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The industry's views on transport degrees
Page 91
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THE ARGUMENT still continues as to whether universities should provide specific first degrees in transport. Salford began its first degree course in 1966 and a year ago the City of London College inaugurated a business studies degree with a transport option under the Council for National Academic Awards. Other first degree proposals are at various stages in a number of pipelines and there has, of course, been a significant advance in the number of postgraduate transport courses. Many feel that transport, which they regard as an "abstract" discipline, should be confined to post-graduate study. I have never subscribed to this view, believing that transport should take its first degree place alongside the many technological and commercial subjects. I have always felt that universities should gear their courses much more closely to specific industrial and commerical needs and devote less time to the more traditionally academic subjects.
But what is the view of senior transport managers in road transport? I recently discussed this whole question at length with a small group of transport executives responsible not only for their own massive fleets but huge hirers of road transport and other media.
Their opinion was clear. They reasoned it was best in selecting management trainees among graduates to pick out the transport graduates. They realized existing transport degrees were wide in scope and tending to be rather academic in character but that it was preferable to take a man who had done some transport rather than trying to select graduates, for example, in literature, languages or history. They dismissed the argument of a broad cultural base to he used as a spring-board to transport management as irrelevant.
Their recipe was: (1) School to a transport degree course for three years; (2) selection and five years of management training, performing a number of jobs in various sections of the work (and in their cases, these included different regions of the world): and (3) with candidates of real promise, a full-time one-year course leading to a Master's degree either in transport economics, regional planning or transport engineering. This is quite a long period of training and obviously such a plan could be followed only in the transport organization of a very large company. There would need to be room, of course, for the school leaver who joined a company immediately and, if showing marked ability, should be able to take a first degree course in his early twenties.
Naturally there are other routes. Parttime study at London for three years (including some day release) leads to a Diploma in Transport Studies. The final year is taken up with the preparation of a piece of transport research and arrangements were last month completed between London and Sussex Universities enabling a Diploma holder of good Merit standard to proceed to a one-year full-time Master's degree at Sussex. A similar progression is being planned with Salford University and with any CNAA Master's degrees to be offered in the future. This is a real breakthrough for the part-time Diploma student since the award is now seen to be the equivalent of a first degree. It is hoped that the Leeds Certificate in Transport Studies (currently three years, evenings only) which began in 1968 will be able to add a final research year leading to a Diploma with the same progression to Master's degrees in transport.
They are some of the university routes towards top management in road transport —I must leave over to next week a review of the ways through the professional institute awarci qualifications.