Civil Engineering students benefit from ‘one-day work experience’ at The Simulation Centre
Second and final year civil engineers visited The Simulation Centre in Coventry to put their skills to the test on a virtual construction site.
The Simulation Centre is a specialist facility designed to support companies and organisations across a range of sectors train and develop their staff.
It uses interactive technology to run real-life scenarios and enable its participants to test different ways of working.
NTU students were set the task of managing the recovery of a fallen tower crane on a construction site, and to ensure the surrounding area was safe in lieu of the occupied site team.
With an immersive VR screen to explore the site, students were also responsible for dealing with actors posing as stakeholders in the project.
Students were provided with a list of contacts they could call for help, which went through to the control centre operated by NTU staff.
Course Leader, David Russhard, shared “The aim of the day was to give students the experience of managing a construction activity in a safe environment, whilst making it feel as real as possible”.
Student Tessy Oladele reflected: “It allowed me to experience the procedure that goes into managing accidents of huge magnitude like this on the site. It felt real as we had to deal with many scenarios (worker wanting compensation, reporter intrusion, potential missing person). It was very fun and educative; it was like a one-day work experience.”
David Russhard added, “The students did extremely well in managing a very difficult situation and came away with a wealth of experience.”
The visit is one of many on NTU’s civil engineering courses that provide students with experience of the challenges faced in industry.