Finalist

Triple Helix Collaboration of the Year (at least 2 triple helix actors) Award

CL995: Industrial Design and Construction

Finalist of the Triple Helix Collaboration of the Year (at least 2 triple helix actors) Award

University of Strathclyde, ExpLearn Limited, BAM Nuttall and NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences (NL), Emmen - United Kingdom

"Building Future Engineers: Not Just the Structures They Create. "


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Summary

This three year project was a solution to a real time problem: offering opportunities for participating masters students to experience a workplace environment when previous opportunities were no longer available due to changes in the legal requirements to work within a foreign country. This project and the solution that it delivered far exceeded any of the collaborating partners expectations. Not only did this project allow the participating masters students to experience a real site activity it allowed them to fully take ownership of a live project and turn their theory into practice as they developed their concept through to finished structure. Throughout the full project collaboration was present between academia and industry and in the third year there was also representation from the Glasgow Local Authority who had responsibility for the Clyde Tunnel, they were interested in the outputs our students had derived. We also had three levels of education, Higher, Further and Secondary School working together during the five day onsite experience. During the eight week program the students not only found their engineering knowledge challenged but their transversal skills, the essence of what makes them more employable upon completion of their Masters. All the participating students have stated in their reflective evaluation that this experience has been “life changing” and the data gathered by NHLStenden University of Applied Science substantiates this as each student’s individual journey was monitored and reviewed. It was the collaboration between, initially University of Strathclyde Engineering and ExpLearn Limited, that brought this project to life and then as other collaborating partners became involved it brought context to the student experience like no other.

Key People


Stewart Beattie
Teaching Associate Geotechnical Engineering
Engineering,  University of Strathclyde



Dale Lyon
Director
ExpLearn Limited



Ian Steel
Client Account Ditector and Contracts Manager
BAM Nuttall Ltd



Stewart Craigie
Technical Director
Sweco UK



Drs, Julia Huisman
Researcher / Senior Lecturer
International Business,  NHLStenden University of Applied Sciences, Emmen, The Netherlands



Joe McBride
Agent
BAM Nuttall Ltd



Stephen Ross
Principal Engineer
Kiloh Associates



Janice Smith
Technical Director
Curtins Consulting



Alan Blair
Divisional Director
Highways ,  Jacobs


Images

IMPACT STORY

Impacting lifes

The second and third year of this program was run during breaks in successive CoVid lockdowns within the UK, however initially with the program having to be ran virtually it brought in different dimensions to the learning environment. In the second year of the project all but one of the master students were able to attend the intensive five day study period, on site and due to time differences this added to the complexity of the delivery of this program, however also to the richness of the learning as captured in the end evaluation.

During the third year of the project, again as the pre site work was taking place virtually, other collaborators, making the triple helix complete, meant that the Glasgow Council manager of the Clyde Tunnel had seen our social media posts relating to a replacement Clyde Tunnel and had asked if he could sit in on the final Master Student’s presentation. He was impressed with some of the proposals relating to renewable energy supplying power to the existing tunnel that he requested further information on the proposed solution.

Our most recently qualified student from the program has just secured her first employment in which she used many examples from her experience gained from the Masters Program to give context to her learning. We have found that all participants, when reflecting on their personal journey, found themselves to be more experienced in engineering but also more rounded as an individual and had learned to show empathy, intercultural sensitivity and respect for others. These are the 21st Century Skills that are essential for their employability. Making them better citizens and better engineers.

LEARNINGS

Lessons learned

[With reference to Institute of Civil Engineers key attributes where they are looking for graduates to enter employment as fully rounded and effective contributors within a construction company or engineering setting. These attributes are core pillars for the development towards being professionally qualified.
Since 2015 the Institute of Civil Engineers has introduced that all new Trainees undergoing Initial Professional Development would be measured under their new Attributes system at all stages right up until and including the Professional Review. These seven attributes are:

1. Understanding and Practical Application of Engineering
2. Management and Leadership
3. Commercial Ability
4. Health, Safety and Welfare
5. Sustainable Development
6. Interpersonal Skills and Communication
7. Professional Commitment

All 7 of these Attributes were developed by the program. This was an important area of focus especially in relation to the softer skills that are often found difficult to develop and gauge. In this program NHLStenden, UoAS helped greatly with monitoring and exposing the students to the concepts of Emotional Intelligence, Empathy, Intercultural Collaboration and other 21st Century Skills which meant that they could start a life long learning journey with the program their starting point to self-reflect on their own personal development.

It is important to remember that every student is an individual and that their ‘journey’ will be personal to them and dependant on their own experiences before and during the project. The end structure becomes almost irrelevant as it is this individual journey that becomes most important.
To develop such a strong experiential learning activity, it is important to:

- Give context to the learning activity
- Deliver a mixture of industry specific and employability / softer skills presentations.
- Challenge the participants to immerse themselves in the learning environment.
- Take the participants out of their comfort zones by having external leads on the project / program.
- Ensure you engage with motivated industrial partners.

FUTURE PLANS

What's coming?

Whilst this program has concluded and regarding the development of their 21st Century Skills of the students, namely Emotional Intelligence and Empathy, the researcher from NHLStenden University of Applied Sciences, is planning to approach these students again and review the impact the program has had in their personal and professional development.

Further collaborations are being considered where we can continue the good practices that have been evidenced throughout the CL995: Industrial Design and Construction Masters Program. We have seen the benefits of working as part of a triple helix and are exploring the potential to develop this further into a quadruple helix, incorporating the local communities as well within some form of live project relating to renewable energy.

There are also several programs where we are looking at introducing modules or intensive study periods incorporating activities and teaching relating to the softer skills will be very beneficial to the students personal and professional development.
This program is however transferable to other disciplines and the aim is to look for collaborating partners that may want to explore such opportunities with ExpLearn.


KEY STATISTICS

35

Participating graduates, under graduates, college and senior secondary school pupils

14

Nationalities / First Languages

10

Multinational Triple Helix Collaborating partners

3

Years of Delivery

3

Design briefs and intensive study period with new structures to be built

All

Participants would encourage other students to participate in this Masters program in the future

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