The objectives of the programme are to:

• provide students with advanced technical skills in chemical engineering;
• enable students to solve problems within an engineering type of environment;
• provide students with business and management skills; and
• provide training in research.

Learning Outcomes

Successful students should gain:

• the capacity to work individually and in a team, under time constraints, to produce workable solutions to engineering problems. Key skills learned will be time management, interaction with colleagues, obtaining technical and financial information, defining optimal outcomes, and presentation and advanced knowledge of fundamental areas of chemical engineering;
• an understanding of how discoveries and other ideas can be exploited effectively, including new company spin-outs, reorganisation of existing company structures, technology licensing, etc, by undertaking a series of business-based modules to include topics such as financing and marketing; communication of results; and
• the ability to define, organise and undertake a research project within a specified period of time and to report it in writing and by seminar in an acceptable manner. The project might involve business-related as well as chemical engineering research and may involve industrial collaboration. This will introduce the student to the practical problems of undertaking research.

Assessment

Thesis

During March-August, students undertake a full-time research project, the results of which are submitted as a dissertation not exceeding 10,000 words in length. Students also deliver a seminar based on their dissertation. In some cases, an oral examination may be held.

Essays

For taught modules which are assessed via coursework, the assignments may involve a combination of some or all of the following:

• Report/essay – individual or group
• Presentations – individual or group
• In-class test
• Class participation

Written examination

For taught modules which are assessed via examination, students will be expected to sit an unseen (closed-book) examination. An oral examination may also be held.