Articles

Engineering opportunity: letting down the drawbridge

A summary of the EPC's report on the contribution to social mobility made by studying Engineering.

MEDIA RELEASE: Studying Engineering gives ‘turbo boost’ to social mobility, reveals new EPC research

A new study, published today by the Engineering Professors’ Council (EPC), reveals that studying an Engineering degree gives a greater boost to social mobility when compared to other subjects.

HE Commission Public Call for Evidence: University Research and Regional Levelling Up Inquiry

The Higher Education Commission’s inquiry invited stakeholders to respond to its public call for evidence. This consultation ran from May to June 2021 To achieve its ambitions of levelling-up regional...

DfE proposed changes: Post-qualifications admissions in Higher Education

This consultation ran from January 2012 to May 2021. The consultation sought to attain views on whether to change the current system of higher education admissions and move to a...

OfS Consultation on Recurrent Funding for 2021-22

This consultation ran from March to May 2021. The government sent a statutory guidance letter to the Office for Students (OfS), which set out the funds available for financial year...

Brexit impact on UK’s engineering education sector

We are pleased to announce the publication of the EPC’s joint study with UCL’s Centre for Engineering Education on the experiences and perceptions of European (EU) engineering students and academic...

What’s going on with UK Research Funding?

The government has a stated goal of achieving 2.4% of the UK’s GDP to be spent annually on research and development (R&D) by 2027. This would be an increase of...

What is Engineering? Subject coding: HECoS, JACS and engineering, an unofficial guide

If you follow the HE data environment, or even just the policy headlines, you’ll probably have noticed that a new subject coding system - the Higher Education Classification of Subjects...

Data Blog: Become an expert in UCAS engineering data in ten steps

Spoiler: there is no data in this data blog! Instead, we bring you a mixed media UCAS engineering data masterclass to share what we’ve learned about the tools available this...

Policy summary, February 2021

It has been a busy start to the year for HE policy and politics, despite the roll-out of a third UK lockdown at the start of the year – significantly...

Professional recognition post-Brexit

Is my professional title still valid in the EU? Will my combination of academic qualifications and professional experience still count post Brexit? What does the information on recognition of professional...

Trusted Research: How safe is your research?

This was a discussion on the security precautions that academic institutions should take to prevent intellectual property being leaked to competitors or foreign governments. With the aim of preventing research...

Emerging Stronger: Lasting impact from crisis innovation

What have we learned about learning under lockdown? How can we use the experience of trying to deliver high-quality engineering degree programmes to strengthen our teaching in future? This live...

OfS Consultation on Regulating Quality and Standards in HE

This consultation ran from November 2020 to January 2021. The Office for Students consulted on its approach to regulating quality and standards in higher education. Since 2018, OfS' focus has...

Guest blog: EPC Hammermen student prize

Congratulations to Rachel Beel, Glasgow Caledonian University, and to Dan Hicks, University of Brighton, joint winners of the 2020 EPC Hammermen Student Award.

Are the OfS proposals on quality and standards good for the sector?

EPC Chief Executive Johnny Rich provides a critical commentary on the proposals outlined in the latest Office for Student consultation. These are his personal opinions and they do not necessarily...

The OfS consultation on quality and standards in a nutshell

The Office for Students has just launched a consultation on one of the most important changes to its practice since its inception. What does it say? We've summarised the key...

The Great Grading Scandal Engineering Challenge

This guest blog has been kindly provided by Dr Dennis Sherwood of Silver Bullet machine, an intelligent innovation consultancy, who was a speaker at the first of this year's Recruitment...

EPC Recruitment and Admissions Forum 2020 Series Posters

Click on the thumbnails below to view the posters. UK engineering students' maths entry qualifications: grades and non-progression                                                                                                    Tim Bullough, University of Liverpool NMITE...

Digital teaching and learning during the coronavirus pandemic: Call for evidence

This call for evidence ran from September to October 2020. This call for evidence sought a wide breadth of sector input and experience to understand the challenges faced, and lessons...

Guest Blog: To trust or not to trust?

Imagine the situation, you have worked tirelessly to make a discovery which is important, potentially revolutionary, or worked long days and nights and sacrificed everything in order to bring that...

Guest Blog: Engineering Council on Revised Standards

The fourth edition of Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes (AHEP) has been published, ahead of the 2020-2021 academic year. There will be a transition period, from publication until the start...

EPC Congress 2020: Hammermen Student Prize - Longlisted posters, Finalist multimedia pitches and Finalist posters

The level of talent this year was outstanding! Please do take a look at the longlisted posters, finalist multimedia pitches and finalist posters all created by the students. We were...

Emerging Stronger: Lasting Impact from Crisis Innovation – a new publication

At the start of 2020, no-one could have known what major changes lay just three months ahead for HE. Yet, here we are living through a pandemic, and in the...

Engineering admissions: share your insights and help us make engineering's voice heard in the national admissions debate.

EPC response to the Office for Students (OfS) consultation on the higher education admissions system in England. In response to both the pending consultation and the uncertainty around this year’s...

Does accreditation help or hinder innovation?

In advance of the EPC's forthcoming live webcast, one of the panellists, Prof Sean Wellington, considers whether the requirements of accreditation help foster new approaches to engineering higher education.

President's Prize announced: Professor John Perkins honoured by the engineering academic community.

The Engineering Professors’ Council (EPC), the representative body of engineering academics in UK universities, has announced that its biennial President’s Prize has been awarded to Prof John Perkins CBE FREng...

Media release: University engineers across the UK commit expertise and equipment to join coronavirus struggle

Media Release Tales are emerging of the many ways that universities across the UK have stepped up to beat coronavirus and Engineering departments in particular have been at the forefront,...

Engineering departments and the Covid-19 response

University engineers donate expertise and equipment in coronavirus struggle

How will the probable collapse in international student numbers as a result of coronavirus affect UK Engineering departments? We’ve crunched the numbers.

We’ve all seen the higher education and national media coverage on the uncertainty around this year’s university admissions following the cancellation of exams and the extended UK-wide lockdown. The worldwide...

REF 2021 timetable

This consultation ran from April to May 2020. The purpose of this consultation was to gather initial views on the REF timetable. Responses were invited from any organisation, group or...

EPC's continued response to Covid 19

Thank you to those members who responded to our latest Covid-19 initiative; a survey to gather details of the activities undertaken by engineering departments and academics in helping the national...

OfS Consultation on the integrity and stability of the English higher education sector

This consultation ran from 4th May 2020 to 26th May 2020. This consultation addresses issues that have arisen, and have the potential to arise, because of specific circumstances relating to...

GUEST BLOG: Engineers Without Borders UK

Engineers Without Borders UK kindly facilitated the recent EPC Board Retreat discussions on Ethics. Here they tell us about the two design challenges they run at universities.

New approaches to Engineering Higher Education

Best Practice in Engineering Education The EPC has been working with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), academics and industry for over two years to encourage and support changes...

EPC Engineering Enrolments Survey 2019

Firstly, a huge thank you for your contributions to this year's EPC engineering enrolments survey. The survey gives us all an early temperature check of the health of HE undergraduate...

Migration Advisory Committee’s call for evidence on a salary threshold and points-based system

This consultation ran from September to November 2019. In June 2019, the government commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to carry out an in depth analysis of potential future salary thresholds...

Compensation and Condonement: Response to proposed accreditation regulations

The Engineering Council proposed a policy on compensation and condonement, which will result in new rules being put in place for new cohorts on accredited programmes starting from September 2022....

Guest blog: Time to Reflect on the Wellbeing of our Engineers

Students’ mental health is a deservedly hot topic in higher education. But is the conversation more difficult when it comes to engineering? Are the challenges greater?

Brexit impact on UK’s engineering education sector: Exploring EU students and staff experiences

The Engineering Professors’ Council and the UCL Centre for Engineering Education are running a research project, funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering, that seeks to address and understand the...

Improving Higher Technical Education: Department for Education

This consultation ran from July to September 2019. Higher technical education is post-18 education aligned to technical routes, such as accounting, engineering, management or laboratory science. The DfE sought to...

Engineering Council Standards Review

The Engineering Council was in the process of undertaking its five-yearly review of its Standards, including those relevant to accreditation and approval. As part of this consultation, The Engineering Council...

Guest blog: ‘If you were an engineer, what would you do?’

If you are one of the 125,000+ passengers per day heading through Gatwick South this summer, you may just spot your university’s Leaders Award prototype on the huge hoarding showcase.

Research grants and contracts income

Research grants and contracts income tells us about the sources of research funding. In 2017–18, 23.4% of UK research funding came from international sources. EU funding, which makes up more...

Degree classification

An established regular in university league tables, good honours degrees have, more recently, been in the spotlight as the media and sector grapple with the notion of “grade inflation” and the...

New! DATA BLOG: Grade inflation?

Earlier this month, the OfS published a new release of degree classification data, concluding that the growing proportion of the first and upper second class degrees awarded cannot be fully...

Blending arts and sciences: gimmick or necessity?

The two culture of arts and sciences are like oil and water, but, asks Prof Mehmet Karamanoglu, could they be mixed? Indeed, perhaps it's essential that we get them to...

Augar arrives

EPC Chief Executive, Johnny Rich reports on the long-awaited Review of Post-18 Education Funding in England and the possible implications for engineering in HE. At over 200 pages and featuring...

Guest blog: Compensation and condonement - incoming rules for accredited degrees

By Catherine Elliott, Engineering Council The Engineering Council has updated its policy on compensation and condonement[1], which has resulted in new rules being put in place. The key consideration in...

Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy Future frameworks for international collaboration on research and innovation: call for evidence

This consultation ran from April to May 2019. In March 2019, Professor Sir Adrian Smith was commissioned by BEIS to provide independent advice on the design of future UK funding...

EPC Elections 2019

NOMINATIONS FOR ELECTION TO THE BOARD OF THE ENGINEERING PROFESSORS’ COUNCIL Honorary Treasurer, Secretary and four elected Ordinary Board Members On the occasion of the AGM, the period of office...

Bid to host EPC Congress in 2020 or 2021

Proposals are invited from higher education Engineering departments to host the Engineering Professors’ Council Annual Congress in 2020 or 2021. ‘Hosting the 2018 Engineering Professors’ Council Congress was a great way to...

OFSTED consultation on the education inspection framework 2019

This consultation ran from January to April 2019. Ofsted sought to attain views on its proposals for changes to the education inspection framework from September 2019.

Brexit impact on engineering research will scar economy nationally and regionally, shows new EPC report

MEDIA RELEASE Contact: Johnny Rich, 078-1111 4292Date: 28th March 2019For immediate release As the political crisis over Brexit continues in Parliament, an exclusive new analysis by the Engineering Professors’ Council...

(Diagram) The impact of Brexit on engineering research funding

The impact of Brexit on engineering research funding

  Using exclusive analysis, the EPC has produced an important insight into the impact that Brexit will have on UK engineering research. The findings are far-reaching and disturbing. A briefing...

UKRI consultation on the Knowledge Exchange Framework

This consultation ran from January to March 2019. Research England had been tasked to develop a Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) to evaluate and benchmark the contribution UK higher education institutions...

Teaching students to learn for themselves

Dr Sunny Bains, author of a new book on emerging technologies, examines how to support students to make use of the technical literature and to look beyond it. The best...

Independent review of TEF: call for views

This consultation ran from January to March 2019. Dame Shirley Pearce had been appointed to conduct an independent review of the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF). This consultation...

UKSCQA degree classification consultation

This consultation ran from November 2018 to February 2019. UKSCQA co-ordinates a UK-wide co-regulatory approach to quality and standards by bringing together the UK funding bodies and regulators for higher...

Engineering higher education faces multiple threats, according to new landmark report

A worrying convergence of challenges, outlined in a high-profile report published today, is threatening the vital role of higher education in supporting the UK’s engineering sector, a critical part of...

APPG on Diversity and Inclusion in STEM

The APPG on Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) in STEM launched its first inquiry in 2019, with the aim of investigating equity in STEM education. While there have been many reports...

DATA BLOG: First glimpse HESA student data for 2017/18 highlights a decline in part-time, postgraduate, and male enrolments

First glimpse official 2017/8 HESA student data appears static in the Engineering and technology subject group (https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/17-01-2019/sb252-higher-education-student-statistics/subjects). A closer look at the absolute numbers shows a nominal one-year fall in...

EPC engineering enrolments survey

EPC Engineering Enrolments Survey Results 2018/19 Firstly, a huge thank you for your contributions which the Recruitment and Admissions Forum confirmed are highly valued by our members. You told us...

International Baccalaureate: the perfect preparation for engineers?

This blog has been written for the EPC by Henry Coverdale, Director of Post 16 Education at King Edward's School in Birmingham. Henry was the author of one of the posters...

Applications open for RAEng Engineering Leaders Scholarship

Are your students the next generation of engineering leaders? Undergraduates who are leaders, or act as role models in your institution or their community should be encouraged to apply to...

REF 2021

The UK’s four higher education funding bodies have published the draft guidance and criteria on making submissions to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, for consultation.

Primary Engineer

Primary Engineer, the organisation which inspires children, pupils and teachers to consider engineering through continued professional development, whole class project work, competitions and exhibitions has partnered with the Engineering Professors’...

DATA BLOG: Will this year's undergraduate engineering intake really be bad news?

An interim assessment of placed UCAS applicants for this autumn highlights that engineering follows a sector-wide slide in placed applicants overall but bucks a sector increase in applicants placed from...

Engineering enrolments survey 2018-19

Download an .xlsx version of the EPC engineering enrolments survey Go to the online survey The EPC's annual engineering enrolment survey gives us all a first glance at engineering enrolments...

Creating a new breed of ‘supergrads’

Creating a new breed of ‘supergrads’ When it comes to new approaches to education, what happens in engineering is the canary in the mine. Along with medicine no discipline more...

Experience enhanced: improving engineering degree apprenticeships

Following its publication of the landmark report calling for changes to degree apprenticeships to deliver a new breed of ‘supergrads’ the EPC has now published all recommendations, including a full...

REF 2021 full EPC member consultation

The UK’s HE funding bodies have set out detailed arrangements for REF 2021 and are seeking views from subject communities on the draft Panel criteria publication developed by the REF...

Guest blog: Does a career in engineering pay?

By Kate Webster, the Engineering Council Engineering students at university are in the ideal place to learn and develop – encouraging them to become professionally registered puts them on a...

The Hammermen Award, the Mongol Rally and Mental Health

In May at the EPC Annual Congress 2018 at Harper Adams University, we announced the winner of this year's Hammermen Student Award, generously sponsored by the Hammermen of Glasgow in...

Home Affairs Committee Post-Brexit migration policy inquiry

This call for evidence ran from June to July 2018. This third strand of the Home Affairs Committee's work on migration considers the options for the UK's post-Brexit immigration system...

Chief Executive invites EPC to influence Engineering Council review of UKSPEC

At this year's EPC Congress, Alasdair Coates's invited the EPC - as the representative body of engineering in higher education - to input to the current review that is being...

Engineering Council Review of UKSPEC

The UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC) and Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes (AHEP) are reviewed on a five-year cycle by the Engineering Council as part of an overall...

New Approaches to Engineering HE: The Six Facets

The EPC and IET are delighted to launch six case study examples for each of the six new approaches. We believe this proves that the required changes can be achieved...

Women into Engineering

UK engineering has a gender problem. The challenge of achieving gender parity in engineering appears to be particularly difficult for the UK. Figures from 2016 show that 12% of those...

The Department of Education call for evidence to support a Review of Post-18 Education and Funding

This consultation ran from March to May 2018. The government conducted a major review of post-18 education and funding to ensure a joined-up system that worked for everyone.

The Department for Education consultation on the subject-level Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF)

This consultation ran from March to May 2018. The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) assessed ‘provider-level’ undergraduate provision. The Department of Education intended to extend this to a...

New RAEng report: The Career Framework for University Teaching

In response to the government's Teaching Excellence Framework, the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) has developed the Career Framework for University Teaching. This report is designed to assist universities in...

Opportunities to influence: Subject level TEF

The Department for Education sought views on the proposed design of the subject-level Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF). The TEF aims to recognise and reward excellence in teaching,...

DATA BLOG: The state of engineering? Not too shabby

The supply of skilled engineers may not yet be being met by the education pipeline, but the evidence base required by the sector to make sound strategic decisions is met...

Statement on strike action over USS Pensions

As the EPC represents both institutional members and individuals, we cannot directly take sides in supporting or opposing the current strike action. That said, we understand this is an issue...

Department for Education consultation on Accelerated degrees: widening student choice in higher education

This consultation ran from December 2017 to February 2018. The Department for Education consulted on changes to the annual tuition fee cap, together with a range of measures to incentivise...

DATA BLOG: UCAS Engineering applications down but applications from women up

UCAS’ latest application data released today gives us a first glimpse into this Autumn’s enrolments into HE (15 January deadline). Applications to Engineering (totalling 144½ thousand) are down by 1.7%...

DATA BLOG: New year, new data? Can ageing stats really help today’s strategies?

Last week, UCAS completed its suite of 2017 data when it published detailed stats for last autumn’s undergraduate admissions to the UK’s largest universities and colleges. But while the accepted...

Migration Advisory Committee Science budget and Industrial Strategy inquiry call for evidence on International students: economic and social impacts

This call for evidence ran from October 2017 to January 2018. This call for evidence sets out how the MAC will approach responding to this commission and how stakeholders can...

HEFCE Knowledge Exchange Framework Metrics Technical Advisory Group – initial call for evidence on KEF metrics

In 2018, the Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation commissioned the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to provide more information about higher education providers’ achievements...

Securing student success: risk-based regulation for teaching excellence, social mobility and informed choice in higher education

This consultation ran from October to December 2017. The government sought to attain views on behalf of the new Office for Students (OfS) regarding the regulation of the higher education...

Opportunities to influence: KEF metrics

In advance of a KEF consultation to be launched in the spring of 2018, HEFCE is seeking evidence to the KEF metrics technical advisory group on: suitable existing and potential...

Opportunities to influence: T level consultation

The Department for Education is seeking views on the development of new T level programmes, and how they should be designed to deliver the Sainsbury Panel’s recommendations. The EPC proposes...

Nomination for REF 2021 Engineering Panel

The Engineering Professors' Council is a nominating body for the Research Excellence Framework and, as such, we have been invited to nominate members of the engineering panel. If you would...

Education Select Committee, Value for Money in HE

The Education Committee's inquiry into value for money in higher education examines the use of graduate outcomes data, social justice and progression of disadvantaged students in higher education, and the...

Party Conferences 2017

From Johnny Rich, EPC Chief Executive... The Party Conference season is an opportunity to bend the ears of politicians, policymakers and thought leaders at a time when they're relaxed and...

EPC Recruitment and Admissions Forum 2017

This year’s Engineering Professors’ Council Recruitment and Admissions Forum will be held on 15th November at Manchester Metropolitan University. We are delighted to announce not one, but two not-to-be-missed keynote speakers...

Engineering in Society – new module for engineering citizenship

Undergraduate student engineers at UWE Bristol will get the chance to learn about engineering citizenship from September. A new module is being launched to highlight the importance of professional development,...

Conference Report: New Approaches to Engineering in HE

On 22nd May 2017, in association with the IET, the EPC held a landmark conference at the Institution of Engineering and Technology in London to lay out a bold new vision...