Engineering conversion evaluation and monitoring

The demand for engineers within England and the UK is high, and the number of graduates in engineering entering the profession is understood by many to be insufficient to keep up with growing demand and to replace existing engineers that leave the profession each year. Other higher education subjects develop skills and knowledge which could provide a sound basis for building upon and allowing graduates to develop a career in engineering.

HEFCE, with funding from BIS and DCMS, launched a call in September 2015 to support institutions within England to develop and market new engineering conversion courses, which would support graduates from non-engineering courses in undertaking careers in engineering, and graduates from non-computer science programmes in developing careers in cybersecurity, data science, and software engineering. The funded courses will be developed in the remainder of academic year 2015/16, and will start delivery in academic year 2016/17.

The success of the Engineering Conversion Course Pilot Scheme will ultimately be measured according to how it meets its aims and objectives, in particular in allowing a greater number and broader range of individuals to gain access to and develop careers in engineering and in specialist areas of engineering-related computer science. HEFCE is seeking bids from researchers who would be interested in undertaking evaluative work to measure how successfully the funded courses, and the scheme as a whole, addresses the stated aims. The main aims of this evaluative work are

Additional information: UK Shared Business Services eSourcing

As part of the strategic alliance between UK Shared Business Services Ltd (UK SBS) and Crown Commercial Service (CCS), UK SBS can use the CCS eSourcing Suite for future procurements.

If you have not yet registered on the eSourcing Suite, this can be done online at https://gpsesourcing.cabinetoffice.gov.uk by following the link ‘Register for CCS eSourcing’. Please note that, to register, you must have a valid DUNS number (as provided by Dun and Bradstreet) for the organisation which you are registering, who will be entering into a contract if invited to do so.

Once you have registered on the eSourcing Suite, a registered user can express an interest for a specific procurement. This is done by emailing Expressionofinterest@crowncommercial.gov.uk

Your email must clearly state: the name and reference for the procurement you wish to register for; the name of the registered Bidder; and the name and contact details for the registered individual sending the email.

Crown Commercial Service will process the email and then enable the Bidder to access the procurement online via the e-Sourcing Suite. The registered user will receive a notification email to alert them once this has been done.

The Sourcing documents can then be accessed on the eSourcing Suite at: https://gpsesourcing.cabinetoffice.gov.uk using the instructions detailed in the Specification documents within Contracts Finder.

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For technical assistance on use of the e-Sourcing Suite please contact Crown Commercial Service Helpdesk : Telephone: 0345 010 3503

Training documents to support Bidders utilise Emptoris CCS eSourcing are available in the Contracts Finder Tender documents section.