The University's mission statement, set out in a self-assessment document which, provided a framework for the assessment visit, includes a commitment to provide higher education services of the highest quality and in doing so provide a broad range of programmes, facilitate wider opportunities for study, enhance its collaborative ventures and play a leading role in the regeneration of the local region. Course documentation is of a high standard. Aims and objectives for individual courses and course components are clearly set out and include the development of students' oral and written communication and other transferable personal skills. The BSc honours degree programmes entered the institution-wide modular degree scheme in September 1993 with all years of the courses moving over at the same time. This appears to have been accomplished with no major problems and has increased the flexibility of choice provided for students.
Plans exist for the extension of modularisation to the MSc programmes and the BTEC courses.
Particular features of the provision are the supervised work experience in the third year, the option to study a foreign language, and the significant proportion of students on the HND course who transfer to BSc degree programmes. The majority transfer, after completing the HND, to a transitional year in which they take modules from the second year of the degree programme and carry out a 15 week project usually associated with local industry. This, followed by the final year of the degree programme, leads to the award of a full-time BSc degree. Noteworthy features of the course delivery are the effective emphasis placed on group work, presentations, and case studies. These meet the aims of developing students' communication and other transferable skills.