Faculty of Mathematics,
Computing and
Technology
Faculty Vision
The Faculty’s vision is to be the UK university
provider of choice for high quality teaching and
research in
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics that
is
• immediately relevant in professional contexts
• related to policy frameworks
thus equipping learners, employers and funders
with the capabilities they require to meet
tomorrow’s challenges.
Faculty Vision
At the heart of the Faculty’s capability to deliver its
vision lies a commitment to interdisciplinarity that
builds on specialist academic expertise grounded
in outward looking, sustainable academic
communities that engage fully with teaching,
research and other scholarship and that maintain
strong links with professional bodies and
communities of practitioners
Strategic Themes
Students and
Employers
Transition to higher
level skills
Employability
Lead (S)TEM
teaching+ res
Service led
education
Knowledge
Six overarching aims for MCT
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Put the student experience first
Demonstrate employability through modules, qualifications, pathways
and programmes and through referencing professional frameworks
Focus knowledge generation, transformation and communication
through recognizable and measurable outcomes
Engage with all stakeholders within and across sectors as an
educational service provider – matching service to developing
requirements – and deliver service-led education through the
application of research, scholarship and practice-based learning
Lead as a major national and international player in STEM+ (STEM
and associated policy contexts) across research, teaching and
enterprise
Develop methods and service models to meet specialist employer
and employee needs
MCT Departments
•
Mathematics & Statistics Department: main interests for both teaching
and research are currently Statistics, Mathematics Education, Mathematical
Physics, Combinatorics, Analysis and the History of Mathematics
•
Department of Design, Development, Environment & Materials
presents awards in design, the environment, development studies, and
engineering and contributes to a wide variety of OU courses.
DDEM hosts the ESRC Centre for Social and Economic Research on
Innovation in Genomics, the Open Energy and Sustainability Research
Initiative, and the
George Rzevski Complexity Laboratory
•
Department of Communication & Systems: main interests for both
teaching and research currently lie in the areas of ICT, Web Technologies,
Technology Management, Systems, Integrated Waste Systems,
Sustainability and Technology for Teaching. It also teaches vendor
qualifications – Microsoft, Cisco and Linux
•
The Computing Department’s main interests for both teaching and
research currently lie in the areas of mobile and pervasive computing,
software engineering, human-centered systems, intelligent systems, and
computational linguistics.
The Department hosts the University’s Computing Research Centre
Issues Addressed
TEM
Knowledge
Digital Society
Environmental
Sustainability
Professional
Skills
Societal
Understanding
Responding to external
drivers
• STEM agenda highlighted by governments
nationally and internationally
– Digital Society
– Sustainable development
– Creativity and innovation
– Globalization and international development
Key characteristics
• Top class distance technical education
• A strong research base (RAE excellence +
high impact scholarship)
• Effective deployment of discipline assets
• An interdisciplinary approach
‘A strong, agile, interdisciplinary, outward facing faculty with
a life changing offering to a diverse student population,
where the strength and agility is derived from a shared
common vision of the future.’
MCT shape and size
• OU total number of students 270,143
– Undergraduate 252,043
– Postgraduate 18,100
• MCT total number of students ~ 54,800
– Undergraduate 49,518
– Postgraduate 5,322
– Research 180 (full-time & part-time)
09/10 data
MCT undergraduate student
numbers
•
•
•
•
•
Mathematics and statistics ~ 16,000
Computing and ICT ~ 19,000
Technology ~ 9,000
Engineering ~ 4,000
Environment ~ 3,000
MCT undergraduate profiles
•
Mathematics and statistics
– Growth area, teaches students from many disciplines across the university
– Supports in-service teacher development
•
Computing and ICT
Supports both specialists and digitally literate professionals
– Innovation through introduction of vendor qualifications . The OU is the fastest
growing CISCO academy in the UK. We also present Linux and Microsoft
curriculum.
•
Technology
– Increasingly focusing the environment (sustainability) and low carbon futures
– Systems thinking
•
Engineering
– Alignment with Design and Innovation offerings to support creativity and
innovation.
– Growth area, following recent success in accreditation by professional bodies
•
Environment
– .Environmental policy and decision making , sustainability and low carbon
futures
TU 100 My Digital Life
Introduction to the how and why of the digital world
• the ownership of data
• how the World Wide Web works
• the privacy and security of personal data
• online identity in virtual worlds
• how online businesses survive (or not)
TU100 My Digital Life
• My digital life is not just something you will study; it is a
community you will join.
• You’ll build your programming skills through problemsolving using the specially designed language – Sense
• Sense is intended to give you the skills to design
programs in any language.
• The SenseBoard has been designed to work with Sense
and give you a few of the features of a research
laboratory in something that sits in the palm of your
hand.
MCT postgraduate student
numbers
•
•
•
•
•
Computing and ICT ~ 2,000
Environment ~ 1,500
Technology ~ 1,300
Mathematics and statistics ~ 1,000
Engineering ~ 250
MCT postgraduate profiles
• Computing and ICT
– OU offering is being re-shaped to respond to strong competition from private
providers. New CISCO offering is performing well.
• Environment
•
– Environmental Decision Making and Development Management
curricula have international relevance and reach
Technology .
– A new Systems Thinking curriculum is developing a solid market.
– Technology Management integrates with Computing & ICT and OUBS
offerings
• Mathematics and statistics
– A significant and stable proportion of the UK market, .
• Engineering
– Professional recognition routes available to OU and other grads through
Integrated M Eng programme.
Changing UK environment
• More than 70% of OU students are in
employment whilst studying
• Many study for work related reasons
• Changes in UK funding emphasise
importance of part time study
Integrating work based
learning
• Foundation Degrees
– 240 Credit Points
– Vocationally relevant
– Integrate Work Based Learning and formal study
– Progression to Hons degrees
– Computing and IT Practice
– Engineering
– Materials Fabrication and Engineering
MCT employability in the curriculum
• Promotion of a practice based curriculum
that has relevance in the workplace and
adds value for both student and employer
• Working with employers to specify
curriculum
• Incorporating relevant industry recognised
qualifications, e.g. CISCO, Microsoft
Developing new models of
delivery to support
employability
• IT-PDP
– Working with the Sector Skills Council, E-skills
– Brokering curriculum across the sector, not for one employer
– Major employers are key stakeholders in the project through the
employer board
– Delivered through a business to business model
– Innovative features, separating content from assessment to allow
for inclusion of employer training
– Assessment is portfolio based and all content is assessed. No
credit rating of employer provision is needed.
Working with the Nuclear
Skills Industry
• A PG qualification for the Nuclear Skills industry, created
with funding from the North West Development Agency
• Developed in collaboration with the National Skills
Academy – Nuclear with a board of employers
• Delivery is mix of employer training and OU provision –
piloted Nov 2010
Opportunities for employer led
curriculum
• Both these examples show the faculty
working with umbrella organisations to
broker sector wide curriculum
• The partner organisation will take some
responsibility for marketing and the
partnership may last beyond the
curriculum development
• This model of working with industry is
important for employer led activity in MCT
MCT Research
6 main areas:
• Art and Design
• Computing
• Development Studies
• Maths (Pure and Applied)
• Materials
• Statistics
Research Centres hosted by or involving Faculty staff
• Computing Research Centre
• Innovation, Knowledge & Development Research Centre
• INNOGEN (ESRC funded)
MCT Research
• MCT’s research portfolio
engages with some of the
major issues facing the world
today.
• It achieved international
excellence in RAE 2008.
The Centre for Research in
Computing at the OU has jumped
into the top 20, just below York,
Bristol and Bath.’
The University’s Design group –
spanning areas from design
thinking, to sustainability and
complexity - ranks third in the UK
out of a field of 72
Another strategic success is the
placing of Development Studies at
equal 4th with Bath University; the
work of this group underpins our
programme of activities in Africa.
Areas for Development
• Engineering- increasing visibility
• Specification and launching of the new
Sustainability curriculum
• Development of the Design and Innovation
degree
• Launching the refreshed postgraduate
Computing and ICT curriculum