The Engineering Subject Centre (EngSC) was one of 24 subject centres within the

Higher Education Academy Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) is a British charity and professional membership scheme promoting excellence in higher education. It advocates evidence-based teaching methods and awards fellowships as professional recogniti ...

from 2000 to 2011. The academy encouraged, supported and enabled teaching excellence in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

higher education community. This was achieved through development of research and evaluation both for the higher education (HE) community as a whole and through the discipline-specific expertise of the subject centres. The stated aim of the academy is: "to improve the learning experience for students". The Engineering Subject Centre was based in the Faculty of Engineering at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

. It drew upon the expertise of engineering academics and educationalists from across the higher education sector, and worked closely with the engineering professional bodies.

History

The centre was originally created as part of the

Learning and Teaching Support Network The Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN) was an initiative of the United Kingdom higher education bodies to promote high quality learning and teaching in all subject disciplines in higher education. It was intended to support the sharing o ...

(LTSN), founded in January 2000. The Higher Education Academy was founded in May 2004, from a merger of the

Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education The Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILT) was a UK organisation set up as "the professional body for higher education staff involved in teaching and the support of learning". It was founded in 2000 as a result of the report ...

(ILTHE), the LTSN, and the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund National Co-ordination Team. As a part of the Higher Education Academy, the subject centre was funded by grants from four higher education funding bodies in the UK (Higher Education Funding Council for England, Scottish Funding Council, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, and Department for Employment and Learning), subscriptions from higher education institutions, and grant/contract income for organised initiatives. In 2010 it was announced that all subject centres would be closed, and a reduced service to subjects provided by the HEA at York.''Times Higher Education'' 18 November 2010
130 jobs will go as HEA set to scrap its subject centres This process was completed in 2011B. Chalkley & S Stirling (2011) ''Sustainability'', 3, 666-677; Hard Times in Higher Education: The Closure of Subject Centres and the Implications for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

Work areas

Engineering Subject Centre Mini-Projects

Projects were awarded up to £3500 over 12 months to complete small scale research or development projects.

Events

The Centre maintained a comprehensive list of both national and international events. The centre also held a number of events every year covering a diverse range of subjects relating to the practice of the working engineering academic. Although for a UK audience many subjects covered are related to worldwide practice.

Engineering Education: Journal of the Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre

Engineering Education was a peer-reviewed, international journal freely available via the website of the Engineering Subject Centre and distributed in paper format to all UK university libraries and Engineering departments. Engineering Education was published in the summer and winter each year. The journal supported papers in the traditional format and those incorporating or demonstrating multimedia and web technology.

Educational resources

The Engineering Subject Centre's Resource Database had direct online links to around 1500 approved engineering-specific and general learning and teaching resources, such as guides, reports, case studies and organisational websites, in addition to the centre's own range of publications.

References

The Higher Education Academy Strategic Plan 2005-2010 (PDF 39 KB)
''The HEA Website'', 2008-02-27. Retrieved on 27-02-2008.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Education and training of electrical and electronics engineers Engineering education in the United Kingdom Loughborough University Organisations based in Leicestershire Science and technology in Leicestershire