Engineering Professors’ Council

Mathematics Working Group Report – December 2007

Engineering Diploma Level 3

Since the last EPC committee meeting, interest in developing the additional mathematics material needed within the new Diplomas to enable them to feed into engineering degrees has continued to grow and further requests to join the special Task Group addressing this issue have been received. The basic approach being taken – i.e. one or more modules based on the well-tried Loughborough University Foundation Year supplemented by industry-based exemplars for each topic – was endorsed strongly at the very successful conference held on 30th October aimed primarily at HE Admissions Tutors. As this conference was oversubscribed, a second HE conference is already being planned for 1st February 2008, and a third is being considered aimed specifically at FE teaching staff.

In the light of feedback from the conference together with further discussion within the Task Group (including feedback from Awarding Bodies) it has been decided to maintain the curriculum proposed but increase the notional learning hours from 120 GLH to 180 GLH (in addition to the 60 GLH in the Principal Learning). The task group is now confident that the demands to be placed on both students and staff are reasonable.

Work on the exemplars continues and a job advert has been placed to recruit an engineer to oversee the implementation. A fixed term one year contract is being offered funded by the DCSF. The post will be located in the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Discussions are continuing with the Awarding Bodies who have expressed interest in developing our proposals into a full curriculum specification, the next meeting being on 19th December.

Attached is a ‘laymans guide’ to the need for mathematics within the Engineering Diploma requested by the shadow spokesman for FE.

(Full) Mathematics Working Group

Despite the focus on the Engineering Diploma, the full Maths Working Group has continued to meet and agreed at its most recent meeting to continue to let ministers know the negative effects that school targets are having on the uptakes of mathematics, and to make an input to the Review of Standards in GCSE and GCE Mathematics that the QCA is about to commence.  

Future Plans

The full Mathematics Working Group will continue to meet for the foreseeable future although the future of the special Diploma Task Group will be reviewed when the first Diplomas commence in September 2008. However, it should be remembered that this first tranche (including Engineering) are to be treated as ‘pilots’. 

FJM  5.12.07.