My placement at Network Rail
Anne Wandu is currently working with the asset management team at Network Rail as an asset engineer following the completion of her second year studying Civil Engineering BEng (Hons).
The United Nations predicts a global population of 9.8 billion by 2050. Consequently, construction professionals are increasingly being called upon to create and maintain the social and commercial infrastructure needed to accommodate such large-scale growth.
Therefore, the demand for civil engineers is high in the foreseeable future. In recent years, the demand for civil and structural engineers had continued to rise, particularly in countries such as Australia, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand and China. Construction targets aim to reduce cost, deliver faster, reduce emissions and improve exports, all of which rely on a successful infrastructure both in the UK and elsewhere.
This civil engineering course is aimed at students who aspire to become professionally qualified engineers, wishing to study civil engineering with an emphasis on engineering practice and its role within construction. We aim to give you an insight into the full breadth of design and construction disciplines that collaborate in the multi-disciplinary construction industry. The course usually benefits from the practical experience brought to the course by part-time students working in industry, who also study the course.
An award-winning university, we are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience. We continue to invest in both our facilities and our innovative approach to education. Our students benefit from industry-relevant teaching, and resources and support designed to help them succeed. These range from our modern library and computing facilities to dedicated careers advice and our impressive Students’ Union activities.
This degree is accredited by the Joint Board of Moderators (JBM) comprising the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Structural Engineers, Institute of Highway Engineers, and the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation on behalf of the Engineering Council as fully satisfying the educational base for an Incorporated Engineer (IEng). See www.jbm.org.uk for further information.
Anne Wandu is currently working with the asset management team at Network Rail as an asset engineer following the completion of her second year studying Civil Engineering BEng (Hons).
Clarice Davu started her placement year at Hockley and Dawson Consulting Engineers, who specialises in the sensitive repair and conservation of historic buildings, prestigious houses and important structures.
Includes industrial standard timber and steel workshops, a concrete mixing area with 3 pan mixers, programmable environmental chambers, a range of ovens and curing tanks and various materials testing apparatus.
Our interactive training centre is used to create a ‘virtual’ construction site with fully-equipped site cabins and observation deck. Students undertake role play exercises to help prepare them for situations in the workplace.
Includes eight test frames, two of which are fully programmable ‘top of the range’ Instron universal test machines. It also includes a strong floor area with associated framing and ancillary measurement devices.
Going to University is definitely worth it, not just for the degree, but also the experience, professional advice, self-development, and much more.
The BSc Civil Engineering course is aimed at students who aspire to become incorporated engineers and wish to study civil engineering with an emphasis on engineering practice and its role within construction.
You will study with students from other construction related courses on group project modules, with the aim of reflecting the multi-disciplinary nature of the construction industry and building teamwork and collaboration skills. Successful graduates from this Civil Engineering course will be well-suited to working in a range of civil engineering consultancies, contractors or client organisations, and upon successful completion of the course should have a sound base to ultimately become incorporated civil engineers in your future career.
As required by University regulations, you will take one 10 credit Add+vantage module in each year of your course. The Add+vantage scheme is a university initiative for broadening students’ studies. There is a large collection of 10 credit modules in a wide variety of areas, many linked to ‘graduateness’ and ‘employability’. The scheme currently includes languages, law, advanced IT and mathematical skills.
Course specification
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The structure of the BSc (Hons) Civil Engineering provision provides you with the opportunity to experience the breadth and interdisciplinary nature of the construction industry, and achieve your potential by providing opportunities to transfer between courses based on academic ability and final chosen degree specialism.
You will be taught by staff who currently have academic and professional experience in the civil engineering and construction industries, having worked for companies such as Carillion, Arcadis and Laing O’Rourke as principal, senior and management engineers. Coventry University also has a strong portfolio of industry-related research, ranging from applied technology, such instrumentation and measuring to pure innovative research, which ensures you stay abreast of new technologies and emerging issues.
Teaching is highly practical; you will draw on real-life case studies, previously provided by companies such as Arcadis, CGL, Crossrail and Galliford Try. You will use industry-standard software as is widely used by design and consulting engineers. You will also be given significant opportunities to apply for industrial placements* at companies that have previously included: Atkins, Balfour Beatty, Interserve, Morgan Sindall, Mott MacDonald, Severn Trent Water and Warwickshire County Council.
*Please note that we are unable to guarantee any placement or study abroad opportunities and that all such opportunities may be subject to additional costs (e.g. travel, visas and accommodation etc.), competitive application, availability and/or meeting any applicable visa requirements. To ensure that you fully understand the requirements in this regard, please contact the International Office for further details if you are an EU or International student.
Studies are underpinned by three core course themes, which are carefully balanced across all years of the course, centred on specific technical knowledge, construction practice and skills development through group project work.
The group and project work aims to give successful graduates the ability to critically evaluate the performance of others, assist them to develop and support their work, in addition to taking full responsibility for their own personal and professional development. The multi-disciplinary nature will strategically position them to adopt key roles within multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural civil engineering design or construction teams, contributing leadership, analytical, creative and original thought and discipline expertise.
Teaching is highly practical; you will draw on real-life case studies, previously provided by companies such as Arcadis, CGL, Crossrail and Galliford Try. You will use industry-standard software as is widely used by design and consulting engineers. Your course will be taught using lectures, with associated tutorials, laboratory classes, practicals and studio sessions.
In addition, for first and second year you will be assigned an academic personal tutor who will meet you typically on a weekly basis during semester 1 for bespoke timetabled sessions and within the group project modules during semester 2. Tutors will provide pastoral support, help to ease the transition from school to university and monitor your progress. During semester 1 meetings, tutors will direct you towards resources and activities on a bespoke student portal page that aims to develop your academic and professional skills using a flipped learning approach (e.g. teamwork, BIM, communication, time management, academic writing and referencing and becoming professionally qualified). For year 3, the individual project supervisor assumes the role of academic personal tutor and meets you within bespoke timetabled sessions typically every 3 weeks (additional meetings deemed necessary are organised on an individual basis).
Some course content is delivered in a flipped approach whereby you could view online content (normally recorded videos) before the relevant session so that you have the opportunity to understand the basic concepts or tasks at hand beforehand. This approach is used within academic personal tutor sessions and partially within group project modules. It is also adopted in preparation for many of the laboratory and surveying practical sessions, mainly in years 1 and 2.
At appropriate stages of the course, we try to organise guest lectures from current practitioners (subject to availability), which have previously covered topics such as railway design and tunnelling. You will have the opportunity to participate in a residential field trip within the second year of the course, which typically takes place in Shrewsbury and focuses on land surveying skills. We also aim to organise construction site visits in the UK each year, with past students visiting various sites of Coventry University buildings, the site for the National College for High Speed Rail in Birmingham and the Birmingham University sports centre. The costs for UK field trips and site visits are included in the Flying-Start scheme.
The highly practical nature of the course enables you to work with staff on real-world problems from industry, commerce and research groups, mirroring the work you may do in professional practice. This means that while you are taught the technical content of your degree, these projects should develop the professional skills required including: problem assessment and resolution; project, task and time management; risk assessment; team work and leadership; technical report writing etc.
This course will be assessed using a variety of methods which will could vary depending upon the module. Assessment methods include online quizzes, calculation based assignments, report writing, surveying practicals, laboratory work, group project work, design assignments, computer aided drawing, case studies, research dissertation, simulation centre performance, presentations, tests and coursework. The Coventry University Group assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards the achieving the intended learning outcomes.
Semester 1 is primarily devoted to delivery and assessment of underlying theory, with assessment typically by a 90 minute test. We are assessing this content in a controlled environment so that we can ensure each individual student can demonstrate their knowledge of the theory before they need to apply that theory in semester 2.
Within semester 2 of years 1 and 2, students take 40 credit civil engineering project modules where students apply the underlying theory that they have learnt in semester 1 (plus any additional theory delivered within semester 2). This is essentially an integrative assessment approach but where all the integrated assessment is confined to single 40 credit modules. These projects will be broken into phases whereby the relevant content for a particular phase is bulk delivered over a few weeks. The assessment will be by individual coursework portfolio with interim submissions at the end of each project phase (separate coursework components submitted typically every three weeks).
Formative assessments are generally scheduled earlier in the semester (as a progress check for students) or small bodies of work such as online quizzes scheduled throughout the semester. For summative assessments during semester 1, week 11 is devoted to revision for tests that are scheduled in weeks 12 and 13. Students can have up to six tests at a given year so tests are scheduled to ensure at least one day in between (this is the main reason that the course has tests rather than exams that are centrally scheduled within a single week). For summative assessments during semester 2, coursework submissions are scheduled to minimise bunching and where possible, a specific group of students will only have one assessment within a given week (see assessment schedule in section 6).
On successful completion, you will have:
Actual teaching contact hours will vary depending on the level of study and the requirements of a particular semester. In a typical week your contact hours will be divided amongst personal tutorials and small group teaching; medium group teaching (e.g. seminars, tutorial sessions, lab sessions and workshops); and large group teaching (lectures).
In addition, you will be expected to undertake significant self-directed study each week depending on the demands of individual modules. The number of contact hours may vary from semester to semester, however, on average, it is likely to be around 13-15 contact hours per week in the first and second year dropping to around 11 contact hours per week in the final year as you become a more independent learner.
There is a mandatory international field trip in year two* where you are required to fulfil a design brief while taking account of the local climate, physical terrain, resources available, social and cultural environment etc.
You may also seek to undertake a relevant professional/international placement year after your second year. This opportunity is encouraged to provide students with the depth of experience that such an opportunity affords. Assistance with acquiring a relevant placement is offered by the Faculty’s employability and placements team.
You will have the opportunity to take a year studying abroad with support of the Erasmus exchange scheme, between years 2 and 3 of your course.
* Please note that we are unable to guarantee any placement or study abroad opportunities and that all such opportunities may be subject to additional costs (e.g. travel, visas and accommodation etc.), competitive application, availability and/or meeting any applicable visa requirements. To ensure that you fully understand the requirements in this regard, please contact the International Office for further details if you are an EU or International student.
Did you know we help more students travel internationally than any other UK university according to data from the experts in higher education data and analysis, HESA?
In 2018/19, we were able to provide a total of 5,469 experiences abroad that lasted at least five days.
Much of this travel is made possible through our Global Leaders Programme, which enables students to prepare for the challenges of the global employment market, as well as strengthening and developing their broader personal and professional skills.
Explore our international experiences1st for
Sending more students overseas than any other UK uni 2016/17
5,469
The number of student trips abroad for at least 5 days in 2018/19
12,000
The number of students we’ve helped travel internationally since 2016
12
As well as trips, we offer other opportunities like language courses
We pride ourselves on offering competitive tuition fees which we review on an annual basis and offer a wide range of scholarships to support students with their studies. Course fees are calculated on the basis of what it costs to teach each course and we aim for total financial transparency.
For more information, please visit our Finance pages.
We're committed to communicating study costs clearly to make sure you're not faced with having to make any unexpected payments.
This is why our ‘Flying Start’ package provides you with a few course essentials. Your full-time fee for an undergraduate degree will cover the following:
Course essentials - additional costs: This course may incur additional costs associated with any field trips, placements or work experience, study abroad opportunities or any other opportunity (whether required or optional), which could include (but is not limited to) travel, accommodation, activities and visas. This course may incur additional costs associated with any equipment, materials, bench fees, studio or facilities hire.
EU nationals starting in the 2020/21 academic year remain eligible for the same fees as home students and the same financial support. Financial support comes from Student Finance England, and covers undergraduate and postgraduate study for the duration of their course, providing they meet the residency requirement.
EU nationals starting in the 2020/21 academic year must have resided in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland for the three years prior to the start of their course. The purpose of that three year residency should not have been mainly for the purpose of receiving full time education.
EU nationals starting in the 2020/21 academic year must have resided in the UK and Islands for the five years prior to the start of their course. The purpose of that five year residency should not have been mainly for the purpose of receiving full time education.
Based on current information from the UK Government, international students whose study extends beyond summer 2021 may be eligible for a visa under the UK Government’s Graduate Immigration Route, which will enable students to stay and work, or look for work, in the UK at any skill level for up to two (2) years. Check the most up to date guidance available to check your eligibility and any updates from the UK Government before making an application or enrolment decision.
The School of Energy, Construction and Environment has a dedicated academic whose role is to co-ordinate placements and employment. The university’s Talent Team facilitate students in securing placement opportunities*. This team also run a number of timetabled sessions on CV writing, interview techniques etc. and students can also book one-to-one support sessions.
Course Directors invite speakers in from industry to discuss recruitment (subject to availability) and, when available, they take students on free-to-attend visits to Civil Engineering companies looking to recruit. They also regularly advertise any opportunities they are made aware of* (through the Talent team or industry contacts) on the student portal. Alumni are also invited back to give presentations on their graduate experience and give students guidance on learning and career development. There is a careers service where qualified consultants are available to help students think about the issues they face as they move through university studies and prepare for employment. Other career support includes mentoring by invited practising engineers, talks by professional institutions and alumni, career development visits to companies and site visits.
Successful graduates from the Civil Engineering course will be well-suited to working in a range of Civil Engineering consultancies, contractors or client organisations and they will have a sound base to ultimately become chartered Civil Engineers.
*Please note that we are unable to guarantee any placement or study abroad opportunities and that all such opportunities may be subject to additional costs (e.g. travel, visas and accommodation etc.), competitive application, availability and/or meeting any applicable visa requirements. To ensure that you fully understand the requirements in this regard, please contact the International Office for further details if you are an EU or International student.
Coventry University has a long-established reputation for the teaching of Civil Engineering and currently has excellent links with potential employers like Arcadis, Arup, Atkins, Balfour Beatty, BAM, Buro Happold, CGL, CPUK, Donaldson Associates, Galliford Try, Geotechnics Ltd, Interserve, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Morgan Sindall, Mott MacDonald, Severn Trent Water, Warwickshire County Council and Willmott Dixon, many of whom have previously provided direct input into course development as members of our Industrial Advisory Board.
By accepting your offer of a place and enrolling with us, a Student Contract will be formed between you and the university. A copy of the 2020/21 Contract can be found here. The Contract details your rights and the obligations you will be bound by during your time as a student and contains the obligations that the university will owe to you. You should read the Contract before you accept an offer of a place and before you enrol at the university.
The tuition fee for the course that is stated on the course webpage and in the prospectus for the first year of study will apply. We will review our tuition fees each year. For UK and EU students, if Parliament permit an increase in tuition fees, we may increase fees for each subsequent year of study in line with any such changes. Note that any increase is expected to be in line with inflation. Following the UK’s exit from the European Union, EU students should be aware that there may be a change to UK laws following the UK’s exit, this may change their student status, their eligibility to study part time, and/or their eligibility for student finance. We will act in accordance with the UK’s laws in force in relation to student tuition fees and finance from time to time.
For International students the tuition fee that is stated on the course webpage and in the prospectus for the first year of study will apply. We will review our tuition fees each year. For international students, we may increase fees for each subsequent year of study but such increases will be no more than 5% above inflation.