Continuing Professional Development
in System Safety Engineering

High Integrity Systems Engineering Group,
Department of Computer Science

June 2003

Overview

The High Integrity Systems Engineering (HISE) group within the Department of Computer Science has been providing courses in System Safety Engineering and Management since 1996. The first of these courses was developed at the request of the University of Queensland and presented in Brisbane before being repeated a number of times in the UK. The success of these early courses, and the high demand from companies and individuals for training in this fast-growing area, led to the development of new modules for the Department’s MSc in Safety Critical Systems Engineering and, eventually, to a completely new Certificate course in System Safety Engineering. Outside the University, the group has continued to provide a range of on-site and public courses.

Achievements

Over the last 7 years, the HISE group has provided 55 on-site courses for 13 organisations, including Airbus, BAE SYSTEMS, Computing Devices, EUROCONTROL, the MoD Procurement Executive, Motorola, Rolls-Royce, the RAF, Siemens and Westland Helicopters. These courses have ranged from three to ten days’ duration, and have been attended by a total of 1016 students. Each on-site course is designed specifically to meet the requirements of the customer. Most of the material used is selected from that used for the MSc and Certificate courses, although examples, case studies and group exercises are often developed specifically to satisfy the customer’s needs and interests.

The group has also run 6 five-day public courses, presented in hotels and conference centres, which were attended by a total of 103 students, representing a further 43 companies. In February 2003, we provided a five day course specifically for equipment engineers from UK airports, which was represented by 12 students from 7 airports; there is significant demand to repeat this course.

There have also been many one or two day courses and tutorials, e.g. a one day management appreciation for Westland Helicopters.

Modules of the MSc and Certificate can be taken as “one-off” short courses by individuals who have not registered for the whole course; approximately 350 people have now attended modules in this way. People who attend single modules can elect to take the course assessment if they wish; this increases the value of the course for those registered for Continuing Professional Development schemes with the Engineering Institutions. The credits gained can be claimed if the individual subsequently decides to register for a degree programme; to date, approximately 40 students who initially attended short courses have decided to go on to complete a Certificate or an MSc, and we are aware of several more who are likely to do so this year.

Student Profile

Most of the people attending the HISE group’s courses, whether Certificate course modules or on-site, are professional engineers or project managers in full-time employment; the majority have their course fees paid by their employer. There is a wide range of age and experience, from newly-qualified graduates up to senior staff with perhaps 30 years’ experience. There is also a wide range of educational backgrounds; whilst most have, at some time, completed a scientific or engineering degree course, a significant number have begun their careers as apprentices, and have never previously studied in a University environment. For this reason, the courses are carefully designed with a high lecturer / student ratio, and an emphasis on practical work in small groups led by a lecturer or demonstrator to help the students gain maximum benefit from an intensive course.

Future Activities

Demand for on-site courses remains extremely high – in fact, beyond the group’s capability to satisfy all the requests received – and we now have a policy of developing long-term relationships with major customers such as BAE SYSTEMS and Rolls-Royce. The materials developed for the courses have also been licensed (franchised) to a number of other companies, where we are confident of their ability to deliver the courses to a suitably high standard. These organisations are now using the materials for internal training courses, and also providing training to customers that the HISE group does not have the resources to satisfy.

Further Information

More details can be found on the HISE group web site at http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/hise. Alternatively further information cane be obtained by telephoning Dr David Pumfrey (01904 432735), or the Advanced MSc Course secretary, Carol Nicholls (01904 432744).

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