Developments in graduate personal skills training at UMIST

The paper describes the development and introduction of a monitored professional development (MPD) programme for research engineers on the Engineering Doctorate Programme in Manchester (UK) in parallel with a revised graduate personal development programme (GPDP) applicable to and useful for all research students at UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology). The GPDP provides support and guidance in the key skills areas integrated with students own research activities, their individual departmental requirements and the facilities offered by the national Research Councils who fund much of this research. It similarly assists students to identify the educational and training requirements for Chartered Engineer status recently introduced in the UK. From the early nineties UMIST has run a graduate support programme for its range of science, engineering and management postgraduate students (over 1400 in total) using centrally-provided, optional, large group lectures and individual support from a student´s own departmental supervisor. While this programme had shown a range of benefits, further advantages were possible by revising the course structure to use a small group approach and by linking activities in all three years of a PhD students study programme. Also the opportunity to redesign the course has allowed better integration of centrally provided course material with departmentally organised support activities. Similarly, the EngD programme, which has been in existence since 1992, has provided more extensive personal and professional skills training to a smaller cohort of researchers. Experience from and the synergies between the two programmes have enabled UMIST staff to develop a range of course modules that provide a sound foundation for all technological disciplines and which can be extended to suit a broad spectrum of institutional requirements.