School aged and interested in engineering - free course from Strathclyde uni

[Blanketpolicy]

Strathclyde Engineering Fundamentals

If anyones dc is interested in engineering Ds did this a couple of years ago when in S5. It is a funded online course and running again November to February, approx 100hrs commitment but do at your own pace and mostly short videos and multiple choice quiz type assessments.

I have been keeping an eye out for it restarting for a friend, but not ideal timing as they will be revising for prelims and highers, but someone might be interested (ds did his end may - june, but they didnt run last year at that time, perhaps no funding).

Ds found it helped confirm he wanted to do engineering and prompted further interest before it got to application and PS writing time and helped with some ideas of what to write about.

Thank you for sharing this @Blanketpolicy. I have shared with my DS who may be interested.

I don't suppose anyone knows of any similar courses through other universities do they?

This is something my son would love to do but we're too late for this intake.

@DaffodilsInAJamjar did you try and they knocked him back? Ds applied late and just caught up. It is all at your own pace, and not too taxing, but is around 80-100hrs he would need to fit in before it finished.

Oh that's interesting, thank you for your reply. The email we received said that the funded places were now full. We are in England so would be paying to enrol. I think we'll contact them again tomorrow and see whether he can get on. I'll let you know how we get on!

Its a shame you can find anything funded in England, iirc it was £600 (2 years ago) for those not eligible for Scottish gov funding. While ds did find it interesting and useful. I am not sure I would pay £600 for it! (Maybe I am too cheap!)

Ds is working tonight but I could ask him tomorrow what it covered to give you a better idea, I can remember him talking about which I think were on this

• the history of engineering
• How to measure efficiences / time and motion studies
• Some basic school level maths / Physics
• Problem solving techniques
• A section on waste management or recycling / waste
• Think there was a section on civil engineering

It is all pitched at a Scottish NAT5 level.

Yes the course details looked really interesting, covering various different areas of engineering. It's something he's expressed an interest in, but that I know nothing about!

University is so expensive I really want him to make the right choice. I thought this might help him decide if this is the route for him (or not!)

That looks really useful thanks- I'm bookmarking it for next year as my currently S5 son would plan to take a year out anyway, so S6 would still be ok to do it. He wouldn't manage it this year on top of Highers anyway I don't think.

https://www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/strathclydeonlinelearning/upskillingatstrathclyde/engineering/engineeringfundamentals/

Just bumping this up for anyone whose ds have just finished Highers, have their NAT5s in the bag, and are considering applying for engineering next year.

Module materials will be accessible from Monday 20th May 2024 until Friday 9th August 2024.

Bumping so I spot any future posts and ask if anyone knows if this course still runs each year? I remembered reading this thread years ago, during a recent conversation with DC about applying in a couple of years as they are progressively keen on engineering but could do with a more detailed understanding of what it entails. I'm not having any luck with the links or using key words from them to search on Strathclyde's website. Thanks for putting it on my radar @Blanketpolicy

Looks like they have stopped delivering it as it is no longer on their webpages.

You could try emailing them on the email in the link below to ask if they have anything similar for school pupils interested in engineering, perhaps funding has been withdrawn.

https://www.scottishengineering.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Engineering-Fundamentals-Launch-5th-November-2020.pdf

Thanks for replying so quickly and the contact info - this was my suspicion. It wouldn't be for another couple of years either the discussion just came about during nationals discussion.