INTERNSHIP: INDUSTRIAL PLACEMENT - 2020/1

Module Overview

The industrial placement is an elective module normally only available for full-time MSc students, and is intended to complement the students’ academic work with valuable practical experience in industry, government agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGO) or environmental research centres.  The industrial placement offers students a unique opportunity to gain hands-on and meaningful work experience, learn how to work co-operatively with others, obtain a better perspective of careers in the environmental and sustainability field and enhance employment opportunities.  Students will work on specific projects at their placement agency and will have the opportunity to use and test some of the analytical skills they acquired from their MSc training.

Module provider

Centre for Environment & Sustainability

Module Leader

MURPHY Richard (CES)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

Normally students must have achieved an average greater than 60% on modules completed prior to starting the industrial placement.

Module content

The core of this module is a placement spent doing supervised work which relates to the implementation of sustainable development and environmental strategy.  Placements must be a minimum of 30 full work days (i.e. a minimum of six weeks full-time or equivalent) and can be done on a full-time or part-time basis as is appropriate to the placement organisation’s needs. The placement may be:

• industrial: with a firm or company engaged in environmental management or with activities directly affecting the environment;


• local authority and other public agency engaged in sustainability;


• NGOs, environmental pressure groups and non-profit advocacy organisations engaged in work related to environmental and developmental issues.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Any reassessment will be in the form of an essay.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate the ability to work in a professional setting that builds upon skills and knowledge being gained during their MSc. The assessment strategy also encourages students to reflect upon their experiences of applying skills and knowledge gained in their MSc in a non-academic setting.

The summative assessment for this module consists of:

· Appraisal by industrial supervisor at the end of the placement (30%)

· A series of individual blog articles (not more than 5) totalling 2500 words on the industrial placement (50%)

· 15 minute individual seminar presentation (20%)

Formative assessment and feedback

Students should receive feedback on their performance during their industrial placement from their industrial supervisor who will manage day-to-day work during the placement.

Module aims

• To provide students who have limited experience working as environmental / sustainability professionals the opportunity to work in a similar role type of role to that which they might secure upon graduation from their MSc. This module also aims to give students practical experience applying theoretical concepts learnt in other MSc modules that they have undertaken.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

Each student will be assigned an agency representative who will act as a supervisor to provide guidance to the intern and ensure his/her time is focused on substantive work and activities, with academic guidance and support provided by the student’s personal tutor.  Students are expected to keep a diary of work experience and produce a report on the project carried out during the placement.  A seminar presentation session will be organised following the placements to bring students together to discuss and share their experiences with their peers.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ENGM063

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2020/1 academic year.