Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers,Conference Proceedings

The views of an employer of relatively small numbers of non-university engineers are presented. These arise from a process industry which, because it is capital-intensive, demands high standards of technical and administrative ability.

Some experiences with non-university courses are given, going back to the late 1950's covering school-leavers recruited both for H.N.D. and Dip. Tech. courses. Some indications are given of the experience provided for engineers during their first few years in the organization.

The results are surveyed from the industrial viewpoint. The importance of social factors on a national scale, and the contribution of behavioural scientists to more effective utilization by industry of new systems of education for engineers, are considered.

The meaning and objectives of integrated sandwich courses are defined, including the importance of establishing the relevance of previous academic studies to a period of industrial training. The several constraints imposed on a college proposing to introduce an integrated sandwich degree course are discussed, and attention is drawn to the relative standards of skills required during industrial training, with additional reference to training in observation and in analysis and criticism of existing processes. The necessity of regular visits to students in training by the appropriate college tutors is emphasized and the object and frequency of visits is considered together with methods of assessing the training. A method of establishing comparative assessment with academic achievement is outlined. Attention is drawn to the problems of a satisfactory commencement of the project work during the final period of industrial training and a method of assessing the project in comparison with academic examination performances is suggested.

The problems of both college and industry in placing students in industrial training are discussed and reference is made to Booklet No. 5 of the Engineering Industry Training Board.

The preferred alternative route to attain the academic educational standard of the engineering profession (alternative, that is, to the normal full-time or full-time sandwich education) should be by a part-time degree course, probably C.N.A.A. degree; and such a part-time course should foster the creative potential of the student as a major objective.

The professional engineer must be broadly educated as well as technically trained. The part-time degree course must be designed to assist the student in his awareness of the human, sociological, and economic effects of his future professional work.

Courses based largely on a tutorial system could be well suited to the part-time student, who has not the time to attend a number of specified formal instruction and laboratory periods, and is in a good position to undertake individual guided creative exercises—much of them in his own time. These could often be used to introduce and illustrate the fundamentals of engineering science. Obvious examples are design work at all levels of complexity, and the selection of apparatus and instrumentation for a specified experimental investigation; possibly they could be in collaboration with the student's employment. The course could be of equal academic and intellectual level as the traditional university degree, but with greater scope for originality. Some outline suggestions are given for a part-time degree course of this type.

For many years the H.N.D. has provided a route to professional status for the more able students emerging from the O.N.C. course, and in recent years there has been a growing practice on the part of colleges to offer a post-H.N.D. course leading to a diploma or associateship of the college concerned. The College Diploma course cannot be divorced from the H.N.D. course of which it is the culmination, and in this paper the course will be considered as an entity. The historical development will be reviewed and this will be followed by an analysis of typical course structures, including entry conditions, syllabus content, and patterns of industrial and college periods. The advantages of retaining such a pattern will be outlined while the problem of the setting and maintenance of academic standards through the tutorial system and external examiners will also be discussed and a comparison made with other courses, e.g. degree courses. In particular, the problem of the relationship of the H.N.D. with C.N.A.A. degree courses will be examined and the case for C.E.I. recognition of appropriate College Diploma courses will be argued.

We have a task to prepare the engineer for the environment in which he has to operate, but he needs to be introduced to the whole of the environment and not merely the technical aspect. Integration of practical and theoretical training should seek to explore the total environment by exploiting the developing qualities of the man. He needs to gain an appreciation of skills, of the functions of the control departments, and of the sales and marketing departments. The methods adopted to gain this appreciation may be wrong; it might be better to think of them as complementary but with each allowing for and exploiting the natural training aspects of the other.

This paper discusses the various types of engineering activity and their corresponding types of education, within broad definitions. The danger of stating an over-rigid definition of purposes is discussed, and methods of preventing this hazard are considered. The general trend of systems adopted by educational establishments is given, together with extracts from recent reports on engineering education. Some comments are also presented on an American summary of the future requirements for the engineering industry there.

The paper gives some recommendations that may be considered in an attempt to produce a clearer definition of the objectives envisaged for any particular engineering course.

The Charter granted to C.E.I. calls for those wishing to become Chartered Engineers to have passed the Council's examination, which is to be at a standard not lower than that of a U.K. degree, or to have been exempted from it by a degree level qualification. While most professional engineers are expected to qualify by exemption, the examination provides a yardstick for assessment of exempting qualifications, and a net for those who miss the opportunity to study to degree level through the usual routes. These routes are described, together with the policy for recognition of exemptions, with provision for interim arrangements.

The examination is intended to provide a broad common foundation in Part 1 for later studies in Part 2 which can be specialized to a greater or lesser degree. The pattern of the examination and its evolution is discussed. Mention is made of entry requirements, subjects to be taken at each session, part-time preparation, referment, interim provision for taking two Part 2 subjects in certain circumstances, and of the compulsory subject ‘The Engineer in Society’.

This paper suggests three possible alternative routes to professional status for mechanical engineers, other than by obtaining a university or C.N.A.A. degree. Stress has been put on the importance of engineering design and a case is made for a new approach to teaching engineering at the undergraduate level. Finally, a plea is made for retaining a thesis route for those of mature years and approved experience who, for some reason or other, have failed to acquire the required academic qualifications.

The requirements to be met by a polytechnic are reviewed and the probable pattern of mechanical engineering courses in the polytechnics is considered. The general structure of mechanical engineering sandwich courses is mentioned, and reference is made to the inclusion of design and project work and to the importance of the associated industrial training. The recruitment of students is examined and the feasibility of the transfer of students between courses is discussed. Mention is also made of the attitude towards research. The relationships of the polytechnics with the C.N.A.A., industry, the universities, and other colleges are considered, and the desirability of links between the polytechnics is examined.

The Engineering Industry Training Board's Booklet No. 5, ‘The training of professional engineers’, defines the five essential elements of planned courses of training for student engineers. These elements are outlined and their application to various patterns of engineering education and training is discussed. Some problems arising with certain types of sandwich courses are examined and the need for flexible interpretation of the Board's recommendations is stressed.