Civil Engineering is considered as the nucleus of creating a society based on a combination of outstanding professional skills, creativity and dedication in providing sustainable solutions to challenges and enhancing the future generations towards responsible behaviour and environmental protection
My name is Manjola Caro and I graduated this year from the University of Birmingham with a first class Masters (MEng) degree in Civil Engineering. I have fully enjoyed these four amazing years and with certainty can admit that this University has challenged and stmulated me to develop my own ideas with realistic objectives. As part of my degree I learned significantly by workingin teams to develop imaginative concepts, detailed designs, budgets, calculations, engineering sketches/drawings, technical reports and professional presentations. The ability to play a positive role in multi-discipline teams enhanced my communication skills. The integrated teaching with scientific research laboratories successfully complemented theoretical knowledge with practice. The opportunity of obtaining industrial or academic work experience while still being a student was the perfect combination of theoretical knowledge with practical experience leading to outstanding employability prospects. During each year I was provided with several opportunities to interact with industry through alumni mentors, site visits, industry sponsorship, work placements and breakfast meetings with teams of working design engineers, consultants and contractors on sites. I am really grateful that I had the opportunity to have amazing academic and careers staff with excellent communication at all stages in this degree to support innovative thinking, provide personal interaction and advise in terms of social, academic, financial needs and professional development. A strong ethical approach to safety, quality, communication and environmental protection was carefully considered in each project. The modules conducted in all years helped me to develop an objective sense of judgment, flexibility, innovation and enthusiasm. I am pleased that I have obtained an accredited degree with highly relevant subjects and great industry application (IStructE) to obtain the core skills crucial for a professional engineer. In addition, this University offered me enormous opportunities to be engaged in sports, cultural and professional societies which organized various events, industry talks, summer trips, volunteering campaigns and informative talks from industry professionals for careers advice.
I am really pleased that the hard work of these four years was finalised with three prizes awarded in my graduation degree ceremony. I was awarded the Coultas Prize as the best all-round student in Civil Engineering, the West Midlands Concrete Society Undergraduate Prize as the student judged to have the best performance in concrete related aspects of their course and finally the WS Atkins Prize as the student graduating with MEng degree in Civil Engineering who has produced an outstanding overall performance. I would like to dedicate these prizes to my dearest family and all my outstanding lecturers. I have decided to precede my career with further postgraduate study (PhD) in Structural Engineering in the University of Birmingham.
'Civil Engineering is considered as the nucleus of creating a society based on a combination of outstanding professional skills, creativity and dedication in providing sustainable solutions to challenges and enhancing the future generations towards responsible behaviour and environmental protection'. This statement should be considered as the main inspiration for my accomplishment.