Three year honours degree with an "Integrated one year industrial placement"

The pace of change in technology is constantly accelerating and modern industry now recruits graduates that are multiskilled, with a knowledge of a variety of engineering disciplines. This paper discusses the planning stages and the validation of a scheme to introduce an honours degree, in the School of Technology and Design, at University College Northampton, in which part of the curriculum is delivered by industry, within the normal three years of a conventional honours degree. The development of an honours course in general engineering has been in the School's strategic plan for a considerable time and will give a better balance to the school's portfolio of courses. It will complement the School's existing HND provision and satisfy a need, which has been evident for some time, for a general engineering degree. In designing the course, the course development team took note of the fact, that in recent years, many individuals and organisations have questioned the content of traditional courses. These critics have called for a broader based first degree, followed by specialisation, during a higher degree, for those with the aptitude and motivation to study one of the specialised branches of science, engineering or technology. Additionally, one recommendation of the Deering report (1998), was that students should become familiar with work.