Industrial training for a sandwich degree in production engineering

The decision facing the CATs on obtaining University status was whether to continue with their sandwich style courses or to operate the full‐time degree course. How each made their decision is not the subject of this paper, but the author firmly believes that the operation of a sandwich degree course offers the best type of training for both the student and the employer. Indeed the feeling of scepticism with which the CATs were first met was changed to admiration within their lifetime, such that many employers prefer the diploma man to the full‐time degree man. For this reason many are sorry to see the CATs disappear, but I feel that if the new technological universities continue with their sandwich system they have an even larger part to play in the educational system than they did as CATs.