Civil Engineering MEng (Hons)

When not attending timetabled sessions, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This typically will involve reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and preparing for final assignments. Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, the library and CANVAS, the online virtual learning platform.

Our academic support team here at Kingston University provides help in a range of areas.

When you arrive, we'll introduce you to your personal tutor. This is the member of academic staff who will provide academic guidance, be a support throughout your time at Kingston and show you how to make the best use of all the help and resources that we offer at Kingston University.

Type of learning and teaching

If you choose to incorporate a professional placement, the placement will occupy an equivalent of a full academic year as a minimum. 

Assessment types employed

The assessment strategy has been designed to help students to learn and prepare them for employment, rather than just a tool to measure their learning. The assessment is designed to be authentic, inclusive and transparent. The assessment tasks focus on the real world engineering activities that enhance students' employability. All CE module assessments are related to real world problems.

In the programme as a whole, the following components are used in the assessment of the various modules:

• Practical exercises: to assess students' understanding and technical competence
• Individual and group-based case project work: to assess ability to understand requirements, to provide solutions to realistic problems and to interact and work effectively with others as a contributing member of a team. The outcomes can be:
• Written reports, where the ability to communicate the relevant concepts, methods, results and conclusions effectively will be assessed.
• Oral presentations, where the ability to summarise accurately and communicate clearly the key points from the work in a brief presentation will be assessed.
• Video, which may replicate features of oral presentations but allows advance preparation away from the audience (which may suit some students better).
• Multiple choice or short answer questions: to assess competence in basic techniques and understanding of concepts.
• Long answer structured questions in coursework assignments: to assess ability to apply learned techniques to solve simple to medium problems and which may include a limited investigative component
• Long answer structured questions in end-of-module examinations: to assess overall breadth of knowledge and technical competence to provide concise and accurate solutions within restricted time
• Project: The individual project module represents an opportunity for students to draw together different aspects of their learning on the course and to apply the techniques learned in an extended study. As such the assessment here will place a greater emphasis on ability to plan work, manage time effectively, and research background information, culminating in a written report and interview.
• Individual and group practical laboratory reports
• Posters: The group project is presented in posters to and assessed by academic staff as well as members of the industrial advisory board.
• Model building: in the first year, where students make a structure with little wooden sticks and tape e.g. a small bridge and load it to breaking point.
• Short in-class tests and on-line assessments: throughout a number of modules.

We aim to provide feedback on assessments within 20 working days.

Your individualised timetable is normally available to students within 48 hours of enrolment. Whilst we make every effort to ensure timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled learning and teaching can take place on any day of the week between 9am and 6pm. For undergraduate students, Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities, but there may be occasions when this is not possible. Timetables for part-time students will depend on the modules selected.

Our libraries are a valuable resource with an extensive collection of books and journals as well as first-class facilities and IT equipment. You may prefer to buy your own copy of key textbooks; this can cost between £50 and £250 per year.

There are open-access networked computers available across the University, plus laptops available to loan. You may find it useful to have your own PC, laptop or tablet which you can use around campus and in halls of residence. Free WiFi is available on each campus. You may wish to purchase your own computer, which can cost between £100 and £3,000 depending on your course requirements.

In the majority of cases, written coursework can be submitted online. There may be instances when you will be required to submit work in a printed format. Printing, binding and photocopying costs are not included in your tuition fees, this may cost up to £100 per year.

Travel costs are not included in your tuition fees but we do have a free intersite bus service which links the campuses, Surbiton train station, Kingston upon Thames train station, Norbiton train station and halls of residence.

Placements

If the placement year option is chosen, during this year travel costs will vary according to the location of the placement, and could be from £0 to £2,000.

All field trips that are compulsory to attend to complete your course are paid for by the University. There may be fees incurred for optional field trips which can range from £30 to £350 per trip.

It is not compulsory as part of your degree to print projects using the 3D printer. However if you wish to, you will need to pay for the material. Printing costs are estimated by weight (cheapest material is 3p per gram and most expensive material is 40p per gram).

Kingston University will supply you with a lab coat, hard hat and safety goggles at the start of the year. A £10 voucher will be supplied to help cover the cost of the safety boots when purchasing with our supplier Activity Work Wear. Safety boots can range in cost between £25 and £100.

You may need to purchase equipment when going on site visits, such as safety gloves. This should cost approximately £50 over the three to four year course.