Head of Turbocharger Research Inst to chair top IMechE committee
Professor John Allport is pictured with former president of the IMechE, Professor Isobel Pollock OBE, at the opening of the Turbocharger Research Institute
Fri, 07 Oct 2016 14:01:00 BST
Professor John Allport has been elected Chair of the IMechE Academic Standards Committee
THROUGHOUT the UK and in increasing numbers of countries around the world, accreditation by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is accepted as the gold standard for engineering courses related to that discipline. Now, the University of Huddersfield’s Professor John Allport has taken over as chair of the committee that oversees the award of this important distinction.
It is a role that has an international dimension, and Professor Allport’s long-standing involvement with the IMechE accreditation process has already taken him overseas on many occasions. For example, he has held talks on behalf of the Institution with the education ministry in China as well as representing the Institution in Singapore, Malaysia, China, Dubai and the West Indies, where he has carried out accreditations of engineering courses.
Professor Allport heads the University of Huddersfield’s Turbocharger Research Institute. It was in 2003, while he was still working in industry, for multinational firm Cummins, that he joined the panel of IMechE industrialists and academics who carry out detailed inspections at universities which seek accreditation for mechanical engineering courses.
He was appointed a member – first as an industrialist, later as an academic – of the IMechE Academic Standards Committee, which appraises the accreditation reports and determines whether the coveted award will be made. Now, Professor Allport has been elected to the chair of the committee. He accepts that the role will be a demanding one, and will include issues such as ensuring equality between the various engineering course accreditations in European countries.
In the UK, some 70 universities – including Huddersfield – carry the IMechE accreditation for engineering courses. Achieving this requires a two-day inspection and furnishing of a large amount of documentary evidence, and it is no simple task to satisfy the Institute’s inspectors and its Academic Standards Committee. Accreditation lasts for no longer than five years, when a fresh inspection has to be carried out, and is not guaranteed.
Meanwhile, global interest in IMechE accreditation continues to grow, in nations that include India and China. “It is recognised as the gold standard for course quality around the world,” said Professor Allport.
