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Inter connecting staircase in transport education
Page 104
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FORCES like the Transport Act, the establishment of Industrial Training Boards and new educational policies are fast moving the various providers of transport education into much closer co-ordination. Transport examinations schemes are becoming much more like staircases with well-defined landings rather than a series of quite separate ladders. I have in previous articles used this analogy in relation to the Institute of Road Transport Engineers which, in recent years, has made links with a wide variety of engineering organizations to give a large number of alternative ways of reaching their grades of membership. At the same time, opportunities for continuing study in. applied fields are increasing as a result of increasing Institute membership.
The "traffic" institutes (IoT, ITA and loTA) have been much slower in providing inter-connection between themselves and for giving scope for further work after the final examinations have been completed. But there has been some progress; talks are contemplated in regard to common schemes of study for the Intermediate (Graduate) stage and it is hoped that this can be extended to cover the final sections as well. There is also a conscious movement towards arranging an ordinary National Certificate with sufficient transport options to gain exemption from the Intermediate examination, thus eventually relieving the institutes of the necessity to provide their own similar examinations and enabling them to concentrate their attention on the final examinations.
The Institute of Transport has looked further and an important step forward has been the recognition of the AMInstT (the final examination) as a qualification to take the Diploma in Management Studies, a State-sponsored scheme, normally regarded as a post-graduate course. This move in the right direction is enhanced by the RTITB's interest in introducing a new Diploma in Management Studies with a road-transport bias in some eight regional colleges in Great Britain thus filling a big gap in both road haulage and road passenger industries.
The Institute is also endeavouring to link its qualification to university courses in transport but owing to the sparse university provision, little real progress has.as yet been made. With such a thin layer of university transport courses, it is a relief to know that universities are recognizing each other's courses. The London part-time Certificate in Transport Studies (two years by day release) has full reciprocal arrangements with the Leeds Certificate. Those who proceed to a further year to the Diploma in Transport Studies at London and who gain the mark of Merit have opportunities of following higher degree courses elsewhere. The Universities of Sussex, Salford and Southampton will be accepting Diploma candidates at this level for Master's degrees in transport economics, transport and civil engineering and regional planning.
There is hope, too, of providing a further section of opportunity through the Council for National Academic Awards (the national degree awarding body for approved courses at local colleges) when transport degrees are offered on a wider scale at both Bachelor and Master levels. And, of course, when a Master's degree is completed, candidates are always eligible to take a Ph.D. in a transport topic by thesis.
Thus, the total situation in transport education is in a state of flux and it is a time of great change. Ideas of linking various courses together are still evolving while new concepts like the voluntary grades of the Transport Manager's Licence and the role of the Open University are still to be formulated. What is important is that the staircases leading to various transport awards are being inter-connected quite rapidly.