Civil Engineering admissions transcript

Intro slide

Hello, my name is Dr David Soper and along with my colleague Dr Mike Jesson, I am an admissions tutor for the Department of Civil Engineering here at the University of Birmingham.

What is an admissions tutor?

The admissions tutor has the role of overseeing the entry of new students into the Department of Civil Engineering here at the University of Birmingham. This stems right from the first inquiries and applications, meeting new applicants at open days and giving them a chance to experience what student life would be like studying Civil Engineering at Birmingham.

Why do you think students choose Birmingham?

It's fantastic campus university offering a full university experience, whilst still being situated in the centre of the city. The School of Engineering is really well supported, with new teaching labs and new buildings for teaching and research, including the new School of Engineering building itself, bring all engineering disciplines together under one roof. Our degree programmes are accredited by professional bodies, which helps students gain scholarships, placements and bursaries while they are here. The degree programmes have been designed to offer both the knowledge and the skills that employers want, so that students have excellent opportunities for placements while they are with us, and careers when they leave. This includes our integrated first year approach to teaching and the integrated design projects that run throughout the degree programme, providing students the opportunity to work on projects in multi-disciplinary teams, just like you would in industry.

What’s the most interesting job that students you have tutored go on to do?

Students go on to a huge variety of first jobs, some with major international organisations, some with smaller companies. Students find opportunities in engineering consultancy firms, transport industries, energy, healthcare, data science; the possibilities really are limitless. Some find jobs local to Birmingham, others have offers overseas. Our final year projects allow students to choose an aspect of engineering that really interests them and many use that as a springboard into a career. Employers value Engineering habits of mind, and our courses are designed to develop those ways of working. As a lecturer in vehicle aerodynamics I have been really pleased to see students follow careers into Formula 1 teams.

What’s your favourite part of your job?

Here at the University of Birmingham we look to apply a research led teaching approach. The aspect I enjoy the most it taking the cutting edge findings from the research my team is conducting and sharing that with students. It is really important for them to interact with research and learn how what we do at University will impact on their working practice. The two way conversation we can have with student on this is really exciting and it’s brilliant to see how this help their skill, knowledge and confidence develop.