Spring/Summer

Components of Assessment	Method(s)	Percentage weighting
Initial Dissertation Report	By written report	0%
Interim Dissertation Report	By written report	10%
Final Dissertation Report	By written report and viva voce examination	90%
Part-time Students	Same rules apply as for full-time students.

Contact School for details

To provide an opportunity for the student to tackle an engineering problem and to gain experience in having to produce a report and to defend their work.

On successful completion the student will

• have gained the experience of applying knowledge gained during the course to a particular theoretical or practical problems. As part of this process the student will have had to critically evaluate the relevant literature, marshal ideas for research or lab evaluation, and produce a reliable and coherent report.

The project forms an integral and important part of the course. It is intended to occupy some 600 hours spread over approximately 100 working days, of which 25 are for planning and preparation. The normal arrangement is that students may carry out a project either in the Department or in industry. The duration of full time project work is nominally 14 weeks, but there is also preparatory work in the earlier semesters. Projects are usually individual, although it is possible to have a group project which can be broken down into different parts so that the contribution of each individual can be separately specified and assessed. For University based projects there may be a need for students to visit companies, especially if there is an industrial link in the project.

University: These are usually carried out in association with one of the research groups - a full time academic or experienced research worker will be appointed as academic supervisor though day-to-day supervision may sometimes be by a researcher working in the project area.

Industry: Arrangements exist for students, if they so wish, to undertake a project in industry or one which is carried out in collaboration with industry. Students who are voluntarily carrying out an industrial project away from the university are normally paid a bursary by the company for the duration of the full-time project work. The research groups also have several industrially funded research projects and MSc projects often contribute to this activity.

European: It is also possible to undertake a project either in another university (e.g. ENST) or within European industry.

Supervised study and research, guided by a full-time academic or experienced research worker.

Work on Dissertations will begin in January at the start of the Spring semester and end in August. During this period there should be an average of at least 1 contact hour per week between the student and supervisor.

Not Applicable

15th August 2006