Developing global university partnerships for work based learning professional engineering programmes

Bill Glew, Programme DirectorMSc Professional Engineering

www.aston.ac.uk

Aston University

Based in Birmingham, England’s 2nd largest cityA reputation for teaching excellence, employer engagement and graduate employability. Small (< 10,000 students) but ambitious.

2000 to 2010 – A period of change

Changing HE environment in UKExpansion

Changing graduate employment marketChanging role of UK in global economyRequires a balancing act of:

QualityContentQuantityCost

Employer Engagement

Mass participation in higher education is unsustainable unless higher education can create wealth to support the costs of mass participation.

Wealth is generated by employment systems, and so higher education should focus on employment skills.

2011 / 2012

League tables have changed the context.Universities now need to provide a “student centred” experience.The introduction of significantly higher fees in 2012 will reinforce this.Major ongoing investment in facilities.Expansion at top end and bottom end of range and a squeeze in the middle.Universities are not yet businesses – but they are becoming a lot more like them than they were.

School of Engineering Strategy

Expansion through collaboration and partnershipsDevelop a range of new types of courses using more teaching and learning methods appropriate to 21st centuryMain themes:

Full time programmes using CDIOPart time programmes using work based learning

UK Engineering Professional Structure

36 Professional Engineering InstitutionsOverseen by the Engineering Council who hold the a register of Professional EngineersBased on a set of national competence standards (output based)

Levels of Professional Status

CEng

IEng

EngTech

% varies from company tocompany

MSc Professional Engineering

A raised academic standard for Chartered Engineer status to Masters level or equivalent Declining number of students enrolling on engineering courses and fewer universities teaching engineeringIntroduction of student feesResulting in a steady decline in the number of engineers applying for registration as Chartered EngineerIn the context of an advanced technology economy aspiring to maintain its engineering reputation action urgently needed to reverse this trend

Programme Aims

Create world class professional engineers who:

Have high levels of technical expertiseAre leaders with visionHave creativity and can innovate Can analyse difficult problems and deliver solutionsAre able to manage continuous organisational improvement

Engineering Council Website

Key Features

Each participant has their own unique programmeIt is about learning not teachingLearning takes place in the workplaceIt combines academic learning and engineering competence development in a single programme.It’s about thinking and doing at the same time; combining theory with practice; = “professional”.Requires creative and reflective thinking.

Theoretical Conceptualisation

Model Building

Application

Benchmarking

Theory

Practice

Theory Practice

Theory with Practice

Using

to inform

Theoretical Conceptualisation

Model Building

Application

Benchmarking

Theory

Practice

Theory Practice

Theory with Practice

Using

to inform

Professional

Levels of Reflection

Critical Reflection

Reflective Dialogue

Descriptive Reflection

Descriptive Writing

Chartered Engineer and M level

Mentoring dialogue

Most student enter at this level

Critical Reflection

Multi-perspective, probably involving moral and ethical consideration.Challenging of assumptions and “taken-for-granteds”. Systematic reframing of complex problems.Tacit to explicit knowledge generation.Thinking about thinking; learning about learning.

“Student” Support Structure

Student (Participant)

Professional Supervisor

Academic Supervisor

Programme Administrator

Workplace Mentor

Recruitment Numbers

The Global Need for Engineers

The world needs millions of young, creative and dynamic professional engineers to overcome the challenges of the 21st century.They will not come from the normal existing system of higher education.They will not come from the old western developed economies of the 20th century. There is an obligation on the existing engineering higher education community of practice to find new ways to develop these engineers from across the whole world.

The Challenges

CalculusThermodynamicsCircuitsStaticsFluid mechanicsMaterialsChemistryPhysicsBiology

HungerPovertyWarNatural disastersEnvironmentClimate Change

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A New Global Perspective

Our 2020 Vision

A group of like-minded world class universities collaborating together to provide global organisations with professional development programmes for global engineers.Working together to built common approaches to the technical challenges of the 21st century.Challenging the normal academic hierarchy as represented by existing global league tables.

South East Asia Cluster