The Design Engineering Master’s Project is the capstone final year individual project of the degree. It is a major project coursework that will take place over nine months, October to June.
The assessment brief is for you to lead a self-contained project that sits within a wider Design Engineering context, developing a brief and producing a response to your chosen problem using a chosen set of design engineering methodologies and with a focus on bench-marking and validating your response, and positioning it within its wider context.
The summative assessment for the module will take the form of an oral examination for which you will have prepared a written report, using both modes to communicate to your examiners how your project response has met the assessment criteria detailed below.
There is also formative assessment throughout the year in the form of early and late stage gateways.
Aligned to the learning outcomes of the module and the programme, and to the assessment brief. Your project will be assessed on the six module learning outcomes, with finer grained assessment criteria within. Each criterion will be graded to whether it meets the passing descriptors and then to what level the excellent descriptors are met. Engineering Council AHEP-4 Learning Outcomes are mapped below the module learning outcomes.
| Learning Outcome | Passing Criteria (C Grade) | Excellent Criteria (A Grade) |
|---|---|---|
| Contextual Investigation
Analyse and define original insights from research into complex scenarios for design engineering. M4 Technical literature Select and critically evaluate technical literature and other sources of information to solve complex problems. M5 Design Design solutions for complex problems that evidence some originality and meet a combination of societal, user, business and customer needs as appropriate. This will involve consideration of applicable health & safety, diversity, inclusion, cultural, societal, environmental and commercial matters, codes of practice and industry standards. |
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| Project Management
Manage a significant design engineering project which includes high levels of complexity and uncertainty. M14 Quality management Discuss the role of quality management systems and continuous improvement in the context of complex problems. |
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| Design Engineering Process
Create an original resolved response to complex challenges by applying a comprehensive set of design engineering tools and methods. M6 Integrated/systems approach Apply an integrated or systems approach to the solution of complex problems. M13 Materials, equipment, technologies and processes Select and apply appropriate materials, equipment, engineering technologies and processes, recognising their limitations. |
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| Validation
Evaluate systems that are complex or ambiguous with appropriate design engineering methods and approaches, assessing their potential social, environmental, technological and economic impact. M2 Problem analysis Formulate and analyse complex problems to reach substantiated conclusions. This will involve evaluating available data using first principles of mathematics, statistics, natural science and engineering principles, and using engineering judgment to work with information that may be uncertain or incomplete, discussing the limitations of the techniques employed. |
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| Reflection
Reflect critically on their own project work in the context of well selected benchmarks and a growth mindset. M18 Lifelong learning Plan and record self-learning and development as the foundation for lifelong learning/CPD |
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| Communication
Synthesise design engineering project outcomes in a range of effective communications materials. M17 Communication Communicate effectively on complex engineering matters with technical and non-technical audiences, evaluating the effectiveness of the methods used |
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Important: Students must meet all assessment criteria at passing level to achieve a passing mark for this assessment.
For each learning outcome, you’ll be graded to what level you met the specifications,
| Grade | Indicative Level |
|---|---|
| F | Did not meet the passing criteria. |
| D | Marginally did not meet the passing criteria. |
| C | Met the passing specification for the criteria. |
| B | As with C, but also mostly met the excellent criteria. |
| A | As with C, but also fully met the excellent criteria. |
| A* | As with A, and exceptionally went above and beyond the excellent criteria. |
Then for the overall assessment, you will receive a grade that is commensurate with the grades for the individual learning outcomes, weighted by the independent assessors as appropriate for the specific nature of the project. The overall grade will be given with + and - modifiers to indicate whether you are in the low (0,1,2) or high (7,8,9) range, but the individual criteria are only specified to letter level.
You will be assessed on your Project Response and how it meets the assessment criteria based on a 45 m Oral Examination for which you will have submitted a Project Report no longer than 7700 words. See Timetable for deadline information.
The assessment is independent of your supervisor, though they will write a contextualising statement, and is conducted by your two independent assessors. See details of how these are selected.
There are two formative assessment milestones in this module, the Early Stage Gateway (ESG) and Late Stage Gateway (LSG). They are conducted at the end of the first and second term respectively and are a check that you are on the right track to meet the assessment criteria of the module for your final submission. The gateways are conducted by your First Independent Assessor, you will receive feedback on the stage of your project and you must pass them in order to continue. There are three levels: Pass, Pass with some concerns, and Not passed – require re-assessment.
The ESG is at the end of Autumn Term. You will produce a brief report on the context and relevant literature review, with a clear statement of the aims and objectives, as well as a well-structured plan for the work to be done up to the project deadline. Max 2000 words.
You are to arrange to meet with your 1st Assessor in the last week of term 1. In the meeting, you will present the project, the work done so far and the plan ahead, and discuss with the assessor about the current progression.
At this stage, you are expected to have developed on the assessment criteria of the Contextual Investigation and have laid groundwork to develop the other assessment criteria in the following term including a short term work plan and longer term objectives.
The LSG, at the end of Spring Term, is a brief presentation (max 10 minutes) on the final project goals, together with a schematic plan of works up to the Master’s Project deadline. The presentation should contain a brief statement of original goals and the current status, list of tasks/milestones with associated timing.
You will arrange with your 1st Assessor, for a meeting in the last week of term 2.