Students undertaking this degree programme obtain a wider learning experience and qualification than the traditional PhD because of the additional skills gained and the industry-centred portfolio of the research work. The feedback from industry has indicated that PhD is not always the ideal mechanism to facilitate development of skills required for a professional practising research in industry. The EngD programme provides experience of rigorous, cutting edge research in the commercial context. The graduates achieve training that enables them to take a range of research and/or managerial roles in industry. It provides a vehicle for candidates to undertake industry-relevant high-level research within the Engineering disciplines, and consists of a 180-credit diet of taught courses plus an EngD research project. Together the taught programme and industry-based project provide an opportunity to enhance expertise, update knowledge, and give academic validation to expertise developed in the workplace.
Some generic frameworks for the research study are:
- A challenging industrial problem of high technical merit
- Investigation into the relationship of an Engineering programme to the corporate strategy
- Study of marketplace or environment influence
- Technical project management under timeframe and financial constraints
- Economic and financial considerations in the professional field
- Leadership and teamwork influence in an Engineering group
- Investigating design and production requirements considering broader socio-economic aspects