Abstract
The paper presents an evaluation of an MSc in Structural Integrity co-produced by Brunel University London and industry partner The Welding Institute (TWI), designed to supply ‘work-ready’ graduates. Pre-, mid- and post-course quantitative surveys were administered to students, and two mid-term focus groups were conducted. Pre- and post-course quantitative surveys were administered to industry supervisors. Seventy-seven per cent of students chose the MSc because it was co-designed with industry. Student expectations of the course and skills attainment were largely met; hopes for employment decreased due to a downturn in the oil and gas industry; industry supervisors were ‘bridging scientists’ between Brunel and TWI for largely altruistic reasons. The paper concludes that being ‘work-ready’ is composed of technical and ‘soft’ skills, employer engagement being important for the latter. It recommends integrating group-placed students with industry employees, including within social spaces; and tax incentives for employers engaging with postgraduate training provision.
Highlights
A 2010 report for the UK’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) observed that while postgraduate education was valuable for UK economic growth and international competitiveness, ‘HEIs [Higher Education Institutions] need to be more pro-active in providing postgraduates with the opportunity to develop the core competencies they need to succeed in a competitive job market’, ensuring ‘transferable skills training is embedded as standard in the funding and design of all postgraduate research programmes’ (BIS 2010, 6)
In 2013 the UK’s Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) launched its Postgraduate Support Scheme (PSS), a £25 million publicly funded competitive programme to stimulate initiatives promoting postgraduate taught education, among under-represented groups,1 in areas aligned with government growth strategies
We discuss whether the aim of producing ‘work-ready’ employable students in this specialised area of engineering was met; explore key issues that arose during the delivery of the course; and provide recommendations for future course delivery, contributing to literature on higher education management and policy
Summary
In 2013 the UK’s Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) launched its Postgraduate Support Scheme (PSS), a £25 million publicly funded competitive programme to stimulate initiatives promoting postgraduate taught education, among under-represented groups, in areas aligned with government growth strategies.. In 2013 the UK’s Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) launched its Postgraduate Support Scheme (PSS), a £25 million publicly funded competitive programme to stimulate initiatives promoting postgraduate taught education, among under-represented groups, in areas aligned with government growth strategies.2 This was the largest UK intervention in postgraduate education, involving 40 HEIs in 20 projects, and lending support to approximately 2000 students. We provide an overview of the policy context surrounding HEI–industry collaborations, relating to employability; different types of current HEI– industry taught education collaborations, and student and supervisor experiences of these; and highlight previous co-produced engineering Master’s courses. We describe the vision and format of Brunel’s Structural Integrity MSc and present our findings and discussion
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