Course Overview
Engineering is concerned with developing, providing and maintaining infrastructure, products, processes and services for society.
(1). Engineering addresses the complete life-cycle of a product, process or service, from conception, through design and manufacture, to decommissioning and disposal, within the constraints imposed by economic, legal, social, cultural and environmental considerations.
Engineering relies on three core elements, namely scientific principles, mathematics and 'realisation'. Scientific principles clearly underpin all engineering, while mathematics is the language used to communicate parameters, model and optimise solutions
(2). Realisation encapsulates the whole range of creative abilities which distinguish the engineer from the scientist; to conceive, make and actually bring to fruition something which has never existed before. This creativity and innovation to develop economically viable and ethically sound sustainable solutions is an essential and distinguishing characteristic of engineering, shared by the many diverse, established and emerging disciplines within engineering.
The importance of Engineering within the global economy as a wealth creator has been identified by the government resulting in a wide range of initiatives to promote and grow science Engineering and technology based capabilities. This planned growth in the engineering sector is set against the backdrop of the key importance of sustainable and environmentally friendly practices.
These environmental drivers include the diminishing supply of fossil fuel which will make the transport of goods over thousands of miles less attractive thus encouraging a resurgence of localised manufacturing, energy efficient design, environmentally appropriate materials and low carbon processes. The need for sustainable design and manufacture of products, buildings and infra-structure underpins the development of this course.
The Leeds Sustainability Institute has become a focus for research and development within the multidisciplinary domain of sustainability, integrating expertise across the faculty and university encompassing design, environment, manufacture and the built environment. This
31 course development, will integrate with the research ethos of the institute providing students pertinent industry based projects underpinned by the institutes expertise. It is expected that the masters provision will provide a pathway to embedded and impactful research projects built upon the masters level activity.
The Course is informed by the many of the new technologies emerging and driven by the sustainability agenda.
Energy analysis and visualisation tools
Advanced environmental simulation tools
Low carbon design tools
New materials and processes
Web based technologies
Course Structure
This course structure encourages students to explore the core themes of a broad range of Engineering practice informed by research into Sustainability. Students will be able to construct their diet of study from the growing library of masters’ modules exploring environmental impact and sustainable technologies, methodologies and engineering practices.
This course will offer honours graduates in Engineering disciplines, or those with equivalent qualifications, an opportunity to pursue advanced study in the field of Engineering focused upon sustainability issues
The aims of the course are:
1. To expand students’ existing knowledge of Engineering in a range of domains in a sustainability context in order to create a platform from which to launch directed research into the applicability, limitations and enhancements of current developments.
2. To encourage students to design, specify and construct sustainable engineering systems.
3. To engender a responsible, professional approach to the implementation of organisational changes brought about by the adoption of new technology.
32 The Course consists of 6 modules of 20 credits and a single project/dissertation of 60 credits.
The course requires a total of 180 credits to successfully complete the awarded of masters.
Note: The above course structure is for September starters. For the January starters, the first 3 listed Semester 1 and Semester 2 modules are swapped around.
Consistent with the University’s regulatory framework, the credit ratings for the awards are as follows:
MSc Awards: Achieve 40% or more in 160 credits and 30% or more in the balance of 20 credits. Overall, you must achieve an average of 40% or more in 180 credits.
PgDip Awards: Achieve 40% or more in 100 and 30% or more in the balance of 20 credits.
Overall, you must achieve an average of 40% or more in 120 credits.
PGCert Awards: Achieve 40% or more in ALL 60 credits. You may not fail any module.
You must submit work for every component of assessment.
Any reassessments will be set at component level:
A component is a part of a module which has a final assessment attached to it – eg a module with 30% exam and 70% coursework has 2 components of assessment.
33 Please note that the regulation permits you to be reassessed in all modules on the award once only and the mark will be capped at 40%.
Postgraduate Employability and Professional Context
This course is of relevance to those currently in a junior management / higher technical role, who wish to progress their career by developing the Processes and governance of environmentally sustainable engineering activities. The following is a list of positions they could assume after completing the course: , Environmental survey and analysis , Automation Consultants, Engineers/ Project Manager, Program Expert/Manager/ Engineer/
Strategist/Planner, QA/QC Specialist,
In addition students are also encouraged to undertake projects or volunteering opportunities with outside organisations. Students are also encouraged to undertake projects for external clients where possible.
Employability is enhanced through our contacts with industry and links to local employers.
Additionally our Student Employability and Progression Team provide students with up-to-date knowledge and skills relevant to the needs of the sector.
The current financial climate is likely to encourage students to be more focussed on a future career path when choosing courses to study and whether to study at Post-Graduate level.
Course Resources
Physical and Technical Resources
This multi-disciplinary course provides the students with access to resources and expertise both within the school of Computing, Creative Technologies and Engineering and the school of Built Environment and Engineering with a unique focus on research through the Leeds Sustainability Institute.
The School of Computing, Creative Technologies and Engineering
The School has its own dedicated IT support team developing and supporting its own Network servers, desktop PCs and software to provide a customised service that is needed to support a highly innovative, technical and changing IT infrastructure that is needed to support the academic provision.
34 Research lab containing Siemens S7 1200 PLC’s and dedicated simulation and emulation software.
Dimension Rapid Prototyping machine and software.
FlexSim Discrete event simulation software.
Field Programmable Gate Array development boards and emulation software.
ARM development boards + emulation software.
3 x labs of 25 Apple I-macs with the following spec 24” screen, 2.8Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 320Gb SATA, 4gb Memory.
8 x labs of 25 HP Compaq DC7800 Core 2 Processors 3Ghz, 3GB Memory, 250Gb SATA drive, DVD +/- rewriters (3 of these labs have an extra 25 PCs connected to a dedicated network for Computer Forensics/Network, Operating Systems, Security and Communications based type modules) 1 lab is equipped with the extra devices to enable students to explore the configuration of computer networks.
150 x Windows Toshiba laptops and 30 x Apple MacBook’s for open access/footprint room activities, including self-study in the libraries or other non-lab rooms.
Three labs have access to Linux open source systems.
The computer labs are supported by technical staff from 8:30 AM to 9:00 PM Mon to Thurs and 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Fri and 10:00am to 5:00 PM on Sundays during term time. At all other times the labs in the James Graham building are open with entrance via the library.
Thus we have labs that are open 24/7, 365 days of the year.
Built Environment and Engineering Facilities
Northern Terrace hosts the School of Built Environment and Engineering where classroom facilities are supplemented by Civil Engineering laboratories. The building materials laboratory is well equipped with modern testing equipment to enable all the standard tests pertinent to civil engineering materials compliance and strength behaviour to be undertaken. Substantial investment has been focused on this facility to benefit the student learning experience, with digital/electronic control and monitoring now being incorporated into the majority of the experimental systems within the laboratory. The range of experimentation includes:
35
Full scale structural element testing (typically reinforced concrete beams) up to 250 tonnes loading capacity
Model structures
Concrete beam production - mixing, casting and associated material strength/consistency testing
Comprehensive range of soil mechanics and highway engineering testing systems
Hydraulics - open channel flow apparatus and pump rig
Practical surveying is supported by the use of a dilapidated Grade II listed building in nearby Queens Square.
IT hubs were created in Northern Terrace and the wireless access was greatly enhanced.
Specialist IT facilities
The Faculty hosts specialist IT labs in the Leslie Silver Building, Broadcasting Place and Electric Press providing hardware and software facilities in support of the academic subjects based at the City site. These include the Autodesk Suite, specialist film editing software, REVIT and building information modelling software, as well as specialist printing and plotting facilities. These specialist laboratories provide around 175 PCs, and around 160 iMacs to which the Faculty’s students have dedicated access. The majority of these were brand new for the start of the academic year. These are supported by specialist printing facilities including A0 plotters. 24/7 access to some of the facilities in the Leslie Silver Building was introduced following student demand.
Masters Room
PR206 is room available exclusively to our Masters Programme students, with internet access and small library of books donated by academics.
Library Resources
The Library purchases a range of quality electronic and print resources to support the curriculum, numbering over almost 400,000 items for 2012-13. Academic Librarians are responsible for the identification and selection of materials to support courses and research in their subject area. Many information and learning resources are acquired in electronic
36 format where available, enabling simultaneous multi-user access 24/7 from both on and off campus. The Library has access to many bibliographic and full text databases. The Resource Discovery Tool, “Discover” supplied by EBSCO, provides single search access for users to the whole range of information resources available through the University Library services.
Other Information Databases in this subject area are ACM Digital Library, ProQuest Technology, IEEE Xplore Digital Library etc.
The Library also works with other libraries to enable access for Leeds Beckett students and staff. For example, SCONUL Access provides access to resources in over 140 institutions across the country. An Interlibrary Loan service is available to staff, research students, taught masters students and undergraduates working on dissertations to facilitate access to information resources not held by The Library.
The Library opens 24/7 every day of the year providing over 2100 study places of which approximately 800 offer access to computing or multi-media facilities. Wireless networking is also available throughout The Library and wireless enabled laptops are available for loan.
The i-print system offers multi-functional devices for printing, photocopying and scan to email, as well as the option to send to print from home computers or personal laptops.
The Library website, Library Online, provides access to information and resources available through The Library, including the support For Your Subject pages, information about library services, and a range of written and online Guides and Tutorials for further help and
Discover – a single interface to simultaneously search the library catalogue and many of the research subscription databases http://libguides.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/resources
Skills for Learning – a University resource to support key skills development http://skillsforlearning.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/
37 A number of Journals are available, for reference the following are mentioned below:
IEEE Journals, ACM Transactions, Computing, Computer Weekly, International journal on semantic web and information systems, Knowledge Engineering Review, Expert Systems with Applications, and AI and Society.
A number of relevant databases are also available via the digital library http://libraryonline.leedsmet.ac.uk/pages/resources/databases/a-z_list/i
For Your Subject guides (e.g. databases):
http://libguides.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/resources/databases Library Guides and Tutorials:
http://libguides.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/home
You are encouraged to keep up with industry developments by accessing journals such as
“Computing” or “Computer Weekly” on a regular basis.