UNSW students arrive in London for Summer School
PLuS Alliance Engineering are pleased to welcome the first cohort of students to their inaugural summer school. Clare, Hamza, Laurence, Nicholas, Vivian and Xavier are all from UNSW Sydney where they are studying a range of degrees including Bioinformatics, Civil Engineering and Industrial Design. Dr Ang Liu, Senior Lecturer at the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, UNSW has also recently arrived.
Over the next ten weeks they will working on a variety of projects for the PLuS Engineering programme including a student and academic charter, marketing and communications, and developing modules for the new programme. In July, they will be joined by students from King’s College London and Arizona State University to work on the exciting summer school engineering projects - sculpture fountains, citizen hubs and rehabilitation robots.
PLuS Engineering Founding Dean, Professor Judy Raper stated;
“I am delighted to be welcoming students to our inaugural summer school to work with us in developing this fantastic new initiative for engineering education. The UK alone is short of 20,000 skilled engineers per year and this shortage is reflected worldwide. This global programme will attract a diverse range of people, thanks to its innovative structure and approach to studying engineering. Our guests this summer will see first-hand how we plan to transform engineering education for the benefit of society.”
Clare, a Civil Engineering student spoke about how her previous involvement in the PLuS Alliance influenced her decision to participate in the Summer School. “I previously completed a subject that was associated with the PLuS Alliance. It happened to be one of my favourite subjects because of how unique the learning experience was, which is one of the main reasons why I wanted to be involved with another PLuS opportunity. I am also interested in having hands-on experience on the projects offered in this program and exploring ways in which I can apply skills that I have learnt throughout my degrees.”
Hamza added, “Partaking in projects at the PLuS Alliance Engineering School provides the opportunity to work closely with students from Arizona State University, King’s College London and fellow colleagues at UNSW, to collaborate, providing well-rounded and innovative approaches to fascinating yet challenging matters. Being a socially and environmentally conscious individual, this opportunity allows me to contribute to society by taking responsibility and giving back, providing benefits to the wider society by valuing design, diversity, social impact and entrepreneurship.”
Laurence, a Biomedical Engineering student commented, "The summer school is an opportunity to learn and grow both in my technical capabilities as an engineer, but also in my knowledge of the world and the people in it. I am also eager to help establish this new school of engineering, since any endeavour to educate future engineers is one, I want to be a part of."
“I believe that engineering is about finding the problems you want to solve in the world and an engineering degree is about learning the tools required to solve them. I applied to the PLuS Alliance Engineering Summer School because I believed that it would provide the opportunity to contribute to solving problems in an interdisciplinary team, both within and outside the class room. I believe that this new school will provide me and others who are passionate about designing solutions, an environment where we can flourish; regardless of whether we fit into the traditional mould of an engineer” stated Vivian.
There will be regular updates on the progress of the students at the Summer School on these pages and on our social media platforms throughout this summer. Watch this space!
