Civil Engineer, Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship BEng (Hons)

Start date

Level(s) of Study: Undergraduate
Typical Offer: 120 UCAS tariff points
Start Date(s): September 2022
Duration: 5 years
Study Mode(s): Part-time (day)
Campus: City Campus

Information for 2024

Introduction:

Our Level 6 Civil Engineer Degree Apprenticeship offers the opportunity to gain a full honours degree, whilst developing valuable industry-specific work experience and earning a wage.

Who is this route suitable for?

School leavers looking to do an apprenticeship instead of the traditional study route.
Existing employees within companies who do not have a degree but want to develop.

Why choose a Degree Apprenticeship - How does it differ from a part-time course?

Through government funding, your employer will be responsible for apprenticeship course fees, meaning that you will not pay University tuition fees.
A Degree Apprenticeship is a three-way agreement by the University, your employer and you. As well as gaining a degree, you'll also benefit from on-the-job training, provided by your employer, opening up opportunities for career development and progression.
You'll have the added advantage of years of relevant work experience, while making industry connections along the way. This could enhance your future employability and boost your career progression.

Find out more information about Degree Apprenticeships at NTU, including advice for both apprentices and employers.

Course details

Our course offers a balance of vocational and theoretical content. You'll develop your general understanding of civil engineering, focusing on key core subject areas: geotechnics, materials, and structures. You'll develop your knowledge and skills in building technology; computer-aided design; health and safety; the environment; hydraulics; ground engineering; and structural engineering.

Please note, you will need to be in employment with a relevant company to undertake our Degree Apprenticeship. Contact our Apprenticeship team for more information.

You must ensure that the company you undertake your Degree Apprenticeship with meets the necessary employer requirements. Please read our guidance for employers for more information.

This course is closely linked to our BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering degree.
Experience hands-on learning in our specialist facilities and workshops, including dedicated concrete, materials, hydraulics, geotechnical labs and structural testing equipment.

What you’ll study

This course is designed around the core themes in civil engineering, relating your learning to applications in the real world. You will develop your general understanding of civil engineering, focusing on key core subject areas: geotechnics, materials, and structures.

Work Based Learning (WBL) is integrated throughout the modules you will study. These modules will require you to reflect on your work experiences in the role that you will be working in whilst studying on the course.

Graphical Communication and BIM (20 credits)

This module introduces you to the design processes and the graphical communication methods used within the civil engineering industry.
You'll practice the fundamental skills of hand sketching and drawing, before moving on to use industry relevant two-dimensional (2D) Computer Aided Design (CAD) packages to produce engineering drawings.
You'll be introduced to the fundamental principles of Building Information Modelling (BIM), including the compliance requirements at each level, whist emphasising the potential benefits of increased productivity and collaboration in the sector. In addition, you'll develop skills in other commonly used software, such as Microsoft Excel, to help solve and present engineering problems.

Work Based Learning Project (20 credits / WBL)

This module will include a work-based learning element.

During this module you'll reflect on your own work environment to: develop an understanding of the stakeholders involved in civil engineering projects; acquire an appreciation of the organisation of the construction industry and the key roles played in it by civil engineering professionals; and outline your own career aspirations and how you'll achieve them.
Using a negotiated project brief, you'll work to develop, evaluate and present your own design solutions to meet client requirements, within identified site and project constraints.
You'll develop an understanding of the stages of a construction project, including design, tender and construction stages, and how civil engineering infrastructure is designed and built with due consideration to safety, environmental and sustainability issues.

Sustainable Engineering Materials (20 credits)

This module will provide you with an introduction to the materials encountered in Civil Engineering and general construction and to develop an understanding of the implications of the material properties in practical applications.

Engineering Mathematics and Mechanics (20 credits)

This module will furnish you with a comprehensive range of mathematical techniques, providing you with the foundation for the study of more advanced mathematical techniques in Year Two.
You'll develop a strong foundation of skills and knowledge, enabling you to solve civil engineering problems.

Engineering Surveying (20 credits)

This module will introduce and develop your understanding of the principles and procedures of engineering surveying within the context of the construction industry.
The module will provide you with experience and develop your skills in the use of standard surveying instrumentation together with associated field and office procedures for the preparation of site plans, setting out and control of construction works.
Using simulated work situations and worklike experience, the module will develop your surveying skills and will allow for the development of keys skills.

Introduction to Structural Analysis and Design (20 credits)

The module aims to provide you with an initial qualitative and quantitative appreciation of the behaviour and design of skeletal structures.
You'll explore a range of areas including the types of pin-jointed frameworks and their structural idealisation, types of beam structures and loadings, section analysis for direct bending stresses based on elastic theory, combined axial and bending elastic stresses with application to short columns, foundations and pre-stressed concrete and introductory timber design.

Construction Practice and the Environment (20 credits / WBL)

This module will include a work-based learning element.

The aim of this module is to improve your knowledge of practice within the construction industry, introducing you to the roles and responsibilities that you may undertake during placement, after graduation, and as you progress in your career.
You'll look at key areas such as project organisation, procurement, planning, programming, management, and contract and commercial documentation and administration.

Further Engineering Mathematics and Fluid Mechanics (20 credits)

Building on the mathematical skills and knowledge developed in Year One, this module will provide you with the mathematical and fluid mechanics knowledge and techniques required as a civil engineer.
In this module you will look at probability, calculus, vectors and matrices. You'll also examine fluid mechanics, dimensional analysis, flow through pipes, and hydraulic machinery.

Year Three

Ground Engineering (20 credits)

This module will develop your appreciation of fundamental soil and geological properties.
You'll measure and test different geological and geotechnical materials, allowing you to recognise and investigate ground-related problems and hazards.

Sustainable Project Design (20 credits / WBL)

This module allows you to learn from the work environment. It is designed so that you can:

Acquire an appreciation of new and emerging technologies as used in the construction industry
Further develop an appreciation of the importance of teamwork, communication and time management in the context of civil engineering projects by participating fully in, and contributing to, the production of a civil engineering related scheme from an initial design brief.
Develop wider skills that will be of value in the world of work.

Structural Design and Detailing (20 credits)

The module aims to provide you with an introduction to the structural behaviour of elements in reinforced concrete, timber and steelwork and their design and detailing to the relevant codes of practice.
The module also focuses upon new and emerging technologies as used in the construction industry and to develop the principles underlying the construction of the superstructure of buildings for commercial, industrial and institutional use and of the technological and legislative influences upon building design and construction methods. The calculation of embodied carbon must become a key part of every design process.

Analysis of Determinate and Indeterminate Structures (20 credits)

The module aims to provide you with an introduction to elastic and plastic behaviour of statically determinate and indeterminate beams, pin-jointed frames (trusses) and rigidly jointed frames.

Further Geotechnical Engineering and Design (20 credits)

Building on the grasp of principles and theory you'll develop in Year Two, this module will provide a sound background to the decision making, design and implementation of geotechnical design.
You'll learn to analyse and design some typical engineering problems involved in the construction of geotechnical structures, and develop informed solutions in line with current design standards and industry approach.
You'll look at topics such as soil mechanics, foundations, slope stability, and the development of brownfield sites.

Further Structural Design (20 credits)

This module will broaden your knowledge of the design of structural frameworks and how they withstand forces acting on them.
It introduces the most common methods of providing stability and robustness to framed structures.

Infrastructure Engineering 1 (20 credits)

This module will broaden your understanding of the wider urban environment through the introduction of infrastructure topics such as transport, highways, rail, asset management and water. You'll develop an appreciation of the issues that influence decision-making, design, and implementation of major infrastructure schemes.
You'll study these topics within the context of sustainable developments, looking at key elements of environmental legislation.

Individual with Group project (40 credits / WBL)

This module will include a work-based learning element.

The majority of this module will be formed by a self-led research project or dissertation; a significant body of work allowing you to research in depth an agreed topic relating to the construction industry.
You'll also work on a group project over the course of the year, relating to a real-world engineering scheme. You'll work in a team environment, producing and presenting a design scheme.

Professional Responsibilities and Development in Civil Engineering (20 credits / WBL)

This module will include a work-based learning element.

This module is based around four themes: health, safety and welfare; the profession and wider society; clients, stakeholders, communities and government; and sustainability.
It's aim is to fully prepare you for graduate roles, with the knowledge, skills, awareness and professionalism expected by graduate employers.

Completing your Apprenticeship

To achieve the apprenticeship, all apprentices must complete an End-Point Assessment (EPA). The EPA is an independent assessment that ascertains whether an apprentice is competent in their occupation.

Gateway

Gateway is the period of time between the end of the off-the-job training (practical period) and the beginning of the assessment period when EPA will take place.

At Gateway, the apprentice, employer and training provider will review the apprentice’s knowledge, skills and behaviours to determine whether they are ready to take their EPA. This is normally done at a Gateway review meeting which takes place near the end of the apprenticeship. At this meeting, all three parties will check that the mandatory aspects of the apprenticeship have been completed and that the apprentice is ready to take their final assessment(s).

Apprentices must meet the Gateway requirement set out in the assessment plan before taking their EPA.

End-Point Assessment

This apprenticeship is non-integrated. This means that the end-point assessment is administered and assessed by an external organisation. For this apprenticeship standard there is only one End-Point Assessment Organisation: the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Details of the assessment elements can be found in the assessment plan.

There are two elements to this end-point assessment:

Written report

Presentation and interview

Successful completion satisfies the requirements for registration as an Incorporated Engineer by the relevant professional engineering institution.

Student Profiles

George Grant

Civil Engineer, Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship

The course staff were all friendly, supportive, and welcoming. They pushed me to get my head down and helped me embrace my passion and interest in the course.

Student Work

Level 6 Civil Engineer Degree Apprentice, George Grant, receives the East Midlands Emerging Engineers Award 2023.

How you’re taught

How will I learn?

The Degree Apprenticeship route is taught one day a week during term time, and, where possible, you'll be taught alongside full-time students on the BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering course.
Your typical day will run from 9 am through to about 7.30 pm, and normally three different subject areas are taught on each day.
The course is organised into structured modules and is delivered through lectures, tutorials, workshops, seminar groups, site visits, laboratory sessions, and individual and group projects.
The delivery of the course is enhanced by the incorporation of guest lectures delivered by external practitioner experts, extensive use of case studies and projects (some set by real companies).
The duration of your Degree Apprenticeship is based on a typical 30-hour working week, with 6 hours per week being used for off-the-job training. If your weekly working hours are less than this, the apprenticeship may be extended.

Here's an example of how your 6 hours per week off-the-job training might look like:

An example of your off-the-job training