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ENGI3976: Engineering Placement Year

Please ensure you check the module availability box for each module outline, as not all modules will run in each academic year. Each module description relates to the year indicated in the module availability box, and this may change from year to year, due to, for example: changing staff expertise, disciplinary developments, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback. Current modules are subject to change in light of the ongoing disruption caused by Covid-19.

Type Tied
Level 3
Credits 120
Availability Available in 2023/24
Module Cap None.
Location Durham
Department Engineering

Prerequisites

  • None

Corequisites

  • None

Excluded Combinations of Modules

  • None

Aims

  • To provide the experience of working in an industrial environment as complementary to academic study.
  • To enable students to acquire transferable skills, to develop personally, and to enhance their employability with the placement provider or otherwise, upon graduation.

Content

  • This will be determined in agreement with the placement provider. Content will usually focus on involvement in research and development or technical projects. More business-focused experience and activity may be approved but sufficient engineering content is mandatory.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

  • Increased knowledge and understanding of the industrial environment, as distinct from the academic, and of the hierarchies, routines, pressures, and disciplines of this environment.
  • Increased knowledge of the specific engineering techniques involved in the placement, and of their practical application.

Subject-specific Skills:

  • An enhanced ability to work independently or in a team, as appropriate to the placement.
  • An enhanced ability to work on both technical and non-technical tasks, and with non-technical colleagues.

Key Skills:

  • Increased confidence in the ability to work in different environments and to assume personal responsibility.
  • An ability to manage one's affairs and time, and to be assessed within an industrial environment.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • Pre-placement briefing in order to prepare the student for the industrial environment and the nature of the placement.
  • Regular contact with a placement advisor during the placement to help the student assess the on-going value of the placement and the skills acquired including one site visit by the placement advisor, where this is reasonably practical.
  • Post-placement debriefing to help the student assess the final value of the placement and reflect on the skills acquired.
  • Assessment via a A1 poster on the placement.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

ActivityNumberFrequencyDurationTotalMonitored
Pre-placement briefing 160 minutes1Yes
Placement, including meetings with placement advisor140 weeks1198Yes
Post-placement debriefing and questionnaire160 minutes1 
Total1200 

Summative Assessment

Component: CourseworkComponent Weighting: 100%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
Satisfactory completion of the placement as evidenced by an A1 poster on the placement [Pass / Fail]A1 Poster100None

Formative Assessment

More information

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