This paper was presented at the 2008 Engineering Conference - Innovation Good Practice and Research in Engineering Education.
Engineering the Future (EtF) is a three year project funded by EPSRC which became operational in September 2006 and which is based in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering of the University of Strathclyde and in the Departments of Electronics and Electrical Engineering and Educational Studies of the University of Glasgow. EtF seeks to address the challenges posed by the predicted shortfall between the numbers entering university engineering courses and the growing demands for graduate engineers to meet society’s needs. To do so it aims to develop a methodology which sustains transformational change in engineering education. Using Electronic and Electrical Engineering (EEE) as a pilot study and located initially in Scotland the Project’s findings will be disseminated to ensure uptake on a UK basis.
Working across disciplines with researchers policy makers practitioners and the industrial community EtF wishes to move beyond one-off events and awareness raising important as these are to embed in the education system a sustainable model of activities which:
- develop pupils’ understanding of engineering
- provide experience of engineering activities within classrooms in every school
- support learning across the school-university transition
- develop pedagogy in university to build on students’ prior knowledge and skills
- promote engineering as a career
