EPC

1
EPC

• 2008 Annual General Meeting
• Presidents Report
• Professor Ray Allen

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EPC Engineering Professors Council

• Formed in 1994 from predecessor bodies
• Engineering Professors Conference (1959)
• Committee for Engineering in Polytechnics (1981)
• Almost every Engineering University in the UK a
  member
• Subscription basis
• Every senior engineering academic can participate
• Professorial status not necessary
• We exist to promote excellence in Engineering
  Higher Education

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What do we do?

• Communicate
• despite the well known negatives, Engineering in
  UK HE has an enormous capacity for excellence
• We try to let the world know this
• Lobby
• Policy makers tend to overlook
• Engineering in the context of science
• HE in the context of industry
• We try to correct this

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What do we do?

• Lead
• The best way of keeping control is to take the
  lead
• We provide thought-leadership in issues likely to
  be of significance
• Inform
• Senior academic staff need information, a place
  to talk about common problems and develop
  (common?) positions
• We provide the mechanisms for this
• We are independent of University management

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Matrix Structure

• Sectoral Groups
• Aerospace
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Computing
• Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Manufacturing Engineering

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Matrix Structure

• Working groups
• Admissions Dik Morling.
• Assessment Fred Maillardet
• Cost of Teaching Helen Atkinson
• Ethics Raffaella Ocone
• Finance Ray Allen
• Future Engineering Degree Barry Clarke
• International Clive Neal-Sturgess
• Mathematics Fred Maillardet

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Activities EPC Meetings

• Assessment Group
• Workshops in September and October 2007.
• International Conference planned Nov 27th 2008
• Admissions
• Recruiting International Students, May 2007
• Tutors Seminar planned for 7th May 2008
• International Group
• Seminar planned for July 2008
• Bologna Seminar Planned for September 2008
• Ethics
• Engineering Ethics and Accreditation, March 2008
• Teaching Engineering Ethics, !0th April 2008

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Major Consultation Submissions

• The Sainsbury Review
• HEFCE Assessment and Funding of Higher Education
  Research (Research Excellence Framework)
• DIUS Select Committee Enquiry into Engineering

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Other External Contacts

• Correspondence with Margaret Hodge (DTI)
• Discussions with RAE on Educating Engineers for
  the 21st Century
• Maths Diploma Interactions with DCSF
• Letter in Guardian re DIUS Select Committee
  retaining Science in its title (with CaSE)
• Meeting with Rick Joiner, President of UUK
• Paper presented on Admissions work, IEEE
  conference Munich Nov 2007

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Highlights of Year (I)

• True Cost of Teaching Report
• Led by Helen Atkinson, Joint with ETB
• www.epc.ac.uk/publications/meetings/presentations
• External Consultants studied 4 Departments
• Systematic Funding defecit, excl need to update
  equip
• Overseas Fees importance
• Student learning experience increasingly under
  threat
• Scope for efficiency savings now limited

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Highlights of Year (II)

• Engineering Diploma Mathematics
• Major accomplishment led by Fred Mailardet on
  behalf of EPC
• Resulted in complete turnaround of the
  Engineering Diploma

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Highlights of Year (III)

• Research Excellence Framework Consultation
  Response
• Led by Tony Unsworth
• Team effort by whole Committee
• Participation by Community
• Well received
• quotes in Guardian
• Other organisations used ours as a model
• Ongoing Issue

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Highlights of Year (IV)

• Finance
• September 2007 Retreat on Strategy
• 50 year history but ad hoc management
• Need to be incorporated as a legal entity
• Need to set finances on a firm foundation
• For the future, income not commensurate with
  activity

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Highlights of Year (V)

• Finance
• Problems with office rental location
• Need for enhanced staffing
• Need to pay researchers
• Finance Working Group Estimates that we need an
  extra 35k pa to live comfortably

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Special Thanks to

• Tony Unsworth
• Helen Atkinson
• Fred Maillardet
• Roger Green and Vicki
• All Committee Members
• Fiona and Vicky

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Working Group Presentations

• Admissions Dik Morling.
• Assessment Fred Maillardet
• Ethics Raffaella Ocone
• Future Engineering Degree Barry Clarke
• Mathematics Fred Maillardet

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EPC Admissions Working Group

• Collects, promotes and disseminates marketing and
  recruitment information
• Annual seminars for admission tutors
• Special session at Congress last year
• Supports initiatives which promote engineering in
  schools and colleges
• Starting an investigation into the problems of
  students transiting from schools to university

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Admission Tutors Seminar7 May 2008Royal
Academy of Engineering, London

• The School Maths curriculum
• The 14-19 Engineering Diploma
• The student experience
• Transition to university
• Student retention
• Overseas recruitment trends

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Supporting Initiatives

• The London Engineering Project (LEP)
• National roll-out will be STEM-wide
• Engineering, Maths, Physics Chemistry
• Further Maths Network
• Raising awareness of engineering as a great
  mathematical career
• The EEA . . .

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EEA Shape the Future

• Engineering Educational Alliance (EEA) 2005
  Report Attracting more entrants into the World
  of Engineering
• 2007 Directory Shape the Future
• Single Engineering Message below the age of 16
  agreed by G15
• General agreement that a longitudinal study of
  the shaping of attitudes to engineering through
  schools to university is required
• Funding is being sought for a large study
• This may entail broadening the study to all STEM
  subjects

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Transition to University

• Transferring from school to university can be a
  traumatic experience
• Difference in teaching learning styles
• Especially for students without family experience
  of HE
• We want to learn more about the student
  experience of this transition
• Plan to run a survey of freshers this autumn
• Especially interested in the different experience
  of campus-resident students versus home-resident
  students

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How Can You Help?

• Inform departmental admission tutors of the
  Admission Tutors Seminar on 7th May
• Encourage your department to get involved with
  the Further Maths Network centres as well as
  local schools and colleges
• Take part in transition survey

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Assessment of Learning Outcomes in Engineering

• 2000 The EPC Engineering Graduate Output
  Standard
• 2002 Assessment of Complex Outcomes
• plus other follow on reports
• 2006 Subject Benchmark Statement
• Unfinished business in Assessment?
• 2007 Working Group formed with ECuk and HEA
  Engineering Subject Centre

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ALOE actions in 2007/8

• Series of workshops held on Level Descriptors,
  Programme Design and Degree Accreditation issues
• ALOE website established to hold material
  produced by the group plus links to other
  relevant assessment material
• Supported Student-centred Learning in Small
  Groups symposium at Loughborough
• Provides the Steering Group for the EASIMAP
  JISC-funded project to record assessment

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ALOE future plans

• Responding to further requests for workshops,
  particularly from Prof. Bodies
• Monitoring and publishing case study material
• Mounting an International Conference on ALOE on
  27th 28th November 2008 in London

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• Thank you for listening
• www.aloe.ac.uk
• www.epc.ac.uk
• f.j.maillardet_at_brighton.ac.uk

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The TEEG

• The Teaching Engineering Ethics Group (TEEG) is
  jointly managed by The RAEng and the EPC. It is a
  group of academics involved in the teaching of
  engineering ethics
• The aim of the group is to give advice on how to
  teach engineering ethics and how to incorporate
  ethics into the engineering degree
• The TEEG group works closely with the
  Interdisciplinary Ethics Applied Centre for
  Excellence in Teaching and Learning and the
  Higher Education Academys Engineering Subject

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Activities

• The Curriculum Map
• Case Studies
• Accreditation

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The Map
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Principles

• Map is a guide - not a prescription
• Emphasis is on integration in existing
  engineering topics
• Helps to create a distinct theme of engineering
  ethics in a course

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The Future

• Organise Events
• Learn from people who are involved in teaching
  ethics to engineers (10 April, Leeds, organised
  by CETL)
• Case Studies
• CETL website http//www.engsc.ac.uk/er/ethics/eth
  icscases.asp but much more needs to be done!
• Accreditation
• Work with professional institutions

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Future of Engineering EducationBackground

• Governments drive towards skill based education
  through work experience
• Implementation of the Leitch report
• Creation of the Innovation Nation
• RAEs view of the 21st Century engineering
  education
• Sector Skills Councils developing qualification
  frameworks
• EC(UK)s revision of UK Spec
• Professional institutions guidelines for
  integration of skills within a technical
  framework
• Demands of industry for increased engagement with
  universities
• International recognition of engineering education

Promoting Excellence in Engineering Higher
Education
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Future of Engineering EducationAims

• Engage all organisations that are engaged in
  future of engineering education
• EPC members, EC(UK). DBERR, DIUS,
  ConstructionSkills, SEMTA, RAE, ICE, IChemE,
  IMechE, IET,
• Terms of reference
• Establish current and future trends
• Develop an overview of the trends
• Give guidance to EPC members and those
  organisations that are seeking to influence the
  education of engineers.

Promoting Excellence in Engineering Higher
Education
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Mathematics Working Group

• Decade of concern over falling maths standards
  reported at Annual Congress
• Virtual Working Group formed in 2001
• Real Working Group formed in 2006
• To improve the general standard of mathematics
  of entrants to university engineering degree
  courses

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Membership

• Initial membership
• IMA, LMS, HoDoMs, HEA Engineering Subject
  Centre, IoP, Deans of Science, UCAS
• During 2008
• NCETM, QCA joined
• Visitors invited to present on specific issues
  e.g. SEMTA

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Actions

• Support for Functional Maths developments
• Engagement with QCA over curriculum changes
• Support for IMA More Maths Grads
• Participation in ACME conferences
• Support for Further Maths Network
• Input to Cambridge Pre-University Syllabus
  proposals

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New Engineering Diploma Level Three

• Initial concern over amount of maths, lack of
  teacher support and real industrial backing
• Dedicated Maths Task Group formed co-ordinated by
  EPC and ESC
• Proposed an optional maths module for those
  seeking to progress to HE
• Each topic will be supported by an exemplar
  demonstrating industrial applications

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Diploma Actions

• Dr Sapna Somani appointed with DCSF funding to
  develop the exemplars in conjunction with
  industrial companies
• Series of workshops being run to inform the range
  of stakeholders
• Working directly with Awarding Bodies and QCA to
  mount the module in September 2008

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• Thank you for listening
• www.epc.ac.uk
• f.j.maillardet_at_brighton.ac.uk

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Treasurers Report

• Ian Whyte

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Receipts 71028 Payments 66792 Excess
payments/receipts 4246 Bank Assets, 1/8/06
72087 Add excess 4246 Bank Assets 31/07/07
76087 Petty cash 251 Summary 76333
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Assets at Bank
2002
2004
2006
2008
2007
2005
2003
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Assets at Bank
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EPC Future financial risks

• EPC office costs
• Salary and other costs
• Travel inflation

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EPS - Subscriptions
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Incorporation

• Proposed to Incorporate EPC as a Company Limited
  by Guarantee
• Makes us a proper legal entity
• We can hold leases, contracts of employment etc
• Limits liability of Committee members
• and
• We can get credit card facilities!

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Incorporation Process

• Prepare Memorandum and Articles of Association
• Submit to Companies House
• (a) the memorandum and articles
• (b) A Form 10, which lists the officers and the
  registered office.
• (c) A Form 12, a statutory declaration of
  compliance with the legal requirements for
  forming a company. 
• (d) A Form 30(5)(a), a statutory declaration that
  the conditions for not including "limited" in our
  name are satisfied. 
• (e) 20.

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Impact on EPC Activities

• Very small
• Continue taking good quality minutes
• Prepare Annual Officers Report
• File our accounts at Companies House every year
  (audit not necessary)
• Keep Companies House updated with list of
  Officers
• No other extra cost implications

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Memorandum Articles of Association

• Replace and duplicate our Existing Constitution
• Near final copies available prepared by a top
  practising solicitor at no charge to EPC
• On-going legal advice available during
  incorporation
• Draft footnotes show origin of wording, a mix of
• Our existing constitution
• Standard company registration forms
• Charity Commission Regulations

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Motion

• This Annual General Meeting Instructs the
  Committee and its Officers to take the steps
  necessary to incorporate EPC as a Company
  Limited by Guarantee

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Membership of EPC

• Take advantage of the Incorporation to add some
  degrees of Flexibility to our membership
  regulations
• Two areas of particular focus
• Definition of a University
• Industrial contacts

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Motion

• This AGM confirms that University Membership of
  EPC shall be open to
• A university or higher education institution,
  normally having degree awarding powers, or such
  other engineering teaching or research
  institution that the EPC Committee shall
  determine to be appropriate for admission to
  membership.

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Interactions with Industry

• We have occasional offers from Industry to work
  more closely with us
• We have confined these to sponsorship of specific
  activities eg
• Congresses
• EEF with Learning Outcomes work
• We have no mechanism by which Industry can
  provide financial support on a recurring basis
• Our projected deficit is small change to the
  industries to which we are supplying graduates
• Similar considerations apply to other
  organisations eg Professional bodies

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Proposal

• Introduce a new category of membership The
  Corporate Member to provide an opportunity for a
  non University organisation to sponsor us on an
  annual basis. Corporate Members will be
• Engineering companies and professional bodies
  active in engineering education or research and
  such other organisations as the EPC Committee
  shall deem fit.

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Proposal Corporate Members

• Can attend and speak but not vote at AGM
• Selected individuals can be co-opted on to
  Committee (at the Committees sole discretion)
• Elected academic/other balance retained as now
• Can participate in other EPC meetings as now
• Will be charged a membership fee in the range
  500 to 1,000 annually

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Motion

• This AGM confirms that EPC should offer Corporate
  Membership to non-university organisations.