Engineering consultancy Curtins and Symetri Europe have collaborated for the third consecutive year to deliver Curtins’ Civil Engineering and Sustainable Infrastructure Insight Programme, which aims to provide training for civil engineering students and equip them with skills for the future.
Since 2020 the five-week summer programme has been contributing to the uptake of young people into civil engineering roles. Through exposure to the dynamic nature of civils and infrastructure projects, Curtins hopes the scheme will help to reduce the shortfall in civil engineering graduates in the long term, whilst improving skills in this specialism.
Diversity and breadth of impact was one of Curtins’ ambitions for the programme. Students from every university in the UK and Ireland undertaking a civil engineering course were invited to participate – leading to the largest cohort to date.
Collaboration between Curtins and Symetri was intrinsic to the programme’s quality. The students benefitted from exposure to real-life projects and tutoring, as well as leading software and training packages.
Much of the content delivered across the five modules has pivoted around sustainability, with an emphasis on green infrastructure, carbon calculating and innovation. Topics also included:
In addition to technical learning, non-technical modules were provided around career pathways, marketing, and interview skills, designed to upskill the participants for their routes to employment and create significant social value.
Rebecca King, Director of Learning and Development at Curtins, comments:
We started the Insight Programme in Covid, responding to the reality that many student summer placements throughout the industry were being cancelled. To tackle this issue, Curtins quickly and successfully designed and delivered a virtual solution, that is not only accessible to students, but gives them a head start in understanding what a Civil Engineer’s career path can look like.
Our immersive and interactive programme integrates projects, case studies and peer learning, delivered by internal and external experts.
Alongside the programme’s heightening success, our aim is to continue to provide opportunities to anyone who wants to enter the industry, knocking down barriers to accessing meaningful placements to ensure that we are encouraging diverse talent into the industry and futureproofing the built environment sector.”
Alan Stone, Business Area Director – Architecture & Engineering at Symetri comments:
“We’re so pleased to be able to support Curtins with this fantastic initiative which is helping nurture talent of the future in a safe, exciting and collaborative environment. We believe that easily accessible education and mentoring is a pivotal stepping-stone to helping us as an industry reach our future goals of sustainability, digital transformation and more."
We look forward to continuing this partnership for many years to come and empowering students to work smarter for a better future.
The programme is set to be repeated in 2024 and applications will open in the Spring.
