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5 Sep 2013

Project seeks to educate the educators about engineering for the developing world

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ academics are part of a unique European-wide project to teach the next generation of engineers about the needs of people living in the developing world.

Engineering has a crucial role to play in improving the quality of life for millions of people across the globe, from providing clean drinking water to improving access to education.

But despite thousands of students graduating with degrees in engineering each year, few leave university with an understanding of the needs and challenges faced by the developing world.

This new project is hoping to address this issue by providing better training and resources for engineering lecturers.

Dr Rhoda Trimingham from the º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Design School is leading the UK’s part in the study, along with lecturer Brian Reed from the University’s Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC).  She explains: “If we want our students to have a better understanding of how their skills could benefit the developing world, we need to ensure those teaching them also have a good understanding.

“There are hundreds of engineering lecturers across the UK, teaching everything from product design to civil engineering, but very few of these have any experience of the developing world.  To ensure this information can cascade down to the student community we need to educate the lecturers.”

During the course of the two-year project new teaching materials for lecturers will be created that help integrate engineering for the developing world into the curricula.  Short training courses will also be offered and a network for relevant academic staff created.  Academics from institutions in Italy and Spain will be developing the same for their respective countries.

Charities Practical Action and Engineers without Borders are also partners in the project, which is supported by the Higher Education Academy.  All are keen to see a growing interest in graduate engineers wanting to use their skills to support the developing world.

Dr Trimingham added: “Charities and the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in these countries support this project because they recognise there is a real need to encourage new talent into the sector.  To do this we need to inspire them and offer them opportunities to get involved whilst they are still at university.”

The €662,330 ‘Global Dimension of Engineering Education (GDEE): Cross cutting development into technology studies’ project is funded by the European Commission.  For more information please see http://gdee.eu

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Notes for editors

Article reference number: PR 13/163

º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.

It was awarded the coveted Sunday Times University of the Year 2008-09 title, and is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in national newspaper league tables. It has been voted England's Best Student Experience for six years running in the Times Higher Education league, and in recognition of its contribution to the sector, the University has been awarded six Queen's Anniversary Prizes.

It is a member of the 1994 Group of 11 leading research-intensive universities. The Group was established in 1994 to promote excellence in university research and teaching. Each member undertakes diverse and high-quality research, while ensuring excellent levels of teaching and student experience.

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