• Offered for Year: 2024/25

• Module Leader(s): Dr Jean Hall
• Lecturer: Ms Tess O'Hara
• Other Staff: Mr Martin Jolley

• Owning School: Engineering
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Aims

Real-world industry-led challenges in Engineering require an academic foundation in engineering and computational analysis, combined with domain knowledge, practical resourcefulness, and research skills. The Bridge to Industry module offers students an opportunity to develop these professional practice skills through an industrial placement opportunity.

This Work-based placement offers the students the opportunity to undertake work-related learning to develop and compile evidence in relation to professional competencies and standards relevant to their career intentions. Through engagement with the module, students will enhance their employability, develop their understanding of how to be successful in current recruitment and selection processes, and learn professional development skills that will help them plan and manage their early career development.

Outline Of Syllabus

Successful graduate engineers need to be able to assess and analyse their skills in order to articulate & evidence the core professional skills & attributes valued in industry as well as by a wide range of graduate employers. This, alongside the ability to proactively plan & manage their personal professional development, is essential to career progression and achieving professional accreditation in industry (e.g. ICE, I-Struct-E, CIWEM, APM, CIHT).

Supported by their module tutor, students will reflect on & manage their own learning and development through a series of seminars, workshops & preparation & consolidation activities.

Students will complete a minimum of 70 hours of planned, purposeful activity within an agreed professional context. This Professional Experience provides context for the practical development of core professional skills and allows for the demonstrating of improvement in specific graduate skills and attributes, for progression towards a graduate career.

Topics and themes addressed in module teaching will include:

• Exploring industry: Employers, occupations & sectors. Understanding routes into industry & routes to career progression, exploring trends in occupations, sectors & industries.

• Professionalism - why does it matter: What are professional & occupational standards & why do they matter? Using the professional & occupational standards to inform your development goals and presenting yourself.

• Professional self-management skills: Reflection & experiential learning, resilience, growth mind set & responding to challenges & setbacks, building on strengths, understanding yourself/understanding others.

• Professional self-management skills: Exploring career values & motivations - how do these relate to the different types of roles in industry? What resources are available to explore career options & matches?

• Professional self-management skills: Goal setting and action planning, benchmarking & analysing skills & attributes.

• Professional interaction skills: How our strengths & weaknesses impact our effectiveness; bringing out the best in ourselves and others; management or leadership; you don't have to be a leader to lead.

• Professional interaction skills: Networking to further your career - including face-to-face & online networking.

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Overall, the teaching programme provides a framework for students to develop their knowledge of how to

-explore, plan for and develop their career options and opportunities;
-explore skills and attributes related to their professional career aspirations and set personal goals to develop such- qualities through their placement experience;
-develop their self-awareness, resilience and personal impact.

Timetabled lectures, workshops blended with some non-synchronous structured and guided learning and small group tutorials will support students in:

-evaluating their current skillset and analyze how this related to both their work placement and future career ambitions;
-analysing and developing individual learning and development needs [https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/people/development/learning-needs-factsheet];
-developing feasible plans entailing a programme of specific planned actions aimed at addressing the identified development needs;
-evidencing and articulating their professional competence and impact.

Topics addressed in module teaching will include leadership, effective professional interaction, professional self- management and organisation, and creating problem solving.

Lectures will introduce students to recruitment strategies and developing a professional profile to use as a basis for career aspirations.

Workshop sessions will allow the students time and feedback on thier own professional profile in written (CV's) digital formats (LinkedIn profiles). A Mock Interview held with a professional in industry will provide feedback on both the graduate interview process and their performance in verbally communicating to an audience.

Small group work allows students to further reflect upon their goals, ambitions and progress with direct input and feedback from their module tutor, and also allow the sharing of plans and ideas to be included in module assessments.

Drop in tutorial surgeries allow students to review their progress with their module tutor and also aid preparation for module assessment.

The work placement/professional experience (minimum 70 hours) which students undertake as part of the module provides the context within which they are expected to practise experiential and social learning through reflection, critical analysis and continuous improvement.

The aims of this module are drawn from the Newcastle University Graduate Skills Framework and informed by current graduate employer intelligence. The skills outcomes aim to equip students with the ability to articulate how they have developed and learned through practical work experience to enhance and extend their employability.
Students will achieve the learning outcomes for the module through full engagement with the activities and a commitment to their own development.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The assessment components are designed to (1) develop and recognise effective application of proactive professional development and career management strategies and (2) develop and reward effective performance in relation to core professional competences as described in the Newcastle University Graduate Skills Framework and by other appropriate professional accrediting organisations (e.g. ICE, I-Struct E, etc.) or sources (e.g. www.prospects.ac.uk).

Portfolio 1 focuses on goal-setting, self-awareness and career knowledge grounded in use of relevant professional competences. Students will submit a series of outputs developed during the Semester 1 taught sessions and develop a professional development plan elaborating how they have evaluated their degree of competence across core graduate skills in order to arrive at a robust understanding of their development needs and a rigorous professional development action plan . Students will articulate the personal goals they have set for their placements, the graduate skills and attributes they have decided to focus on developing, and the professional standards they have identified to work towards. They will also be expected to articulate and explain their rationale for prioritising these skills, attributes and goals, demonstrating occupational awareness in relation to both their placement organisation and their career ambitions, as well as self-awareness through analysing their existing strengths and weaknesses and how their personal goals for this module will help them to develop these. Student time spent on preparation and delivery of this task is roughly equivalent to a written task of between 1500-2000 words.

Portfolio 2 is a portfolio assessment submitted in semester 2. This will require students to present evidence of their progress towards and achievement in relation to the personal goals, graduate skills and professional standards they have identified in semester 1. The portfolio is an opportunity for students to reflect on their progress during the module, evidence their professional skills and attributes, and demonstrate their contribution to their host placement organisation. The submission of the host placement supervisors report will be used in the moderation of a component of this assessment. Student time spent on preparation and delivery of this task is roughly equivalent to a written task of 1500-2000words.

Reading Lists

• CEG8010's Reading List

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
• CEG8010's Timetable