The best that can be done is to develop minds that are open to new ideas and will keep abreast of future developments. The Department takes its teaching very seriously it was awarded full marks by the Higher Education Funding Council in 1997. There is an extensive tutorial programme which provides an hour of small group teaching to support every two lectures in the first two years. In addition each student has a personal tutor who they see every two weeks with two other students. The tutor is there to help with any questions not answered elsewhere and watches the progress of the student.
Students contribute to the courses through student representatives elected from each year.
The 'Reps' regularly meet with academic staff to put forward suggestions and discuss improvements. In addition to technical matters the Department has a long-standing policy towards skills and managerial abilities that all engineers require. Each student gets practice in speaking in public, in writing up technical work and in group activity with other students. The Management School provides courses in business studies so as to give a firm understanding of the economic background against which engineering is practised. In addition students can develop non-technical interests in courses provided by the Humanities Department and study another language.