Civil Engineering - Student Newsletter 2 December 2011

Semester 2 Results

Your results for CIVL units of study will be available on MyUni soon.

To students who have reached or exceeded your goals – well done. Keep up the good work.

Some of you may not have performed as well as you had hoped last semester, and we offer the following advice:

• Many students experience issues that affect their academic performance. These issues may relate to areas such as performance anxiety, career uncertainty, lack of motivation, financial pressures, relationship problems or family expectations. Nearly everyone experiences situations like these during their lives, and there should be no embarrassment or shame about experiencing difficulties. The School encourages you take advantage of the range of student support services to help you with your academic and career decisions.
• We suggest you re-assess your approach to your academic endeavours. Are you using your time effectively? Could you perform better by reading notes before the lecture or creating a study group with your friends? Should you consider a reduced enrolment next semester? Some of our performance advice may help you.

If you have failed a Maths subject or ENGG1802, we suggest that you consider summer school as an alternative to over-enrolling next year. We have often found that students who attempt more than 24 credit points in order to catch up failed subjects end up in worse situations.

Are you doing work experience these holidays?

Many of our third year students are now doing work experience. Take this as an opportunity to learn what is expected professionally as an engineer. In lectures we simply are unable to involve you in many of the real-world pressures you will experience on the job. We hope that you come back to uni for your final year with a fresh perspective, and possibly a new approach to your study.

Have you just finished your degree? Well done!

For those of you who have now finished your degrees – well done. As you embark on your engineering careers, take time to review how university has prepared you for entry into the Civil Engineering profession. We want to do much more than just teach you how to use technology - we want you to be able to change technology. We hope that you will be able to do more than use existing knowledge, software and design codes - but instead to push the boundaries to find solutions to the problems of the today and tomorrow - such as climate change, transportation infrastructure, population changes, renewable and sustainable design, and water.

We wish you all the best for future and challenge you to make a positive impact on society.

Have you changed your address or phone number recently?

If we found your wallet or USB, or need to contact you urgently concerning results, it is important that you have your current contact details registered with the university. Many of you may have changed addresses or phone numbers since you first started university.

Please follow the instructions to update your address and phone contact details.

Infrastructure Update - PNR Building

Work on the PNR redevelopment is continuing quickly during the summer break. In recent weeks the old stairs to the walkway between PNR and Chemical Engineering were removed, and will soon be replaced by an accessible ramp.

A crane has been in operation the last few days assisting with removing the roof of the PNR Drawing Offices, while downstairs in the old Library area, interior fit out of the new informal student spaces has been progressing.

Major building works will be continuing until January, and then interiors and IT work will commence.