6 ms·

Call me skeptical but I'm looking for the gotcha. Nothing yet, but here's the FAQ https://www.dysoninstitute.com/faqs/ https://www.dysoninstitute.com/faqs/ If

by qxt 10y ago

Call me skeptical but I'm looking for the gotcha. Nothing yet, but here's the FAQ https://www.dysoninstitute.com/faqs/ https://www.dysoninstitute.com/faqs/ If there's no clause about having to work for Dyson after the program, then it will be a no-brainer for engineering students. I wonder if the normal structures of career centers will still be present/emphasized, since I'm sure Dyson would not be interested in its grads seeking employment at competitors.

RubenSandwich 10y ago
One gotcha is that the degree might not be accredited. At least that is what I understand from this sentence in the article: "It’s a £15m project which, if successful, Dyson hopes to eventually gain university status and award its own degrees to up to 100 students a year." However I admire Dyson's efforts to train the people they need. Edit: Actually maybe it is accredited. From the Dyson Institute's FAQs: "What is the Dyson Institute of Technology? The Dyson Institute of Technology teaches high quality engineering degrees to the next generation of tech enthusiasts, alongside a full time role at Dyson. During this four year programme you’ll learn about engineering through hands-on experience in our Research and Development department with academic training provided by WMG, the University of Warwick. You'll graduate with a Bachelor of Engineering degree."
- chrisseaton 10y ago
  I think a bachelor degree would be unusual for the UK. Aren't most engineering degrees in the UK undergraduate masters?
  - alexbilbie 10y ago
    Not necessarily; the University of Lincoln which has one of the newest engineering schools (in partnership with Siemens) offers undergraduate bachelor of engineering degrees - http://lincoln.ac.uk/home/engineering/undergraduate/ http://lincoln.ac.uk/home/engineering/undergraduate/
  - gadders 10y ago
    You normally do a Bachelor of Engineering - B.Eng.
    - chrisseaton 10y ago
      I think if you apply to any university they'll strongly recommend that you should be doing the MEng instead. The BEng isn't enough to even get chartered is it? So you'd need to do another degree anyway.
      - paperpunk 10y ago
        If the unis I've looked at are any indication then many offer an integrated masters programme but most students will be on the bachelors route. At the institution where I work (Uni of York) many more BEng degrees are awarded than MEng.
      - lol768 10y ago
        You don't need the Masters degree to be a chartered engineer as far as I know. If you graduate and gain enough experience on the job (probably more cost effective than being at uni for another year) to be considered to have an equivalent standard of education I believe you can become a CEng with a presentation.
- prefect42 10y ago
  That last sentence is not a clear statement. Is that supposed to mean: that any accreditation by UofWarwick somehow applies to Dyson as well? The FAQ simply doesn't mention any accreditation whatsoever specifically for Dyson. Could be rather important, one way or the other.
  - nicoburns 10y ago
    It's fairly standard for non-academic teaching organisations to have their degrees sponsored by an established university. For example the Centre for Alternative Technology offers a number of masters courses without itself being a university [0]. This is probably more common for postgrad courses, but no reason why it couldn't work for undergrad too. https://gse.cat.org.uk https://gse.cat.org.uk
    - dbbk 10y ago
      It's actually also quite common for undergraduate courses in the media industries.
    - KJP191 10y ago
      Academic teaching organisations too, for that matter. It's quite common for a college to also offer some degree-level courses that are accredited by a local university. (Note to non-Brits: "college" in the UK is mostly for lower-level and vocational courses, it's not a synonym for university like in the US)
tomarr 10y ago
I would guess the 'gotcha' is it's only a course for 25 people, and more comparable to a scholarship rather than a new model for engineering teaching. It looks great, and I'm sure it will be a great education for the lucky few, but I am skeptical that it would scale to larger numbers. The incentives are there at the macro level but not the micro which would be needed to encourage a broad range of companies to participate.
gghh 10y ago
There is no need to look in the fine print for reasons why this model could not be all around beneficial. It's right there in the headline: private corporation finances education degree. Dyson have all the interests to do so, as it will attract talent and every drop of the student's time is devoted to learn material that will be 100% applicable to their day to day functions in the enterprise. In more general terms, if all education worked this way we'll only be studying the inner workings of vacuum cleaners (or computers, or anything else that is a commercial product) and not abstract math, theoretical physics or philosophy. It might work in this particular case, but a society should be vigilant in not selling out to commercial entities all means of education. Again, I am very happy of this particular project and hope it can reduce unemployment -- but wary of saying "Aha! Why don't we do this everywhere!?"

by qxt 10y ago

RubenSandwich 10y ago

One gotcha is that the degree might not be accredited. At least that is what I understand from this sentence in the article: "It’s a £15m project which, if successful, Dyson hopes to eventually gain university status and award its own degrees to up to 100 students a year." However I admire Dyson's efforts to train the people they need. Edit: Actually maybe it is accredited. From the Dyson Institute's FAQs: "What is the Dyson Institute of Technology? The Dyson Institute of Technology teaches high quality engineering degrees to the next generation of tech enthusiasts, alongside a full time role at Dyson. During this four year programme you’ll learn about engineering through hands-on experience in our Research and Development department with academic training provided by WMG, the University of Warwick. You'll graduate with a Bachelor of Engineering degree."

chrisseaton 10y ago
I think a bachelor degree would be unusual for the UK. Aren't most engineering degrees in the UK undergraduate masters?
- alexbilbie 10y ago
  Not necessarily; the University of Lincoln which has one of the newest engineering schools (in partnership with Siemens) offers undergraduate bachelor of engineering degrees - http://lincoln.ac.uk/home/engineering/undergraduate/ http://lincoln.ac.uk/home/engineering/undergraduate/
- gadders 10y ago
  You normally do a Bachelor of Engineering - B.Eng.
  - chrisseaton 10y ago
    I think if you apply to any university they'll strongly recommend that you should be doing the MEng instead. The BEng isn't enough to even get chartered is it? So you'd need to do another degree anyway.
    - paperpunk 10y ago
      If the unis I've looked at are any indication then many offer an integrated masters programme but most students will be on the bachelors route. At the institution where I work (Uni of York) many more BEng degrees are awarded than MEng.
    - lol768 10y ago
      You don't need the Masters degree to be a chartered engineer as far as I know. If you graduate and gain enough experience on the job (probably more cost effective than being at uni for another year) to be considered to have an equivalent standard of education I believe you can become a CEng with a presentation.
prefect42 10y ago
That last sentence is not a clear statement. Is that supposed to mean: that any accreditation by UofWarwick somehow applies to Dyson as well? The FAQ simply doesn't mention any accreditation whatsoever specifically for Dyson. Could be rather important, one way or the other.
- nicoburns 10y ago
  It's fairly standard for non-academic teaching organisations to have their degrees sponsored by an established university. For example the Centre for Alternative Technology offers a number of masters courses without itself being a university [0]. This is probably more common for postgrad courses, but no reason why it couldn't work for undergrad too. https://gse.cat.org.uk https://gse.cat.org.uk
  - dbbk 10y ago
    It's actually also quite common for undergraduate courses in the media industries.
  - KJP191 10y ago
    Academic teaching organisations too, for that matter. It's quite common for a college to also offer some degree-level courses that are accredited by a local university. (Note to non-Brits: "college" in the UK is mostly for lower-level and vocational courses, it's not a synonym for university like in the US)

tomarr 10y ago

I would guess the 'gotcha' is it's only a course for 25 people, and more comparable to a scholarship rather than a new model for engineering teaching. It looks great, and I'm sure it will be a great education for the lucky few, but I am skeptical that it would scale to larger numbers. The incentives are there at the macro level but not the micro which would be needed to encourage a broad range of companies to participate.

gghh 10y ago

There is no need to look in the fine print for reasons why this model could not be all around beneficial. It's right there in the headline: private corporation finances education degree. Dyson have all the interests to do so, as it will attract talent and every drop of the student's time is devoted to learn material that will be 100% applicable to their day to day functions in the enterprise. In more general terms, if all education worked this way we'll only be studying the inner workings of vacuum cleaners (or computers, or anything else that is a commercial product) and not abstract math, theoretical physics or philosophy. It might work in this particular case, but a society should be vigilant in not selling out to commercial entities all means of education. Again, I am very happy of this particular project and hope it can reduce unemployment -- but wary of saying "Aha! Why don't we do this everywhere!?"