Higher National Certificate in Mechanical Engineering

 

 

Intermediate Awards	n/a
Mode of Study	Part-time (1 day a week)
Location of Study	London Road Campus
Course Length	Two years Total Guided Learning Hours (GL) – 480 Hours Total Qualification Time (TQT) – 1,200 Hours
Course Code	PLR4EHC002
UCAS Code	n/a
QAA Subject Benchmarks	n/a
HECoS Code	100163 electrical and electronic engineering
Accreditation Type	n/a
Accreditation Details	n/a
Criteria for Admission to the Programme	A* to C grade and/or 9 to 4 in GCSE Maths (or equivalent) is strongly recommended A BTEC Level 3 qualification in Engineering A GCE Advanced Level profile that demonstrates strong performance in a relevant subject or adequate performance in more than one GCE subject. This profile is likely to be supported by GCSE grades at A* to C and/or 9 to 4 (or equivalent) Other related Level 3 qualifications Accreditation may be given for prior learning both academic and work-based.
Minimum/Maximum Numbers	Minimum 10                   Maximum 15 Applicants will be advised w/c the 27 August 2021 if insufficient numbers have been recruited to make the course viable.
Course Fee	£4,625 / £7,425 per year. Please refer to the published fee policy for information on international fees, when your fees are due and how they will be collected.
Additional Costs	n/a
Date of Production	July 2021
Proposed Revision Date	July 2022

 

This Programme Specification provides useful information about your course being delivered at Shrewsbury Colleges Group, how it will be delivered and how you will be assessed - it should be read in conjunction with the Programme Specification you were provided with during recruitment and the Edexcel/BTEC Higher National Specification for this award. 

We hope you choose to come and study with us at Shrewsbury Colleges Group and take advantage of the opportunity to access Higher Education locally in Shropshire. 

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Welcome from Curriculum Leader:

Andrew Lee

Here at Shrewsbury Colleges Group, we are committed to providing vocationally relevant and industry-specific Engineering courses and enabling our students to both enjoy an informative journey and gain crucial knowledge and skills and within their chosen area. All courses provide challenge and enable our students to both express themselves and understand their work in a wider context through research and analysis of the work of others. We pride ourselves on working with both regional and national employers in varying Engineering sectors, to ensure that we are providing our students with the most up to date and relevant teaching possible.

We welcome you and look forward to working with you throughout your course here at Shrewsbury Colleges Group.

Andrew Lee

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At Shrewsbury Colleges Group we are committed to providing vocationally relevant arts education for the creative industries and enabling our students to both enjoy a creative journey and gain crucial employability skills within their chosen area. We strive with our students to make the creative journey from student to working professional achievable and enjoyable. All creative courses provide challenge and enable our students to both express themselves and understand their work in a wider context through research and analysis of the work of others. We are building our visiting lecturer and study visits programme, to provide a programme of both personal and professional development for all of our students. In this area we do recognise that not all of our learners will be involved in career-changing and perhaps have come to Music Technology after a full working life, for these students we involve them fully in the working life of our faculty and they provide a great sounding board for some of younger students. A cultural mix of age’s abilities and outlooks provide for a healthy and dynamic creative atmosphere that benefits all our learners. We welcome you and look forward to working with you throughout your course here at Shrewsbury Colleges Group.

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Staff Profiles

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Overview of the Award – what does the course involve?

To study at Higher Education level, you must be more of an independent learner, managing your own study, meeting deadlines and developing the techniques and strategies for independent work. In addition to scheduled classes, we expect you to do a substantial amount of private study to understand the topics covered in class, to extend your knowledge beyond the class, to develop skills and to complete assignments. There is no shortcut to independent learning nor is there a single correct way to get there - all of us have to develop a system that suits us. You must work to develop the way that suits you.

Pearson’s BTEC Higher Nationals are designed to provide a specialist vocational programme, linked to professional body requirements and National Occupational Standards where appropriate. They offer a strong, sector-related emphasis on practical skills development alongside the development of requisite knowledge and understanding.

The qualifications provide a thorough grounding in the key concepts and practical skills required in their sector and their national recognition by employers allows direct progression to employment.

A key progression path for Pearson’s BTEC HNC learners is to the BTEC HND or University Foundation Degree/Degree.

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Programme Aims

Aims of the programme:

The Pearson BTEC Level 4 Higher National Certificate in Engineering offers students a broad introduction to the subject area via a mandatory core of learning, while allowing for the acquisition of some sector-specific skills and experience through the specialist units in each pathway, with the opportunity to pursue a particular interest through the appropriate selection of optional units. This effectively builds underpinning core skills while preparing the student for more intense subject specialisation at Level 5. Students will gain a wide range of sector knowledge tied to practical skills gained in research, self-study, directed study and workplace activities.

Programme Learning Outcomes

The HNC in Mechanical Engineering is designed to support both the technical and personal development of students in the following ways:

Technical Development

• Providing the opportunity for educational experiences that assist career development and prepare students to participate in project teams, and enable them to think critically about how the team can work on technological innovation
• Developing knowledge of underlying principles of science, engineering and design as they apply to the contemporary engineering industry
• Developing skills that have usefulness in any working environment in a technological setting
• Helping students respond positively to change and take up opportunities thus created
• Providing the opportunity for students to progress to a BSc honours degree at Staffordshire University.

Personal Development

• Developing the communication skills necessary to take full advantage of the course and to optimise career potential
• Helping students to appreciate the benefits of time management
• Developing organisational skills, responsibility for the work of others, and the importance of team membership
• Developing student initiative and self-motivation and thus increase confidence and self-reliance.
• Offering students opportunities to develop employability and other transferable skills to support career development and continuing education
• Providing preparation for a range of technical and management careers
• Creating the opportunity to engage in Personal Development Planning (PDP).

This programme is distinctive because:

Students are given the opportunity to design projects and assignment work. Teaching staff all have industry-relevant experience and use this to generate ‘real world’ opportunities for study and practice. The teaching staff still work in the industry and often provide students with the opportunity to communicate and interact with other professionals in the field. Students wishing to pursue a career in community-based work, teaching or workshop delivery are given the opportunity to gain experience and make professional connections which have in previous years led to paid work. All students are encouraged and supported to develop entrepreneurial skills, to seek out work opportunities suitable for their skills and career aspirations.

Employability

All Pearson BTEC Higher Nationals have been designed and developed with consideration of National Occupational Standards, where relevant, and have been mapped to relevant Professional Body standards.

Employability skills such as team working and entrepreneurialism as well as practical hands-on skills have been built into the design of the learning aims and content. This gives you the opportunity to use relevant contexts, scenarios and materials to enable students to develop a portfolio of evidence demonstrating the breadth of their skills and knowledge in a way that equips them for employment

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Programme Structure, Modules and Credits

The programme is comprised of eight separate units of study. Each unit has a value of 15 credits.

You must achieve a minimum of 120 credits (of which at least 65 must be at level 4) on your programme of learning to be awarded a Pearson BTEC Level 4 HNC.

Pearson BTEC Level 4 Higher National Certificate in Mechanical Engineering		Unit credit	Level
Core unit Mandatory	Engineering Design	15	4
Core unit Mandatory	Engineering Maths	15	4
Core unit Mandatory	Engineering Science	15	4
Core unit Mandatory	Production Engineering and Manufacturing	15	4
Core unit Mandatory	Quality & Process Improvement	15	4
Core unit Mandatory	Mechanical Principles	15	4
Core unit Mandatory	Managing a Professional Engineering Project	15	4
Core unit Mandatory	Fundamentals of Thermodynamics and Heat Engines	15	4

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Teaching and Assessment

Pearson BTEC Higher Nationals are assessed using a combination of internally assessed centre-devised internal assignments (which are set and marked by centres) and internally assessed Pearson set assignments (which are set by Pearson and marked by centres). Pearson set assignments are mandatory and target industry-specific skills. The number and value of these units are dependent on qualification size.

• For the HNC, one core, 15-credit, unit at Level 4 will be assessed by a mandatory Pearson set assignment targeted at particular skills.

All Modules will be individually graded as ‘pass’, ‘merit’ or ‘distinction’. To achieve a pass grade for the Module you must meet the assessment criteria set out in the specifications. This gives transparency to the assessment process and provides for the establishment of national standards for each qualification.

The Modules in Pearson’s BTEC Higher National qualifications all have a standard format which is designed to provide guidance on the requirements of the qualification for you, your tutors and those responsible for monitoring national standards. The purpose of assessment is to ensure that effective learning of the content of each Module has taken place. Evidence of this learning, or the application of the learning, is required for each Module.

The assessment of the evidence relates directly to the assessment criteria for each Module, supported by the generic grade descriptors.

The process of assessment can aid effective learning by seeking and interpreting evidence to decide the stage that you have reached in your learning, what further learning needs to take place and how best to do this. Therefore, the process of assessment is part of the effective planning of teaching and learning by providing opportunities for both you and your assessor to obtain information about progress towards learning goals.

You and your tutor must be actively engaged in promoting a common understanding of the assessment criteria and the grade descriptors (what it is you are trying to achieve and how well you achieve it) for further learning to take place. Therefore, you will receive constructive feedback and guidance about how you may improve by capitalising on your strengths and clear and constructive comments about your weaknesses and how these might be addressed.

Your assessments are constructed by your module tutors. They collectively ensure coverage of all assessment criteria within each Module and provide opportunities for the evidencing of all the grade descriptors.

How will I be taught?

In deciding how modules should be taught and how learning will take place and be assessed, two important principles have been used:

• Each module should be taught and assessed in the way that best fits the subject matter rather than imposing common learning and assessment methods across all modules
• That the student should have the opportunity to experience a variety of different ways of working and to demonstrate their skills and knowledge in the most appropriate way.

Lectures

Formal lectures enable tutors to impart ideas and information to groups of students, whilst creating the opportunity to stimulate discussions and bring forward areas the students find challenging. Students can be brought together for lectures across the pathways; this improves group dynamics and supports the HE experience where students are gaining much of their experience in the workplace.

Practical work

This is an essential feature of the course and may take place in a number of settings, including the computer laboratory or classroom. Practical work is required for preparation, assessment and other course work.

Enquiry-based learning

This is a particularly effective approach to learning and involves you on your own or in a project group being asked to investigate, collect and analyse information and generate new knowledge. This will facilitate deep as opposed to shallow learning and develops many of the Staffordshire Graduate attributes. You will practice and develop enquiry-based learning through a number of modules on this course.

How will I be assessed?

The grading of Pearson’s BTEC Higher National qualifications is at the Module and the qualification level.

Each successfully completed Module will be graded as a pass, merit or distinction.

A pass is awarded for the achievement of all outcomes against the specified assessment criteria.

Merit and distinction grades are awarded for higher-level achievement. The generic merit and distinction grader descriptors listed above are for grading the total evidence produced for each Module and describe the learner’s performance over and above that for a pass grade. They can be achieved in a flexible way, for example in a sequential or holistic mode, to reflect the nature of the sector concerned.

Each of the generic merit and distinction grade descriptors can be amplified by the use of indicative characteristics. These give a guide to the expected learner performance and support the generic grade descriptors. The indicative characteristics should reflect the nature of a Module and the context of the sector performance.

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