Industrial work placement in Higher Education: a study of civil engineering student engagement

Stuart Tennant, Mike Murray, Bob Gilmour, Linda Brown

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    15 Citations (Scopus)
    124 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    For civil engineering undergraduates, the opportunity to spend a period of time in formal industrial work placement provides an invaluable learning experience. This paper reviews student engagement with short-term industrial placement and provides analysis of questionnaires (n=174) returned by undergraduates studying civil engineering at four Higher Education Institutes (HEI’s) in the West of Scotland. The data captures industrial placement statistics, employability skill-sets and presents brief testimonies from students. Whilst the journey to becoming a professional civil engineer is undoubtedly enhanced by short-term placement clear opportunities exist for HEI’s to affect and change existing pedagogical discourse. Commentary is likely to resonate beyond civil engineering and serve as a timely reminder of the need to re-invigorate academia/industry curriculum partnerships.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1-11
    Number of pages11
    JournalIndustry and Higher Education
    Volume32
    Issue number2
    Early online date19 Mar 2018
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2018

    Keywords

    • Industrial Placement
    • Engineering Education
    • Civil Engineering

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