CEM500: Industry Placement

Module code: CEM500

Module provider: School of Construction Management and Engineering, School of Built Environment

Credits: 180

Level: Postgraduate Masters

When you'll be taught: Full year

Module convenor: Mr Adrian Tagg, email: a.tagg@reading.ac.uk

Additional teaching staff 1: Dr Shu-Ling Lu, email: s.lu@reading.ac.uk

Additional teaching staff 2: Dr Martin Green, email: m.s.green@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: Maxi placement

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 2 October 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

The aim of this module is to enable students to undertake a placement in a relevant industrial environment to develop their technical and professional skills, within a real work environment to complement their programme of study. 

Students will explore the working environment for postgraduate students and carry out various activities such as job search, CV and interview preparation in order to secure a placement. They will then complete an Industry Placement at an organisation to suit their academic programme. The placement will be tailored to the interests and aspirations of the student but also meet the needs of employers. The subject discipline may vary widely, but the emphasis will be on both applying existing knowledge and skills in the work place, as well as gaining new professional skills. 

This module provides the students, particularly home students with a non-construction background and international students without UK construction experience, with skills and experience that will help secure a permanent job as a professional in the international construction sector. .

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to: 

1. Demonstrate advanced knowledge and understanding of an industry-based organisation in terms of its context, mission, scope and operation.
2. Critically evaluate a project that they were involved in as part of the placement and the particular challenges faced involving design, planning or implementation.
3. Make critical evaluations of risks through some understanding of the basis of such risks.
4. Build  a Training Report based around the agreed development plan and a reflective work-based diary. 
5. Experience the dynamics of working in teams in the workplace, recognising and respecting differing perspectives and enhancing communication skills.
6. Engage students in professional development and understanding of routes into surveying and construction charterships.

Module content

Students are offered the opportunity of specialist lectures and access to the University Careers Service for assistance in the preparation of CV’s, on line testing, telephone interviews and face to face interview techniques. 

The students will keep detailed records of their placement and will prepare a reflective critical analysis of their time in practice showcasing their experience. 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The module is an industry placement module which is mainly delivered by the attendance of the students in their placement but there will be lectures and seminars to provide support and guidance to the students both to secure an appropriate placement and to develop their report whilst they are on the placement. There will be:  

• Review meetings at sponsoring organisation between student and line supervisor as part of work activities. 
• Diary used by student to review and monitor progress towards achieving development plan and to request and receive formative feedback. 
• On-line / email communication. 
• Review and appraisal at end of placement.

The module is designed to be a 30 week industry placement over two semesters starting from October after the students have finished their taught modules. In total, over two semesters, the module includes 1800 hours with a combination of lectures, seminars, placement and independent study hours.

Study hours

This module is a placement or study abroad module and therefore the teaching and learning activities will predominantly, or entirely, take place away from the University of Reading. Your host organisation will normally advise you of the associated hours of your placement or year abroad. If the module includes any in-person activities at the University of Reading, these will be confirmed to you before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

This module is marked on a pass/fail basis. 

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The below information applies toall full time and flexible modularstudents on taught PGT programmes in SBE

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Regular academic supervision will be conducted through a mix of on-site visits, remote supervision, discussion sessions and interim report writing.  

During the teaching days and throughout the two semesters, the students will have several meetings to receive formative feedback on their placement and their report.   

Reassessment

Additional costs