Abstract
After a short historical introduction, the various kinds of formal post-graduate courses in mechanical engineering are briefly surveyed. These range from the short course of one or two days to the full-scale graduate course of 12 months or thereabouts and assessment is made of their respective suitabilities for different purposes.
The main emphasis in this paper is placed on the 12-month M.Sc. course and a variety of organizational and educational aspects of this type of course are considered. They include: (1) the problem of the initial assimilation into a common course of students of varying ages, industrial experience, and academic freshness; (2) the inclusion of project work in a basically formal course; (3) the possibility of subdividing the 12-month period into a number of shorter periods in order to facilitate the release of staff from industry; (4) the desirable proportion of overseas students in a course; (5) the relationship between a graduate course and the research activities of a department.
Connections with, and support from, industry are considered, as is the influence of S.R.C. Studentships on recruitment. The Robbins Committee recommendations on advanced formal courses are reviewed, and their effect on the growth in numbers of such courses is considered. Comment is made on certain implications of the Arthur Report and the probable future development of one-year post-graduate courses is discussed.
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