The Microelectronics Education Programme Strategy

The Microelectronics Education Programme (MEP) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland was announced by the Government in March 1980, and Richard Fothergill took up his appointment as Director of the Programme in November. His first main task was to draw up this statement of the Programme's future priorities and methods of operation, in consultation with the Education Departments and the Programme's expert Advisory Committee; the local authority and teachers' associations also commented on an earlier draft.

The paper was to assist researchers and developers to formulate proposals for funding in line with the Programme's aims; the priorities and criteria set out in the paper were intended to serve as a strategy and not a precise blueprint, intended to help devise a co-ordinated programme of work to secure the best possible value for the available money (£8M over the period 1981-1984). It was also written to encourage others, who had been closely involved with microelectronics in education, to find out about the work which was being done in their areas and perhaps become involved in it themselves.