OCR Engineering and D&T Forum

Published 19th March 2024

The OCR Engineering and D&T Forum recently served as a focal point for exploring the future landscape of Engineering and Design & Technology. Months of planning culminated in a vibrant exchange of ideas, drawing together stakeholders from Higher Education providers, schools, colleges and industry leaders.

The journey from school to industry

With a keen focus on inspiring the next generation, the forum posed crucial questions such as, "What is the future of engineering?" and "How can we better inspire young people to become engineers?"

The OCR Engineering and D&T Forum is traditionally hosted at OCR offices in Cambridge, this year saw a refreshing change as Autodesk graciously opened their Birmingham office for the event, providing a stimulating backdrop for discussions, Q&A sessions, and networking.

Speakers

During the event, participants engaged in diverse conversations. The speakers included:

1. OCR, who covered education policy, their qualifications, and the engineering landscape, with a focus on the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Engineers 2030
2. Autodesk, who provided an overview of their platform Fusion, this software platform is free for students and educators and amongst the capabilities are CAD and generative design, and we also learned about the add-on Makersite which helps reduce the carbon impact on products.
3. Arm, who provided an overview of their support for schools and colleges in integrating physical computing into the curriculum, including free resources and professional development courses
4. Tom Hales a student at Solent University, who provided a snapshot of his journey from school to industry including how his grandfather sparked his passion for engineering by helping him to fix machinery.
5. Durham University, who focused on the future of undergraduate engineering and commented that more students are arriving with coding, microcontroller and 3D design skills.
6. Aston University Engineering Academy who covered how they are promoting diversity and inclusivity and working with industry partners including Autodesk.

The event was a success, with attendees expressing gratitude to all participants and Autodesk for hosting. Among the valued guests were industry luminaries, university representatives, and school heads of departments, each poised to contribute their unique insights.

Future

As thoughts unfolded, the outcomes promised to shape the trajectory of engineering and D&T education and practice, informing the development of new qualifications, resources, and exams at OCR.

Our Director of Education Ryan Ball shared his thoughts stating, “It was a fantastic event, not only to discuss and plan with a varied collection of stakeholders, the proposed vision for the subject areas, but to have an opportunity to have that invaluable networking opportunity with like-minded individuals and organisations that generally have a shared collective view and passion for the subject. It feels like there was a lot of synergy and definitely shared passion in the room to help drive our fantastic subject areas forward. Huge thanks to OCR and Autodesk for putting this together.”