Professional Training, as it is called today at UniS, has a long history that goes back to the times in which the University of Surrey was a polytechnic in London. Battersea Polytechnic was located in south-west London and appeared, along with others at the time, as the response of the great polytechnic movement that sprung from the charities of London trying to "promote the education of the poorer inhabitants of the metropolis by technical instruction, secondary education, art education, evening lectures, or otherwise, and generally to improve their physical, social and moral condition". (1)

The polytechnic opened its doors in 1894 to promote ?the industrial skill, general knowledge, health and well-being of young men and women belonging to the poorer classes?. (2).

The polytechnic was organised into six main departments:

• Mechanical Engineering and Building Trades
• Electrical Engineering and Physics
• Chemistry
• Women's Subjects
• Art
• Music (the only college to offer music as a degree).

The creation of polytechnics was well received and even financially supported by industry.

In 1912, with the establishment of the Advisory Committees, the link between the college and industry strengthened and industry began to assist in the planning of curricula, in advising on accommodation and equipment and in bringing new trends and developments to the notice of the Principal and his staff. The first two Committees were associated with the Chemistry Department that by 1914 had already received a special recognition by the Institute of Chemistry for its growing reputation.

During both World Wars all polytechnics entered a situation of crisis with regard to enrolment and finances. At Battersea, as well as at other polytechnics, the war years were supported with the production of weapons and other necessary equipment as well as the need for training in specific areas.

The wars did not altered the commitment of the institution to support the growing industrial base of the country. Once the Second World War was over, the technological developments that sprung from its efforts made it all the more clear that Polytechnics had to grow.

"For many years from just before the Second World War it became common for prospective students of engineering to undertake a period in industry before proceeding to University. This was deemed to be good for their soul to get their hands dirty and to rub shoulders with the "workers" on the workshop floor." (3)

In 1956 the Government's White Paper on Higher Technological Education was issued. In 1957 the National Council for Technological Award was established and the first nine colleges of Advanced Technology were designated (among them was Battersea which was known from there on as Battersea College of Technology). (1). These colleges were invited to make proposals for courses to be considered for the award of Dip Tech and Dip Tech (Eng). The new features of the diplomas that Battersea promptly presented to the NCTA were designed "to introduce 'graduates' with greater understanding of the needs of industry and to be more readily able to transfer their knowledge into productive endeavours." (3).

The new courses were to be of the "sandwich" type, involving periods of at least one year's duration spent in industry on practical work related to the academic studies undertaken in College. They were divided into "thin sandwich" courses (5 year programs with 6 months in industry and 6 months in college every year) and "thick sandwich" with two years in college, one in industry and the final in college. (1)

When Principal Dr Ralph West -who was the first Principal of the College-- took over, he wanted to enhance the ties between academia and industry. One of his decisions was to incorporate the idea of the "academic tutor", that is, a member of staff that was given the task to regularly visit students in the workplace and evaluated if they were getting a valuable experience. This established the association of staff with placements and the responsibility being seen as an academic rather than an administrative one.

" . . . the Battersea scheme of industrial training differed from the majority which favoured the 'thin' pattern and developed its own 'thick' sandwich course consisting of 12 months . . . in industry following part 1 at the second year and preceding the final year. In the event, the thin scheme proved to have quite a few problems, which need not be listed here. However the thick scheme did prove to have positive advantages:

• only one placement per student with a maximum of 2 or 3 visits to assess progress and hence a lower administrative load for the Industrial Tutors . . .;
• students who had successfully completed part 1 of their degree had a more extensive knowledge of chemistry than those straight from school or in their first year . . . and were thus more acceptable to industry to employ at a responsible level;
• the one year expericne in one, or rarely two, appointments provided a substantial background experience in chemistry, as a platform for entering on the final year of the course;
• quite a few students returned from their industrial year with offers of employment (subject to satisfactory completion of the course) in their pockets." (6)

BATTERSEA COLLEGE ALUMNI INDUSTRIAL YEAR EXPERIENCE

For many graduates of Battersea College of Technology the industrial year experience provided the foundation for their future career pathway. Many college alumni have commented that their present work position in a leading company is a direct result of their industrial year.

This link between work integrated learning (Professional Training) and succesful career development has been mantained at the University of Surrey until the present day.

In some respects by the early 1960s the College was a university in all but name although it was faced with the major difficulty of an inappropriate building.

Ralph West retired as Principal in 1960, and was succeeded by Dr D M A Leggett, who very quickly addressed the problem of the College's size. In October 1963, when the Robbins Committee recommended a major expansion of higher education, including the upgrading of the CATs to Technological Universities, the opportunity was set to restructure the institution and move it into a new location.

After some negotiations the decision was made to built the new university on Stag Hill in Guildford were it was to become part of the daily life of the city.

Once in Guildford, the University of Surrey took part in the Universities Commission for Integrated Sandwich Courses (UCISC) that established a standard for sandwich courses as students were given little assistance to find a placement. The code of practice so established by UCISC had the following criteria:

• the placement was a compulsory part of the course
• the students had to be paid employees of the host company
• the university was responsible for securing and approving the placement
• students must keep a formal record of the placement
• students must be visited at least three times on a full year placement
• the performance in the placement must be assessed
• at least 50% of the assessment must arise from an assessment by the empoyer
• the assessment must be recognised either by inclusion in the final overall assessment of the degree or by a separate award.

This criteria shaped the Professional Training Programme at the University of Surrey eversince.

Chemistry had played an important role at Battersea Polytechnic (College of Technology) since its origins. It was also one of the departments that very soon incorporated thick and thin sandwich courses into their degree programmes. In 1959 the NCTA established that the degrees had to last 4 years. So by 1962 the Chemistry Department of the College had settled for the "thick sandwich" approach.

At that stage only major industries provided placements. By 1967 the courses in Chemistry were advertised as having an industrial experience "which is not compulsory, but is strongly recommended and is undertaken by the majority of the students; the best advertisement for this scheme is provided by the students returning from their year in industry; the increased intellectual and emotional maturity of these returning students makes itself very noticeable in their approach to their final year." . . . . The student is aided via "the visits by his own tutor and the senior tutor of the Department. The latter devotes a considerable proportion of his time to the placing of students in industry and to their subsequent welfare". (4).

The University of Surrey chemists were encouraged to spend a year in industry after two years at University as ". . . . we feel that a year with an industrial concern matures a student and provides a type of education (party concerned with what is grandiosely termed 'life') which a purely academic course can never give." (5)

"The introduction of degree course in Chemistry with French and Chemistry with German, in both of which chemistry was decidedly the major subject and which were only open to students with an A-level or at least an o-level in the appropriate language . . . . the few graduates on these courses were succesfully placed in industrial training in French or German speaking countries and were snapped up, often by European firms on graduating." (6)

When Dr Ronald Schulz took over as the senior tutor in Chemistry the program grew tremendeously. He established a network of placements with large modern chemical companies and also started the International Cooperative Education Exchange Programme in association with Swinburne University of Technology in Australia and Victoria University in Canada. Dr Schulz was given a WACE Mc Laren Award for International Cooperative Education (the international label for industrial placements) in recognition of his efforts.

By the end of the 80's a major review of industrial placements was undertaken initiated by VC Kelly and under the chairmanship of PVC Beynon. After the Beynon review the term " industrial training" as it was called then was becoming problematic. After some consideration Senate eventually agreed to the change to the term 'Professional Training' that is still the one in use. "The concept of 'Profesional Training' coincided with the trend away from time-serving towards the idea of reflective learning". (3)

In 1987, Dr. Neil Ward took over as the Senior Industrial Tutor in Chemistry. The International Coop Exchange Programme was extended with new institutions like Waikato University in New Zealand. At the same time, Dr. Teresa Poole created the new degree of BSc Hons in Chemistry with European Experience in both German and French and this lead to the development of a European Placement Programme.

In 1988, the Chemistry BSc (Hons) degree formally incorporated an element of preparation for Professional Training via a module being offered in the first year. Scientific Communication was designed to help students to develop a sense of self as professional chemists and also answer the need to improve their communication skills.

The association between Chemistry and Industry was strengthen with the creation of the Analytical Club, a particular forum where industry and academia met to discuss the issues associated with the placements in Analytical degrees. The work of the club lead, in the early 1990s, to the creation of Industry Day: a day in which all students in their forth year (hence back from their placements) offer the academic and industrial communities presentations on the work they have done during their placements.

Very recently, in 2005, WACE awarded the John A. Curry Employer Award to Dr. Andrew Scott from the Tetley Group in London, who have been involved in offerring international PT placements in assocaition with Chemistry at the University of Surrey for the last 16 years. This was seen as another formal recognition of the quality of the work the University of Surrey does in this area.

The University of Surrey excellence in Professional Training has been recognized again with two awards in the WACE international meeting in Singapore 2007. On the one hand, Adrian Jefferies from Castrol BP, who has worked along with Chemistry at Surrey on its placement program for almost 20 years, received the John A. Curry Employer Award. On the other hand, Professor Neil I. Ward received on the same occasion the Don McLaren Award for his academic contributions to the field of Professional Training. No doubt a major achievement for the University.

1. "Pioneering in Education for the Technologies: The Story of Battersea College of Technology: The Story of Battersea College of Technology" by H. Arrowsmith. 1966, pg. 1.
2. "Understanding the Real World". pg. 173.
3. "Some Informal Recollections of Professional Training from Battersea to UniS" by David Pollard, 2006,
4. Salmon 1967. University of Surrey Library
5 . "Objectives in the Teaching of Chemistry" by M. L. Burstall (1968 )
t. "The Industrial Year: Some Thoughts" by John Salmon.