Last week I was invited along to the Engineering Education Scheme (run by EDT), Residential Workshop at the University of Strathclyde. At the residential S5/6 learners from around 15 schools across Scotland were brought together, along with engineers, teachers and engineering support from the University in a supportive environment in order to design prototype solutions to the industrial problem set by a company.

The Engineering Education Scheme in England & Scotland is an EDT Programme which links teams of four  S5/S6 learners and their teachers with local companies to work on real, scientific, engineering and technological problems.

The scheme provides learners with an in-depth experience in science, engineering and technology that will enable them to make an informed decision about their future studies and career.

This will be achieved by giving the learners, in a 6 month programme;

• Hands-on work experience as part of a team
• Experience of problem solving, working on a project that is relevant to a local company
• Use of a university’s engineering workshops to develop, build and test solutions to the problem
• Professional skills lectures on Communications (written, verbal and visual) and Project Management
• The opportunity to develop technical skills and see school physics, chemistry, technology etc applied in an industrial environment
• An opportunity to meet professional and graduate engineers, scientists and technologists
• Experience in presenting their solution, in a formal verbal presentation and formal written technical report, to a panel of senior professional engineers

During the six-month project phase, learners are encouraged to show industrial enterprise, creativity and innovation whilst gaining extensive experience of problem-solving, team-working and project management. Key life skills are developed within the context of the world of work.

Personal development education realised through work related learning is at the core of this high quality educational enrichment scheme. Find out how your school can get involved in the project.