The reports that maths exams are becoming easier was interesting to the engineering employers who have designed a new maths for engineering unit for students on the engineering diploma at level 3. This happened because the universities said there was insufficient maths in the engineering diploma for students to progress to degree courses in the subject.
So we asked engineering professors and employers to design a new unit. This new unit is being seen as one that is more relevant to engineering degree courses than maths A-level, and Cambridge University and Imperial College, London, have welcomed it and will encourage students applying to their universities to take this unit as part of their additional learning.
The unit combines well both high academic standards with relevant applied learning. Other lines of learning such as manufacturing and construction are looking at how they can adapt this for their use. It has been claimed that the unit may be too hard for some students, and it is certainly challenging. But it will help university engineering students to prepare better for a university course and help produce better engineers for the future.
Graham Lane, Chair of the Engineering Diploma Development Partnership, London.
