Current Activities
Among the EPC's current activities are:
Annual Congress
An annual meeting at which university professors of engineering take part in an informal exchange of ideas about engineering education, research and other matters of common interest.
Representatives' Meetings
An annual meeting for EPC Representatives which focuses on EPC initiatives.
Working Parties
These are established to address particular issues, recent examples of which have been in the areas of quality assurance, open learning and, currently, in the development of assured measurement of output standards.
Where appropriate the activities and reports of these Working parties have been brought to a wider audience through publication as EPC Occasional Papers.
Output Standards Project
This project aims to provide a methodology by which engineering graduate output standards can be both defined and expressed.
Anxious not to undertake the work in isolation, EPC established an advisory group with a broad representation, including members from the Engineering Employers Federation, the Engineering Council, the Department for Education and Employment and the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA).
The EPC has worked closely with the QAA Engineering Benchmark exercise, and has linked and compared the EPC Standard with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) National Key Skills Standard and those of the Occupational standards Council for Engineering (OSCEng) and the Construction Industry Standards Council (CISC). However the EPC work is an independent project with the EPC taking full responsibility for its direction and outcomes.
The objective of the EPC output standards project is to design an output standard model that meets the following criteria
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it is a set of generic statements which articulates the output standard of engineering graduates;
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it is acceptable to government, industry, professional institutions, university departments, and the graduates themselves;
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it can be used when it is necessary for these different groups to communicate with one another on the subject of output standards.
The EPC expectation is that if such a model can be identified, accepted and used, a conventional peer group process will take place from which will emerge a consensus view of the acceptable level of the output standard for graduates from the wide variety of engineering programmes that are available.
A report of the work has been published as an EPC Occasional Paper (No. 10 Dec 2000).
The Engineering Professor's Council Engineering Graduate Output Standards
The Generic Ability to Statements
Definitions
Scholarships and Placements in France
Réseau "n+i" Engineering Institute(s)
The n + i programme provides engineering students with an opportunity to work and study in France.
It is a fully-organised and flexible exchange programme offering academic and industrial placement enabling British and Irish students to study in France for the Master en Science et en Ingenierie or the Diplome d'Ingenieur.
All tuition costs are met for n + i students and scholarships are available on a competitive basis to meet the cost of living in France.
The student experience comprises:
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an optional intensive French language course prior to studies in France; |
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a special 12 week transition semester, tailor-made for foreign students, providing the linguistic, technical and cultural preparation needed for studies in France; |
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a period of study in a French engineering school including supported company project placements and visits to production sites; |
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option for further study in European Management or Entrepreneurship. |
n + i has a high profile in France and is managed by the Conference des Directeurs d'Ecoles et Formation d'Ingenieurs [CDEFI]. EPC is acting as a channel of communication and commends the programme to its members.
For further information please refer to the website www.nplusi.com.
Entente Cordiale Scholarships
This is a scholarship scheme for outstanding British and French postgraduate students who wish to study or carry out research on the other side of the channel . Apparently, there is a dearth of engineering students applying for these scholarships.
For more information refer to www.francealacarte.org.uk/entente.
Interaction With Other Bodies
EPC holds regular meetings with a variety of organisations, including the Engineering Council and the professional engineering institutions, to exchange views on matters of mutual interest. One-off meetings are also held with other bodies, such as the Quality Assurance Agency, on specific issues.