Providing Inspection Services for
The Education and Training Inspectorate -
Promoting Improvement
Department of Education
Department for Employment and Learning
Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure
Education and Training Inspectorate
Report of an Inspection
Centre of Excellence
North East Institute of Further
and Higher Education
January 2005
CONTENTS
Section
Page
1.
INTRODUCTION
1
2.
MAIN FINDINGS
2
3.
STANDARDS OF WORK
3
4.
QUALITY OF LEARNING
5
5.
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
6
6.
CONCLUSION
7
7.
TABLES OF RESULTS
8
CURRICULUM AREA:
MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING
Courses Inspected:
1. National Diploma (ND) in Manufacturing
Engineering, full-time (FT)
2. National Certificate (NC) in Manufacturing
Engineering, part-time (PT)
3. Higher
National
Diploma
(HND)
in
Manufacturing Engineering, FT
4. Higher
National
Certificate
(HNC)
in
Manufacturing Engineering, PT
5. City & Guilds 2303 Part II in Computer
Numerical Controlled (CNC) Machining, PT
evening
6. City & Guilds 4351-09 in Solid Modelling, PT
evening
All of the above courses are provided at the Farm Lodge
campus.
1.
INTRODUCTION
North East Institute of Further and Higher Education
(Institute), which is recognised by the Department for
Employment and Learning (DEL) as a centre of
excellence for manufacturing engineering, provides an
excellent range of nationally recognised courses, and
bespoke training courses for industry, in mechanical and
manufacturing engineering. Most of the courses and all
of the specialist equipment are located at the institute’s
1
Farm Lodge Campus. At Farm Lodge, recruitment
levels to the ND/C and HND/C courses, over the last
three years, have been steady. In contrast, there has been
a significant increase in recruitment levels to part-time
evening courses and to bespoke training courses for
industry. Enrolments to the full-time HND are low at an
average of four students each year, and there have been
no enrolments on the full-time First Diploma since
2003/04. At the time of the inspection, there were 42
students enrolled on the full-time courses; 38 (91%) at
level 3 and four (9%) at level 4. On the part-time
courses there were 63 students; 25 (40%) at level 3 and
38 (60%) at level 4. On the part-time evening course in
solid modelling and CNC machining there were 15 and
24 students respectively. Most (87%) of the students on
the level 3 courses have appropriate entry qualifications
of at least four General Certificate in Secondary
Education (GCSE) pass grades, or an equivalent level 2
qualification. The majority of the remainder have three
pass grades with suitable industry experience. All
students on the level 4 courses have an appropriate level
3 qualification.
2.
MAIN FINDINGS
The main strengths are the:

excellent range of courses to meet the education
and training needs of the students and the
manufacturing engineering industry;

excellent standards of the students’ work;
2

well-established links and
employers and local schools;

good to excellent retention and success rates across
most courses; and

excellent range and quality of industry standard
equipment.
partnerships
with
The main areas for improvement are the:

poor student retention on the ND course;

low levels of recruitment to the full-time HND
course; and

development of links and partnerships with the rest
of the further education sector to share vocational
expertise and awareness of current industry
practices.
3.
STANDARDS OF WORK
Almost all of the students are well-motivated and highlycommitted to their programme of learning. They
respond well to the learning tasks and make good use of
the learning support provided by the lecturers. Most
have good attendance records and can work
independently or as part of a team. The standards of the
students’ practical engineering skills and of their ability
to use computer-based manufacturing technologies are
3
excellent. The students on the ND and HND courses, for
example, develop industry standard competencies in the
use of hand tools, conventional machine tools, CNC
machining centres, and in advanced computer-based
design and manufacturing techniques. For most of the
students, their understanding and application of
mathematics and engineering fundamentals are
satisfactory or better.
The standards of their
communication and ICT skills are mainly good; they
make effective use of sketches, three-dimensional
drawings and power-point presentations to communicate
their engineering designs. The average retention and
success rates over the last three years, for the courses
inspected, vary from excellent to poor. The average
retention rate is poor for the ND course at 52%;
satisfactory for the full-time HND course at 75%; good
for the NC at 86%; and excellent for the part-time
HNC/D and City and Guilds courses at almost 100%.
The average success rate is satisfactory for the CNC
course at 79%; good for the NC at 84%, the ND at 86%,
the HNC at 80%, and the part-time HND at 85%; the
success rate is excellent for the full-time HND and the
solid modelling course at 100%. The progression rates
from the ND course to employment or to higher
education are excellent. Approximately 34% of these
students progress to higher education, but only a few
progresses to the institute’s HND in manufacturing
engineering.
4
4.
QUALITY OF WORK
The range and balance of the content of the courses,
prepares students well to work in industry, or to progress
to further or higher education. The students are provided
with excellent opportunities to develop a wide range of
practical craft skills and advanced engineering design
and manufacturing techniques, using an excellent range
of industry standard equipment and software. Part-time
students from local precision engineering companies, for
example, have excellent access to 3D solid modelling
software, to four-axes CNC machining centres and to a
co-ordinate measuring machine to develop their
production skills. The quality of the teaching and
learning ranges from good to excellent; approximately
63% of the lessons observed had significant strengths
and in the remainder, the strengths outweighed the
weaknesses. The planning and preparation by the
lecturers are consistently good, and as a result the
students are provided with challenging and interesting
learning activities. These activities include the use of
computer-based experiments and tasks to develop their
understanding
of
engineering
principles
and
mathematics. The learning activities also contribute
effectively to the development of the students’ key skills
of application of number, communication, information
technology (IT), working with others, problem solving
and managing own learning. The students are provided
with good learning support; their progress in learning
and in assessment is monitored and reviewed regularly
by course tutors. Although the majority (50%) of the
students on the ND course benefit from appropriate
5
work-experience to support their career development,
there is a need to extend this provision to all students on
full-time courses. On-line learning support for students,
particularly for those who are part-time, is inadequate;
the institute does not have a fully operational virtual
learning environment (VLE).
5.
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
There is considerable strength in the leadership and
management, at all levels, within the centre of
excellence. There is a clear vision for the development
of the centre to meet the needs of the students and the
needs of the engineering industry in Northern Ireland.
Over the last four years, the institute has been successful
in securing additional funding mainly through European
funded Projects, of approximately £960,000 to support
the purchase of capital equipment, staff development and
technical support. All of the lecturers within the centre
of excellence have undertaken relevant staff
development and the majority have participated in the
Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA)
‘Lecturers into Industry’ programme. This has enabled
the lecturers to update their awareness of, and develop
their skills in the use of, current technologies within the
manufacturing engineering industry.
The welldeveloped links with approximately 20 engineering
employers and around 15 local schools, have, since
2002/03, led to 24 well-designed bespoke training
programmes for industry, and two curriculum
enrichment programmes for schools. A range of CNC
courses, for example, for machine operators within large
6
multi-national companies, has been designed and
provided in conjunction with North Down and Ards
Institute of Further and Higher Education.
The
programmes for schools include welding and fabrication
craft skills for 14-16 year olds, and computer-aided
design and manufacturing techniques for 16-18 year
olds.
There are effective partnerships with the
Engineering Training Council, four institutes of further
and higher education, and Sligo Institute of Technology
to develop the mechanical and manufacturing
engineering curriculum
and
bespoke
training
programmes for industry; however the sharing of the
vocational expertise of the lecturers and their awareness
of current industry practices with all colleges and
institutes is underdeveloped.
The quality assurance procedures are mostly rigorous,
and lead to action plans for each identified area for
improvement. The monitoring and evaluation of the
action plans and of the key performance indicators are
not, however, sufficiently rigorous to bring about
improvement, particularly in the poor student retention
rates on the ND course.
6.
CONCLUSION
The quality of the provision, within the centre of
excellence for manufacturing has many strengths. A few
areas for improvement need to be addressed if the
organisation is to be effective and efficient in meeting
the needs of students, and in responding to local and
regional circumstances.
7
TABLE OF RESULTS
Completion Year 2001/02
Title of Course
First Diploma in
Manufacturing
National Diploma in
Manufacturing
National Certificate in
Manufacturing
Higher National Diploma in
Manufacturing – Full-time
Higher National Certificate in
Manufacturing – Part-time
Higher National Diploma in
Manufacturing – Part-time
City & Guilds 4351-09 Solid
Modelling
City & Guilds 2303 CNC
Machining
Qual
Level
Enrolments
Retention
Rate
(%)
Success
Rate
(%)
Completion Year
2002/03
Enrolments
Completion Year
2003/04
Retention
Rate
(%)
Success
Rate
(%)
Enrolments
Retention
Rate
(%)
Success
Rate
(%)
2
17
82
43
7
37
43
0
3
34
53
78
31
45
100
34
56
84
3
14
100
72
11
64
100
5
80
100
4
4
100
1000
1
0
0
7
71
100
4
9
100
78
17
100
71
10
90
100
4
13
100
92
7
100
86
7
100
71
3
12
100
100
15
100
100
2
12
100
83
12
100
75
8
 CROWN COPYRIGHT 2005
This report may be reproduced in whole or in
part, except for commercial purposes or in
connection with a prospectus or advertisement,
provided that the source and date thereof are
stated.
Copies of this report may be obtained from the
Inspection Services Branch, Department of
Education, Rathgael House, 43 Balloo Road,
Bangor, Co Down BT19 7PR. A copy is also
available on the DE website: www.deni.gov.uk