![[Univ of Cambridge]](http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/images/house_style/uniban-s.gif){kind=small}
![[Dept of Engineering]](http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/images/house_style/engban-s.gif){kind=small}
The third group of students to complete the four-year Engineering Course graduated with their MEng degrees this year. Part I of the course, lasting two years, covers the fundamentals of engineering required by future engineers. After completing Part I, student have a wide range of options and can select one of the following two-year Triposes within the Department: Engineering Part II; Electrical and Information Sciences; or Manufacturing Engineering. They also have the option to transfer to other Triposes.
In the Lent Term 1998 a team of 14 assessors, appointed by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), visited the Department to assess the quality of education provided in Engineering. Under the procedures operated by the QAA, at the conclusion of a subject assessment six core aspects of provision are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 4 to create a graded profile. The following outstanding result was achieved:
The final assessment report in Engineering has been published by the QAA and copies are available on the world-wide web at http://www.niss.ac.uk/education/hefce/qar/q168-98.html. As the Engineering Department represents approximately 10 per cent of the University, this was a large assessment exercise. The excellent result achieved was due to sustained effort the staff in the Department put in to ensuring the delivery of high-quality teaching. The strong support from the students during the assessment visit was much appreciated. During the visit 56 teaching and learning sessions were observed. Of these 73 per cent were graded 4 (the maximum possible) and 23 per cent were graded 3; no sessions were graded below 3. The only area where the assessors suggested improvements was in the operation of some quality assurance processes. Where weaknesses in the processes have been identified, steps have been taken to make the required improvements.
On 6 July 1998 six academics, including Dr Andrew Gee from Engineering, were honoured with Pilkington Teaching Prizes. Initiated by the late Sir Alistair Pilkington, the prizes are awarded annually in recognition of excellence in teaching at the University. Dr Gee’s personal rating with the students was confirmed when he shared the inaugural student-run "Best Lecturer Award" in 1997. He has paid particular attention to developing teaching aids, using video and interactive computer animations, in an effort to instil the fundamentals of his courses.
The winners of the student-run "Best Lecturer Awards" for 1997-98 were Dr Travis, Dr Prager, Professor Calladine, Dr Guest, Dr Gee and Mr Wallace. The award certificates were presented by Ms Diana Galletly at a meeting of the Staff-Student Joint Committee.
The number of candidates for each of the 1998 Tripos examinations in the Department was:
Of the 293 who were candidates for Part IA, 16 subsequently transferred to Chemical Engineering and 8 to other subjects. Of the 214 who were candidates for the Engineering Tripos, Part IIA, or Electrical and Information Sciences Tripos, Part I, 4 had transferred from the Natural Sciences Tripos, the Mathematical Tripos, or the Computer Science Tripos. Of that same group of 214, 6 did not continue to the fourth year and left Cambridge with the BA degree only.
We congratulate Mohit Agarwal (Trinity), Mark Grant (Jesus), Lucy Porter (Sidney Sussex) and Julia Warren (Emmanuel) for being selected to receive Engineering Leadership Awards from The Royal Academy of Engineering.
During the year 594 students applied for graduate courses in the Department and 143 were admitted; 35 students registered for the one-year Advanced Course in Design, Manufacture and Management (ACDMM), and 21 students for the taught M.Phil Course in computer Speech and Language Processing, with the remaining 87 students admitted for courses in research. At the end of the Michaelmas Term 1997, there were 355 Graduate Students registered for courses in Engineering; 142 Home students, 167 Overseas students and 46 EC students. There were 296 men and 59 women. Of the candidates approved for certificates and degrees during the year, 6 candidates received the Certificate of Postgraduate Study, 49 candidates were approved for the Postgraduate Certificate in Design, Manufacture and Management, 37 candidates were approved for the M.Phil degree, 3 candidates were approved for the MSc degree and 72 candidates were approved for the PhD degree. Seven candidates were approved for the new Master of Studies (M.St) degree.
The taught M.Phil course in Computer Speech and Language Processing was offered again jointly with the Computer Laboratory. The course consisted of formal lectures and coursework followed by a project. Introductory material was covered in Michaelmas Term lectures, followed by more specialised topics in the Lent Term. Examinations were held in the early part of the Easter Term and successful candidates went forward to project work and the submission of a thesis. Oral examinations on the thesis were held in September. The content of the course remained largely unchanged apart from a certain amount of updating and other minor modifications. The course was reviewed by HEFCE assessors in January 1998, and received favourable comment in their report. They recognised it as a course of international repute which provides students with an excellent springboard for either research or industrial application. The taught full-time Advanced Course in Design, Manufacture and Management, now in its 32nd year, operated with single stream entry of 35 students, one below the target entry. This course too was favourably reported on by the HEFCE assessors. They found the course provided a highly effective learning experience and its ambitions and comprehensive aims in relation to manufacturing and its business and industrial context are fully met. No major changes were made to the course during the year, but significant modifications to the 1998/99 course have been agreed.
There are now two part-time Master of Studies (M.St) courses offered in the Department. The first of these, the Manufacturing Leaders Programme, which is offered in collaboration with the Judge Institute of Management Studies and the Cambridge Programme for Industry, ran successfully in its first year of operation. There were 11 students in the first cohort of the two-year programme; 9 students joined the course in April 1998 forming the second cohort. The course was divided into four modules plus a dissertation. The broad syllabus covered by the course was well received by the students. Only minor changes are envisaged for 1998/99. The second part-time M.St course offered in the Department is in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE), run jointly with the Department of Architecture in association with the Cambridge Programme for Industry. In September 1997, the fourth cohort of 9 students entered the first year of the course and the third cohort of 15 students moved into their second year. The students are in full-time employment, usually in the architectural and engineering sectors of industry. The course provides intensive one- and two-week residential periods of lectures, seminars and design projects. Written work, which includes essays and a thesis, is normally undertaken away from Cambridge, when students have returned to their regular employment. The course aims to develop in its students the capacity to exploit successfully the diverse specialist expertise essential to built environment projects. The course is well respected for the quality of its teaching and is enjoyed by the students. The programme includes contributions from professionals representing best practice in industry, and from members of a wide variety of university departments. One of the outcomes of a review of the course conducted during the year was a decision to reduce the time required for students to spend away from their employment from 10 weeks to 6 weeks. As a direct result of this change, there has been a substantial increase in applications and admissions for 1998/99. Hopes are high that the developing reputation of the course and the growing support from sponsors will serve to consolidate the course’s initial success.
During the year the Department’s Graduate Teaching Committee, a committee recently established by the Faculty Board to oversee all graduate courses taught in the Department, met for the first time. The Committee approved modules and courses for graduate study for 1998/99. The list included 4 new research modules and selected modules from the final year of the undergraduate M.Eng. course. An alternative approved form of study to a module is a Reading Club. Reading Clubs have been organised by a number of research groups in the Department for the benefit of their first year research students. In a Reading Club students meet on a regular basis to work through a book or other set texts under the supervision of a senior member of the group. Unless granted exemption by the Committee, all first year Graduate Students will study 3 assessed modules or the equivalent from the approved list.
Information on graduate courses, availability of funds and research studentships is available on the Department’s web pages http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk.
Last modified: October 1999