Student project grabs academy award

A Royal Academy of Engineering product story

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 6, 2006

University's faculty of engineering becomes first recipient of Education Innovation Prize for team building project that covers multiple disciplines.

Southampton University's Faculty of Engineering has become the first recipient of the Royal Academy of Engineering's Education Innovation Prize sponsored by BNFL.

The award is in recognition of "Design, Build, Test, Float, Fly and Race - Inspiring Tomorrow's Engineers", an initiative and the inspiration of Southampton lecturer Kenji Takeda.

Over three days, teams of students take part in a design, build, test, float, fly and race activity, during which they build a balsa wood glider, a radio-controlled race car or an electric speed boat.

This gives them a flavour of the three engineering courses offered by Southampton; Aeronautics and Astronautics, Mechanical Engineering and Ship Science.

Takeda and his team at Southampton first came up with the idea as a way of introducing sixth-form school students to the world of engineering.

They then teamed up with Headstart, which runs residential courses nationwide giving school students interested in technology a taster of engineering at university and as a career.

The project has been running at the university for two years with more than 80 students taking part, and more than 20% of the Headstart participants subsequently enrolling in a Southampton University Engineering Course.

So successful has it been that Southampton University has replaced its traditional university freshers week programme of lectures with an induction week designed by Takeda and his team and incorporating the same kind of activity.

Induction week lets first-year undergraduates get to know their peers and academic staff in a relaxed, friendly environment and develop the different styles of thinking crucial to success at university and beyond.

It even incorporates a parenting scheme to foster communications between first-year undergraduates and students in the years above and facilitate peer-guidance schemes.

Takeda's imagination, innovation and determination have been the driving force behind both these projects at Southampton, and the university awarded him a Vice-Chancellor's Teaching Award last year.

This latest prize from the Royal Academy of Engineering, worth £10,000, reinforces his much deserved recognition.

He picked up the award on behalf of the university at the academy's symposium, Innovation in Engineering Education, at the RSA.

He said: "Everyone at Southampton University Faculty of Engineering is proud to receive this prestigious award".

"We set out to offer a new and exciting introduction to university life and engineering study".

"For us, the overwhelming response from participants has been the reward in itself - but the acknowledgement from the Royal Academy of Engineering makes our efforts even more worthwhile".

Ian Bowbrick, Director of Postgraduate Programmes for the Royal Academy of Engineers, said: "Congratulations to Takeda and everyone involved with the winning project".

"The standard of entries was especially high and everyone at the Royal Academy of Engineering was delighted to see such a wide cross section of innovative approaches to engineering education".

"The finalists represented a showcase of best practice and all the finalists are shining examples of how creativity can engage students and prove a powerful source of inspiration - exciting the next generation of and many more to come".