Industrial Fellowship Scheme
Aim
To improve the quality of skills and the knowledge base of lecturing staff in Science, Engineering and Technology Departments in the Further Education sector. The scheme is designed to help educators develop powerful learning experiences for students through the introduction of new science, engineering and technology concepts.
Background
The Fellowship Scheme was established in 2005 following a research study of 81 colleges that was conducted in 2004. The Study identified the lack of formal professional development of engineering and technology lecturers in FE colleges. Over 180 lecturers from over 60 FE colleges have participated with the support of some 300 companies have participated in the Scheme, thus benefiting some 60,000 students.
A further nationwide study was conducted in 2006 to assess the Needs of FE Colleges in the Management of Intermediate and Higher Level Engineering and Technology Programmes. As a result, the Scheme has now been broadened and extended to embrace the wider disciplines of science, engineering and technology.
The Scheme
The Scheme provides grants of £12,000 (from 2008) to Further Education Colleges so that they can nominate three lecturers to be seconded for a period of 15 days (continuous or spread over a period of time) in industry or advanced science, engineering and technology centre in a university, thereby enabling the lecturers to update their skills and knowledge base and as a result offer their students a more relevant and up-to-date learning experience.
Each lecturer (Fellow) who takes up a secondment is expected to suggest new curriculum topics; define educational goals for embedding new engineering in to the curriculum; develop effective classroom practices using science, engineering and technology subjects; produce e-learning teaching materials, and make presentations to their fellow lecturers on the secondment experience.
Annually, the New Engineering Foundation confers Certificates of Achievement on all the Fellows and Certificates of Recognition on all the participating Host Organisations (from industry and from universities).