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This paper presents an investigation of how experience-led content in an engineering degree can be strengthened by creating opportunities for engineering students to benefit from the knowledge, skills and resources of students with current professional experience. Students who study civil engineering part-time at Coventry University (while also working in the industry) are being used as mentors for full-time students, and careful attention is being paid to the input they can make to group project work. This paper reviews the results of evaluations of these two initiatives. The clearest enhancement to learning provided by the part-time students in these settings is the access they provide for the full-time students to real examples and the provision of actual physical artefacts such as drawings, photos, example documents and templates. Full-time students also gain an awareness of the value of the professional skills. The study confirms the value of these initiatives and points to future improvements. (Contains 3 tables.)

This paper considers the opportunity for academic-industry collaboration that arises when a proportion of engineering students in a cohort are part-time students with current industry experience. It describes a study that took the opportunity of probing the response of these students to aspects of course design, using their perspective to answer the questions: 'How successful are we in our attempts to create realistic project work for students, and what improvements should be made?' The consensus from semi-structured group interviews with 52 students is that the project work they have experienced is generally realistic from a technical point of view, enhanced by basing projects on a real site, using real data, and working with a realistic brief. Some students considered the briefs to be too open-ended to be realistic, but others relished the opportunity this presented. Team-working aspects of university group projects were not considered realistic by the students; they pointed out that the environment in engineering practice is very different because it is moderated by the management structure and professional expectations of staff. The role of a client figure was identified as important in creating realism. The paper considers the potential conflict between some aspects of realism in project work and educational benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National HE STEM Programme has funded the production of a series of guides on transition, induction and retention of students in STEM subjects. The guides cover transition to HE, the first year experience, social engagement, curriculum development to support retention, maths support, optimising the part-time experience, and using data to understand the issues. The paper discusses why the guides were produced and how the project was managed. The literature forming the general background to the project is presented, together with the research underpinning particular guides. The paper summarises the content of each guide, and discusses the lessons learned from the project as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented that discusses issue articles on topics including control engineering, international engineering students, and programme outcomes for engineering education.

An introduction is presented that discusses issue articles on topics including the use of social media for feedback in engineering courses, the enhancement of student engagement in engineering education, and the use of online testing in engineering courses.