Parakram Pyakurel & Peter Metcalfe
There are few higher education institutions in the UK that utilise an approach to integrated engineering such as New Model Institute for Technology & Engineering (NMITE) and University College London (UCL). An Integrated programme approach has been utilised by University UCL in several of its disciple-specific engineering degrees like Biochemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Electronic and Electrical Engineering..
NMITE has developed an approach very similar to UCL’s engineering programme portfolio, expanded upon by focusing on professional, programmatic and soft skills as well as demonstrating the interdisciplinary nature of engineering. This student-centric programme approach joins distinct disciplines at key points to allow students experience of professional engineering and also provides them transferable skills such as communications, teamwork and critical analysis. It may be noted that NMITE delivers entire Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Integrated Engineering. Its Integrated Engineering teaches students to perspectively tackle problems as combinations of systems and connections. Instead of taking a complex engineering problem and labelling it as a problem of a specific technical discipline, NMITE’s Integrated Engineering Degree drives students to integrate technical knowledge from different disciplines to tackle problems of increasing complexity. Therefore, a wide suite of the concepts and principles of different engineering disciplines are introduced to solve authentic engineering problems.
Effective Integrated Engineering necessitates a combination of professional, programmatic behaviours and technical competencies. In addition to imparting knowledge and skills related to engineering, the Integrated Engineering degrees also develop students’ soft-skills such as attention to details, inquisitiveness, growth mindset, respect for others and so on. Lifelong learning is instilled by helping students integrate their learning journey throughout their time in the degree programme into a developing portfolio.
None of this would be achievable without bringing a set of external partners willing to support module delivery through the presentation of challenges to support NMITE’s curriculum delivery. Having industry and business partners into the studio directly demonstrates the relevance of the academic content. These interactions are recognised as essential in underwriting the authenticity of NMITE’s assessments, as derived from what is termed ‘professional reporting’, taking the form of, for example, technical reports, presentations and project plans.
NMITE’s modules are delivered in eight-week blocks, which means the students become familiar with a business-like cycle of Problem-Based-Learning. They see the results of their academic endeavours much quicker than if studying at an institution geared to ‘end-of-year’ assessments. We believe this sense of completion positively adds to the overall student experience.
Another novel element in NMITE’s philosophy is its deliberate integration of liberal studies by embedding a humanities element in the integrated engineering degrees. Ethics and professional codes of conduct are parts of the curriculum with the broader impact of engineering in society covered. Reflective practice is encouraged to help students identify the types of jobs they want to choose as they transition to professional roles. This helps students enhance their intrinsic motivation and better understand their roles, as well as the roles of the engineering profession collectively, in society.
Of the cohorts graduating with NMITE’s Integrated Engineering degrees so far, the results are promising. Almost all the graduates have obtained jobs with the employers of their choices, including in well-known companies such as Balfour Beatty, Mondelez International and BAE Systems. This further supports NMITE’s initial findings that the engineering job market is hungry for engineers that have decent understanding of the different engineering disciplines who can communicate and can coordinate with varied stakeholders across complex engineering projects.