Engineering: Instrumentation, Measurement and Control

Year 1

Students start the course by learning fundamental practical and theoretical skills essential within the general engineering discipline: using tools and equipment to draw and make things; expanding mathematical skills; enhancing science and engineering to comprehend how things work and are controlled; learning about working in industry.

Year 2

Building on the first year, students will find out more about electronics and control, by looking at signals - how to transmit and process them - and controlling systems using microprocessors. They will learn management and technical skills by working through an embedded controller project.

Year3

The third year sees students working on technically challenging group projects to develop core skills in communication and project management, balancing leadership and individual responsibility. Process related technical skills are enhanced in areas of control systems, metrology and understanding industrial installations and issues relating to their operation.

Year 4

Year 4 builds on the student's skills and independent working by undertaking the honours project. This year includes advanced subjects in control and estimation, batch processing, quality, alarm management and the integration of inter-related systems; basic process control, fire and gas, safety instrumented, and emergency shutdown systems.

Learning Methods

The course is designed to meet the national frameworks developed by Skills Development Scotland, the subject frameworks of the QAA and the skill and knowledge areas identified as crucial by industry. The teaching and learning strategy for this course is characterised by a commitment to ensuring a genuine interaction between theoretical and work-based learning. It enables the student to acquire and develop the subject knowledge and understanding necessary for successful professional employment.

Activity Summary

This is a work-based learning course mainly delivered online through our virtual learning environment (VLE) with one or two full-day(s) on campusworkshop per module.

• Approximately 25 students per cohort
• Online learning delivery for teaching material
• Workplace visits by academic staff
• Around 1 hour per week for online interactive workshop (tutorial or technical Q&A live session) with academic staff

There will be two terms, each approximately 20 weeks in length. Students will study two modules concurrently in each term (a total of 4 modules per year). This will typically require:

• Independent Study -30 hours per module
• Work Based Learning - 240 hours per module
• Online class participation - 30 hours per module

Independent Study

The majority of the learning will be taking place at work and as students progress from Year 1 4, the level of independent learning increasingsignificantly within specialist areas of the course. Students are expected to have the confidence to apply knowledge to more complex contexts and work on their own initiative as they progress towards graduation.

Staff Delivering on This Course

Staff are lecturers from traditional courses taught currently at RGU along with the potential for recorded guest lectures delivered by industry experts. Teaching will be undertaken mostly by staff with established expertise in the subject area of instrumentation, measurement, and control, who hold a chartership status CEng and who are already involved in joint projects with different industrial partners.

Workplace Mentor

Employers assign a Workplace Mentor whose role will be to oversee the work-based learning undertaken by the student. In addition to mentoring support for students, supplementary support may be provided by the employer, for example when subject matter experts are brought in to provide specific business or technical expertise or through access to other departments within the organisation.This ensures that the curriculum is fully covered as the student progresses in their studies.

Graduate Apprenticeship Success Coach

During the first year of study, access is provided to a dedicated Graduate Apprenticeship Success Coach to help make the most of all learning opportunities.

Assessment

A variety of assessment methods are used in this course, as deemed appropriate to the learning outcomes and subject material being assessed and the context in which the material is delivered.

Students will be assessed for each module using a variety of formative and summative assessment methods including:

• Reports
• Case studies
• Portfolios of evidence
• Logbooks
• Presentations
• Engineering drawings
• Product evaluation
• CAD and CAM assignments
• On-line tests
• NC programming
• Project reports

In addition in year 4, students are assessed on their dissertation and on project outputs.

Feedback

We aim to provide you with feedback within 20 working days of submission of coursework.

Students will be in full-time employment throughout the duration of the course, therefore extensive use is made of work-based learning.

CAREERS