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Expanding Engineering Student Recruitment

Expanding Engineering Student Recruitment. Dik Morling Engineering Professors’ Council Admissions Working Group. The Engineering Professors’ Council (EPC). The EPC exists to promote the wellbeing of the engineering departments of UK universities:

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Expanding Engineering Student Recruitment

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  1. Expanding Engineering Student Recruitment Dik MorlingEngineering Professors’ CouncilAdmissions Working Group

  2. The Engineering Professors’ Council (EPC) • The EPC exists to promote the wellbeing of the engineering departments of UK universities: • By supporting initiatives relevant to engineering education and research • e. g. the EPC Output Standards • By representing engineering departments at national and international levels • e. g. Bologna • By keeping its membership informed • e.g. through its Annual Congress

  3. The Quantity and Quality Admissions Problem • Virtually all the HE engineering departments would like to recruit morebetter students • This is an issue of survival • HEFCE: “. . . demand-side problems are not well addressed by supply-side solutions.” • So what is EPC doing about the difficulties of getting able students to join engineering degree courses?

  4. The Admissions Working Group • The Admissions Working Group of EPC has been set up to: • Collect, promote and disseminate marketing and recruitment information to the HE community • Influence policies to improve the supply of entrants to HE engineering courses • Support initiatives which promote engineering in schools and colleges

  5. Collection, Promotion and Dissemination • Just keeping abreast of all the statistics, initiatives and government policies is a full-time occupation! • We aim to pass this information on to HE institutions in a usable way • Promoting schemes in which HE institutions can partake and examples of successful collaboration

  6. EPC Congress and Meetings • The EPC Congress at Easter and the Autumn Meeting are two annual events where information is passed onto HE departments • Does the information from these meetings get passed onto the rest of your department? • Discussion Question: Should EPC organise meetings especially for admission tutors? • Would you attend?

  7. The EPC Website • Today: Don’t go there! • End January: A new website will emerge from the ashes of the old www.epc.ac.uk

  8. The EPC Website • Eventually, there will be an admissions & marketing section where we plan to have: • have links to sites like the Engineering Subject Centre, SETNET and UAS • provide statistics, news items, case studies, etc. • possibly provide information to schools about what HE engineering departments can offer in the way of visits, talks, ambassadors, etc. • Discussion Question: What information on the website would be useful for you?

  9. The Mathematics Problem • It is well known that the mathematical abilities of students entering engineering courses has been declining for many years • In addition the number of students taking A-level mathematics has been declining since the introduction of Curriculum 2000 • Although there are recent signs of improvement • But long-term decline in proportion of students taking maths A level

  10. Maths Working Group • A review into 14-19 mathematics education is being undertaken by QCA • EPC is linking with other HE ‘consumers’ of secondary and tertiary maths education (including Deans of Science, IMA) to form a joint working group to influence this review • Why should we bother? . . .

  11. Worst-Case Scenario: Special initiatives in primary school maths peter out GCSE Maths replaced by a glorified numeracy test with ‘real’ maths an optional bolt-on Mechanics only taught in a few, mostly independent, schools Best-Case Scenario: Maths in primary schools strengthened GCSE Maths made a compulsory double unit Real-world applications linked to the mathematics at all levels ‘Party-trick’ A-level exams replaced with longer problem-solving assessment The Future of School Mathematics

  12. Support for Initiatives • EPC is always willing to lend its support to initiatives which promote engineering • National Engineering Programme • Engineering Outreach: A Guide to Working with Schools • It is able to promulgate the results of these initiatives to HE engineering departments and to help recruit more departments into collaborative activities

  13. A Bigger Slice or a Bigger Cake? • All HE institutions are in competition to recruit suitably qualified students to their courses • However, the cake is too small and is bitter in places • It is in all our interests to collaborate to make the cake bigger and sweeter • Page 7 of The Guide makes an excellent case for why you should get involved in collaboration with schools and colleges

  14. The Challenge • ETB have been researching ‘Factors Influencing Year 9 Career Choice’: • “A large majority [of Year 9 pupils] saw engineering in terms of working with machinery in a factory, and only just over a third realised that it involved designing things.” • We have a mountain to climb!

  15. Key Discussion Question • What more can all of us do together to aid recruitment into engineering subjects? • EPC, RAEng, Engineering Subject Centre, HEFCE, etc. • HE Engineering Departments

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