) engCETL: the experiences thus far of its seconded academics, evaluation report. www.engcetl.ac.uk/downloads/research/evaluation/engcetl_seconded_academics_report.doc The Royal Academy of Engineering 39
5. Experience-led components of engineering degrees The case studies described in Section 4 clearly demonstrate that the successful delivery of experience-led components within engineering degrees depends on a strong tripartite relationship between staff, students and industry (see Figure 2). The three way interactions impact directly on both teaching and curriculum development. These relationships work in unique ways within each university and the case studies reveal resulting variations in the scale and impact of the experience-led activities on offer. Experience-led activities identified as occurring at some or all of the case study universities are summarised in Table 2: The table lists the components in order of effectiveness and hence priority, as judged by the Oversight Group on the basis of the available evidence. The benefits to the student learning experience are also given, based on the findings of the case studies and additional evidence in published literature. Figure 2: Relationships between academic staff, students and industry for experience-led engineering degree programmes 40 The Royal Academy of Engineering
Page 1 and 2: Engineering graduates for industry
Page 3 and 4: Acknowledgements The authors would
Page 5 and 6: scientific and technical understand
Page 7 and 8: Contents A commentary i Executive s
Page 9 and 10: One size doesn’t fit all Learning
Page 11 and 12: Resources matter New teaching metho
Page 13 and 14: 1. Introduction Graduates in STEM a
Page 15 and 16: Table 1: Summary of case study inst
Page 17 and 18: Employers have recently expressed c
Page 19 and 20: employers and their satisfaction wi
Page 21 and 22: 4. Case studies The six full length
Page 23 and 24: For several years the Computer Scie
Page 25 and 26: Two of the utility companies involv
Page 27 and 28: students. It is believed that a hos
Page 29 and 30: that provides a much broader form o
Page 31 and 32: expand in the UK. Another developme
Page 33 and 34: During the running of the project,
Page 35 and 36: Understanding the needs of industry
Page 37 and 38: Effective practice exemplar 9: Use
Page 39 and 40: There are major redevelopments occu
Page 41 and 42: CEREB will provide hands-on learnin
Page 43 and 44: company. Students keep a log book o
Page 45: individual research project with th
Page 49 and 50: It was frequently cited that the ex
Page 51 and 52: Figure 3: First career destinations
Page 53 and 54: More generally, all relevant bodies
Page 55 and 56: Examples of radical change include
Page 57 and 58: equipment with consequent benefits
Page 59 and 60: Exemplar 10. Understanding stakehol
Page 61 and 62: From the universities’ perspectiv
Page 63 and 64: Recommendation 2 Preferential ring-
Page 65 and 66: Professor David Nethercot OBE FREng
Page 67 and 68: APPENDIX 3: Report on costing of en
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Page 73 and 74: APPENDIX 6: Report on the Suitabili
Page 75: universities and industry in this a

Engineering graduates for industry - Royal Academy of Engineering

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