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Taster Weeks for A-level students

This summer the challenges of systems engineering were introduced to over 50 17 year olds at both Loughborough University and the Warton site of BAE Systems. They took part in a taster week originally developed and run by Air Systems enthusiasts during which they had to draw up a tender to provide a comprehensive long term air defence package for a fictitious country. They were provided with detailed technical, political and environmental information and, working in teams of 4 – 5, assembled their various and varied solutions to this problem. students working on their project
proud winners of the tallest spagetti structure! As you might expect, no two solutions were the same! The resulting packages and costs differed widely as each group evaluated risks and opportunities, applied different criteria and attempted to sell different benefits to the ‘customer’. The end of the week saw the teams compete to win the contract by presenting technically sound solutions to an audience of lecturers and engineers, some of whom were former Systems Engineering graduates. The standard of their work was excellent and they had all gained insight into both the business of engineering and systems engineering itself, tackling the concepts of requirements capture and lifecycle management - and having a lot of fun in the process.
Most of the students had not even heard of systems engineering before but by the end of their stay many were seriously considering coming back to do the MEng degree. The week also included department and campus tours, meeting engineers from BAE Systems and the Royal Navy, team building activities and sampling university life team building with paper towers

What they said about it:

  • I enjoyed the course very much, thought the project was excellent; something real to work towards.
  • Difficult project and we were given support but also space to make our own decisions. Lots of fun outside project lab too!
  • Fantastic!
Especial thanks are due to the Loughborough MEng undergraduates who organised and facilitated the weeks, – a demanding but stimulating challenge to which they all rose admirably. the undergraduate facilitators from Loughborough

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The Loughborough based week was run through Headstart, part of the Royal Academy of Engineering's Best programme.

The 2008 Headstart course will run from 7th to 10th July.

For further details see www.headstartcourses.org.uk or, especially if you would like to get involved, contact Amanda Pearce (a.v.pearce@lboro.ac.uk).





 

 

 
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