INDUSTRIAL PRACTICE - 2025/6
Module code: ENGM323
Module Overview
This module supports students¿ development of personal and professional attitudes and abilities appropriate to an industrial practice training placement and provides a portfolio of professional development appropriate to the expectations of the graduate¿s technical discipline. It supports and facilitates self-reflection and transfer of learning from student¿s industrial placement experiences to their future employment, maximising the potential to succeed in the global job market. The industrial practice module is concerned with personal and professional development towards holistic academic and non-academic learning, and is a process that involves self-reflection, documented via the creation of a personal record, planning and monitoring progress towards the achievement of personal objectives. Through industrial placement, students not only become resourceful and resilient through exercising to engage effectively with different opportunities and challenges at work but also gain an appreciation and understanding of global, social and ethical issues in the civil engineering industry. This also supports students' development in digital capabilities/literacy. Through working on practice-based projects/problems, they gain knowledge and understanding of sustainability and civil engineers' role and contribution to achieving UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).
Development and learning may occur before and during the placement, and this is reflected in the assessment model as a progressive process. However, the graded assessment takes place primarily towards the end of the placement. Additionally, the module aims to enable students to evidence and evaluate their placement experiences and transfer that learning to other situations through written and presentation skills.
Module provider
Mechanical Engineering Sciences
Module Leader
IMAM Boulent (Sust & CEE)
Number of Credits: 60
ECTS Credits: 30
Framework: FHEQ Level 7
Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A
Overall student workload
Independent Learning Hours: 597
Seminar Hours: 3
Module Availability
Crosses academic years
Prerequisites / Co-requisites
None
Module content
The module focuses on achieving the learning outcomes by offering, via the industrial placement experience, the opportunity for students to nurture the employability skills that graduate employers look for and to develop the professional identity, competencies and attributes that support the future employability outcomes for students. This development takes place across a wide range of professional environments with great variety in the work undertaken. Nevertheless, all of these offer the same opportunity to achieve the learning outcomes. Students are required to reflect on professional behaviour, practices and sustainability in their company or organisation and sector and based on these reflections create a professional development plan and career goals. Periodic discussion between the student and an academic mentor will take place to facilitate the learning.
Assessment pattern
Assessment type | Unit of assessment | Weighting |
---|---|---|
Coursework | Placement Report | 75 |
Oral exam or presentation | Presentation and/or Poster | 25 |
Alternative Assessment
None
Assessment Strategy
The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate the learning outcomes regarding the successful acquisition of an industrial placement, and the acquisition of the employability skills and competencies that support students¿ graduate employability outcomes.
Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:
Placement Report
Completed at the end of the placement this report reviews the student's placement, analyses their professional practices and work environment and provides a critical reflection on their personal and professional development. The 4,000 word Placement Report contains two elements: (a) a subject specific or technical section (word count 3,000); and (b) a section about the student's reflection on their personal and professional development from the industrial placement (word count 1,000 words). The completed Professional Development Review (PDR) form is attached to the placement report as an appendix to map the competencies achieved against expected professional attributes.
Presentation and/or Poster
Students are required to deliver an oral presentation and/or to present a poster covering their placement experience. A word count is not applicable, but guidelines are available in module's SurreyLearn folder.
Formative assessment and feedback:
Students will receive ongoing feedback as they develop their own Professional Development Review (PDR) which they undertake several times across the duration of the placement experience. This feeds directly into the development of the Reflective element of the Placement Report.
Module aims
- Enable students to acquire and develop knowledge as it occurs in professional practice.
- Apply academic knowledge to work activities and processes in practice.
- Enable students to mature through the evaluation of their placement experiences.
- Support students to develop and apply new skills appropriate to their professional setting in which they are working.
- Enable students to develop the employability skills and attitudes/approach that graduate employers look for and are required of a person working in a professional capacity.
Learning outcomes
Attributes Developed | ||
001 | Demonstrate the ability to work according to the professional expectations and expected codes of behaviour of the company/organisation within which the placement is situated. | CPT |
002 | Reflect and evaluate the skills, knowledge and personal development gained from the completion of the Industrial Practice placement. | KPT |
003 | Critically analyse how scientific and practical contexts of practice can impact the advancement of their professional practice. | KPT |
004 | Demonstrate the cognitive skills developed during Industrial Placement to plan, conduct and reflect critically on own practice in a professional setting. | CPT |
Attributes Developed
C - Cognitive/analytical
K - Subject knowledge
T - Transferable skills
P - Professional/Practical skills
Methods of Teaching / Learning
The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:
Enable students to develop desired transferable and employability skills in a work-based learning environment.
Equip students with reflective practice principles.
Develop the personal responsibility approach to knowledge acquisition in the work environment.
Develop work ethics, sustainable thinking, resilience, and digital, global and cultural capabilities.
The learning and teaching methods include:
Experiential learning through the industrial placement experience itself.
Critical self-reflection and learning supported.
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: ENGM323
Other information
Surrey's Curriculum Framework is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills and capabilities in the following areas:
Employability: A year working in industry effectively develops a student¿s employability by giving them practical experience of the work environment and the expectations placed on them by their employer. A year working in industry allows students to apply their knowledge and skills in a work setting, further developing these skills. By working in a company or organisation, students gain a real understanding of the way that company or organisation operates and the challenges which it faces. Employers want to recruit graduates with practical knowledge and experience of their industry which students gain while on placement.
Digital Skills: Students will significantly enhance their use of word processing software for report writing, other important job/instrument-related software and the use of scientific databases for research. Furthermore, students will have the opportunity, based on placement company/industry, to work using a plethora of digital tools and communication devices. This will provide them with the latest training opportunities leading to the development of vital digital skills.
Global and cultural capabilities: Working in industry helps students to develop competencies to engage effectively with people from the different backgrounds encountered in the workplace. Each workplace has its own culture which a new employee or placement student has to adapt to if they are to do their job effectively. The ability to adapt to a workplace culture comes through experience. Students are supported by their placement tutor as they learn to adapt to the organisational culture of their placement company or organization.
Sustainability: Applying theories, concepts and skills relating to sustainability development in the workplace develops a student¿s understanding of sustainability and its practical application to real world problems. During the year in placement students will be exposed to a different work environment/industry which will inevitably have some sustainability agenda that students will be able to engage with and understand thereby developing necessary sustainability skills. Likewise, their relocation may require some adjustments to their lifestyle which may lead to a more sustainable travel and leaving, skills well desired nowadays.
Resourcefulness and resilience: Working in industry will develop a student¿s ability to respond effectively to opportunities, challenges, difficulties and setbacks. Students are supported by their placement tutor as they face these challenges and learn how to respond to the needs of the placement company or organisation.
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 2025/6 academic year.