Research-teaching linkages: enhancing graduate attributes - engineering and the built environment

This report represents the output of the engineering and built environment discipline project for the Scottish Enhancement Theme on Research-Teaching Linkages: enhancing graduate attributes. It presents the findings of one of the nine discipline-specific Enhancement Theme projects which has been conducted in tandem with a sector-wide project. The report is based on a study of the issues arising in linking teaching and research in engineering and the built environment through a careful examination of the relevant literature on issues, strategy, good practice and successful implementation relating to these disciplines. Particular attention has been paid to the relationship with professional accreditation and the multi-disciplinary nature of our professions and the students' educational experience. A brief survey of different approaches to the linkage in Scotland was undertaken through a series of workshops, case studies and focus groups across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes by Dr Kate Carter and Dr Linda Hadfield of Heriot-Watt University. This has been supplemented in this report by international exemplars taken from the literature. The report concludes with a set of outcomes and recommendations for our disciplines.