Articles

EPC Congress 2022: Hammermen Student Prize – Finalist posters and Longlisted posters

The Hammermen Awards an annual prize, presented in association with the Hammermen of Glasgow, to celebrate engineering students’ excellence. And this year you get to decide who wins. This year’s award...

Welcome to EPC Online

Welcome to the EPC's new digital home. This new website and integrated membership services platform will transform the way our members interact with the EPC, network with other Engineering academics...

DfE consultation on Higher Education Policy Statement and Reform

The Department for Education (DfE) ran this consultation from 24th February 2022 to 6 May 2022. The consultation sought to get the views on proposals for higher education reform in...

Jisc: Design of the UK’s future research assessment system

This consultation ran from February to May 2022 by the Scottish Funding Council, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, Research England, Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland who asked for...

Reflections on REF

REF 2021 is finally over, and the results are out. Whether we were involved as individual researchers, collating submissions for our institutions or involved directly in the assessment panels and...

Why communication is a critical tool for any engineer

People rarely choose engineering because of their communication skills, but that doesn't mean they're not a vital part of the tool box. Prof Lucy Rogers explains.

Levelling up

The “Levelling-up” white paper published in February sets out how the government is planning to tackle the issue of regional inequality in opportunityacross the UK, through a mixture of new...

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee Call for evidence: Delivering a UK Science & Technology Strategy

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee conducted an inquiry into the Government’s plans to deliver a UK science and technology strategy. The inquiry considered what such a strategy...

EPC responses to OfS Consultations

The EPC has published its responses to two consultations from the Office for Students on proposed changes to Student Outcomes and TEF.

House of Commons Education Select Committee Call for evidence: Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG)

The Education Committee held an inquiry on the effectiveness of the careers advice given to students. This consultation ran until March 2022. The inquiry is a review of how well...

Office for Students consultation on the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)

This consultation set out proposals for the future Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). This is a national scheme which incentivises universities and colleges for excellence in learning, teaching and the outcomes they provide for their students.

Office for Students consultation on a new approach to regulating student outcomes (changes to B3 baseline)

The Office for Students OfS issued three related consultations in February 2022 with detailed proposals on their approach to regulating quality and standards in higher education.

Constructing student outcome and experience indicators for use in OfS regulation

The OfS proposals for regulating student outcomes and the TEF involve using detailed data and analytical evidence to inform their regulatory judgements. The focus of this consultation is on the...

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)

The Office for Students OfS issued three related consultations in February 2022 with detailed proposals on their approach to regulating quality and standards in higher education. Read on to find...

Regulating student outcomes (changes to B3 baseline)

The regulating student outcomes consultation outlines a new approach to setting ‘minimum requirements’ for positive HE outcomes in England. The continuing narrative is the threat of ‘low performing providers’ to...

Welcome to the Engineering Ethics Toolkit

An ambitious new initiative to ensure engineering education is a force for good.

House of Commons Education Select Committee: Inquiry into the future of post-16 qualifications

The Education Committee held an inquiry examining how effectively post-16, level 3 education and qualifications (such as A Levels, T Levels, BTECs and apprenticeships) prepare young people for the world...

EPC Engineering Enrolments Survey Results 2021/22

The results of the 2021 EPC Engineering Enrolments Survey are now available.

The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) consultation on revision of external quality assurance review requirements

This consultation ran from October to December 2021. This is a consultation on changes to the requirements for external quality assurance review, which regulated institutions are required to undergo at...

APPG Youth Employment call for evidence

The EPC responded to the call for evidence on 15th December 2021, the final report was published on 15th March 2022. On the 15th March 2022, the All–Party Parliamentary Group...

Office for Students Strategy for 2022-25

This consultation ran from November 2021 to January 2022. OfS sought to get views on their proposed strategy for 2022-25. The consultation proposes a plan of action that will guide...

Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education Degree Apprenticeships Consultation

This consultation ran from September 2021 to December 2021. The Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education looked to change its existing policies that affected the development, approval, and operation of...

Inspiring tomorrow’s engineers

It’s our ambition at EngineeringUK to inform and inspire young people and grow the number and diversity of tomorrow’s engineers to meet the needs of the UK now and in...

OfS Consultation on quality and standards conditions

This consultation ran from July to September 2021. OfS undertook a preliminary consultation on a range of quality and standards issues during the winter of 2020-21. The consultation brought forward...

President's Report 2021

Prof Colin Turner, EPC President during the 2020-21 academic year summarises this unprecedented year and how the EPC helped its members overcome the challenges they faced during this time... Last...

‘Engineering Engineering: A Provocation’ Webcast Summary

A new paper which seeking to challenge assumptions and practice around Engineering higher education and the talent pipeline.

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS: The Crucible Project – Advancing the Industry-Academia Agenda

During the course of the 2020 Annual Congress, Industry & Academia: Supercharging the Crucible, members explored the interface between industry and academia and some of the challenges to developing the relationship between...

Engineering Professors’ Council welcomes Professor Mike Sutcliffe as new President

Professor Mike Sutcliffe is the new President of the Engineering Professors’ Council, the representative organisation of UK engineering academics.

Prof Helen Atkinson, former EPC President, awarded a Damehood

We are delighted and proud that Professor Helen Atkinson CBE, FREng, President of the Engineering Professors’ Council 2011-13, has been made a Dame in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021.

Chi Onwurah MP Webinar Summary

In case you missed it, here is a short summary of Chi Onwurah MP’s speech from the EPC’s Congress 2021 webinar series.

Chris Skidmore MP Webinar Summary

In case you missed it, here is a short summary of Chris Skidmore MP’s speech from the EPC’s Congress 2021 webinar series. To read the full text of the speech, please click...

Compensation and Condonement: Feedback to proposed accreditation regulations

In May 2020, the Engineering Council updated its policy on compensation and condonement, which resulted in new rules being put in place for new cohorts on accredited programmes starting from...

Funding research for a better world

The EPC was honoured to welcome former Universities Minister the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore to delivered a speech as part of our 2021/22 Annual Congress on the theme of ‘A...

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.