LTSN engineering - a national focus

Abstract

The Learning, Teaching and Support Network (LTSN) has been set up in response to the commitment from the UK's government to enhance the quality and status of learning and teaching in higher education (HE). The LTSN consists of 24 subject centres, a Generic Centre, a Technologies Centre and an Executive, which manages and coordinates the network. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has committed its support for the program over five years from 1999-2000 and together with the HE funding bodies for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, intends to build the programme into a long-term support structure for learning and teaching in HE. In establishing the Subject Centres, the LTSN recognises that it is at the subject level that most academics network and exchange ideas. The subject centres provide support for sharing innovation and good practice in learning, teaching and assessment, collaborating with cognate subject centres and the Generic and Technologies Centres. The LTSN also supports the subject strand of the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund (TQEF), which delivers HEFCE's learning and teaching strategy through a single integrated fund. The first year's activities of LTSN Engineering have been presented together with its strategies for achieving its aim to become the national focus for the promotion of high quality engineering education in the UK. (5 pages)