Engineering Professors’ Council w Newsletter June 2010 The Future of Engineering Education Congress 2010 Professor Barry Clarke The Engineering Professors’ Council held its President, EPC annual Congress in Loughborough on 13-14 April. The EPC is faced with a major challenge, which is This issues of the newsletter includes the to promote the role of keynote speech given by Professor Sir William engineering education and Wakeham , and reports by the session chairs on research at a time of the Congress debates, which focused on immense challenges to the environment, the economy • and society. It is for this reason that EPC has Incentivising excellence; been working with other bodies to ensure that • Internationalisation; and our views are represented across a broad • Future Funding. spectrum of government, civil service, professional institutions and industry. In the last Further information about the Congress, twelve months we have contributed to the House including all presentations, is on the EPC website: of Lords Science and Technology Committee, the Select Committee for Business, Innovation and www.epc.ac.uk/publications/meetings/presentat Skills, HEFCE, EPSRC, QAA and the Browne ions.php?id=56 . Review. We also supported the need for the Next year’s Congress will be held at London South Bank University. New EPC Vice -President and elected Committee members Science and Technology Select Committee to be reinstated; this has happened, thus providing a At the EPC’s AGM, held during the Congress in focus for engineering within government. We Loughborough, the EPC elected have written to all the MPs with an interest in Professor Helen Atkinson science and engineering and invited them to a as Vice-President / President Elect – the first reception in autumn so that we can explain the woman to be elected Vice-President in the history role of EPC in supporting them in promoting engineering and science in government. This is in of the EPC. addition to the programme of science literacy inductions that are to be run for new MPs An election was held for three ordinary members because of the concern that parliament needs to of the Committee. The following were elected: fully understand the consequences of political Professor Jonathan Cooper decisions on engineering and scientific matters. Professor Kamel Hawwash The appointment of David Willetts as Minister of Professor Rob Krams State for Universities and Science in the See pages 7ff for biographical notes on Professor Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is welcome because of his long standing Atkinson and the new Committee members, and interest in education, but this is tinged with the last page for the complete list of the concern of further cuts to higher education and Committee for 2010-2011. research council funding. While David Cameron EPC Newsletter June 2010 Page 1 The coalition government has made a commitment to STEM subjects with the aim of increasing the number of STEM graduates in universities. The decision on future funding will be based on the outcome of the Browne Review using the criteria to increase social mobility; to impact on student debt; to ensure a properly funded university sector; to improve the quality of teaching; to advance scholarship; and to attract a higher proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Much of this was highlighted by the last government in the Higher Ambitions report published in 2009. Presenting the President’s Prize for Services Overall the coalition government appear to view to Engineering Education to Lord Broers at science as an integral part of the economic the EPC Congress dinner, Barry Clarke said, recovery and vital to a healthy modern society, “Lord Broers is an internationally recognised which implies that science and engineering must engineer who has an outstanding history of contribute to government planning. There is a championing engineering education and need to inspire young people to pursue careers in research through his leadership roles at the engineering and science and to ensure that University of Cambridge, the Royal Academy university research has economic and social of Engineering, the House of Lords and the impact as this is fundamental to the economic US National Academy of Sciences. These recovery model. Hence the important role EPC have had a significant impact on EPC has in ensuring that our voice is heard. members’ work which is being demonstrated through the shift in the higher education agenda as members start to address the Engineering graduates for industry grand challenges that face society.” Professor Sir William Wakeham FREng In his article in stated that there is a need to invest in the science the last EPC base it is not clear that the science budgets will Newsletter be ring-fenced. The last government indicated (October 2009), they expected to see greater industry investment the Rt Hon in universities. This is likely to continue David Lammy emphasising the need for university research and MP said education to have impact. Impact is also “During this important for the forthcoming REF but it is not time of clear when the REF will take place. The TSB and turbulence and Research Councils will have a role to play in focused funding to ensure impact. There is likely uncertainty, it to be increased focus on a multi-disciplinary has been approach to research and education to address constantly brought home to me how the global challenges. However, all the important higher education is, to the society indications are it will be the research community of the UK, and to its economy, and how that will control the allocation of funds given important is the contribution of engineering.” their expertise; therefore EPC has role to play in This is a message that has been repeated in ensuring that engineering research delivers the numerous recent reports. solutions EPC Newsletter June 2010 Page 2 The Engineering graduates for industry report practice outlined in these case studies as (http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/publications inspiration. /list/reports/Engineering_graduates_for_ind • Significant time and energy should be ustry_report.pdf, February 2010), directed towards building, enhancing and commissioned by the Department for sustaining university/industry Business, Innovation and Skills, is therefore partnerships. timely as it identifies how to encourage and • Investment in experience-led HE enable universities to develop engineering engineering is required to deliver the courses that better meet the needs of higher skills needed. industry. Industry seeks engineering graduates who have “practical experience of Experience-led engineering degrees benefit 1 real industrial environments” and with these students and industry alike, helping to recruit needs in mind, the report focuses on and retain young people in engineering ‘experience-led’ 2 teaching, designed and education and supporting economic recovery delivered mainly in partnership with industry and future prosperity. However, the and business. The study took in a wide range implementation of experience-led of experience-led higher education engineering degrees requires universities to engineering provision - from intensively review their priorities and develop research-led programmes to employer-led innovative, sustained partnerships between foundation degrees in a broad range of universities, business and industry. The university types and engineering disciplines. report acknowledges that the introduction of The 15 exemplars of experience-led teaching experience-led components into engineering range in scale from an individual module to a degrees will require funding, both for capital complete faculty and from incremental, investment and to cover recurrent costs. small-scale interventions to wholesale, With reducing teaching budgets, this clearly radical change. The research was conducted poses a serious challenge for universities, by the Higher Education Academy particularly as, among those universities Engineering Subject Centre, steered by studied, the funding of engineering degree engineering professors of substance with the programmes already falls short of what is study overseen through a Royal Academy of needed by an average of 15%. Engineering committee of senior industrialists and academics. In summary, the UK needs the best possible graduate engineers in order to underpin the Analysis of the case studies found that future of the UK, as a society, as an economy experience-led teaching makes a valuable, and as an agent of global progress. high impact contribution to the education of Experience-led teaching is, in our view, a vital engineering undergraduates, supporting a component of educating the best engineers range of skills that industry needs. The report to support all these aims and needs to be makes three recommendations: embedded and supported as a matter of • Experience counts and relevance priority. motivates. Experience-led components must be embedded into every engineering degree, using the effective 1 The Royal Academy of Engineering, Educating Engineers for the 21 st Century, 2007 2 Components of an engineering degree which develop industry-related skills including, but not limited to, direct interaction with industry EPC Newsletter June 2010 Page 3 Congress Session 1: setting academic standards and the Incentivising Excellence questions that it is now asking as it looks to the future. Not surprisingly, his presentation Professor Ray Allen provoked a great deal of discussion centring EPC Committee around