Curriculum Information

Professional Practice Skills:-

Students are required to undertake a major project/engage with significant professional practise as the major component of this module.

The type and scope of the projects/professional practise available to students will reflect the current research interests and industrial links of staff in the subject area. Students may also source their own professional placement under direct supervision of a relevant industrial employer, with approval of USW, but must be engaged for a minimum of 5 weeks full time. The nature of some projects may lend themselves to group work with strong individual research themes, mimicking the work of modern collaborative research laboratories.

All projects will require students to demonstrate and utilise core professional skills:

1) To engage with the current and most relevant scientific literature; through the use of on-line search engines and library lending facilities, to access on-line journals / reference books / company literature / industry relevant publications / etc.

2) To collaborate with their project supervisor to define/agree the direction of the project/placement and, if a requirement of the project, to assist the supervisor in the design and risk assessment of the work to be undertaken.

3) To work in a highly independent and organised manner on the allocated tasks.

4) Where the project is laboratory or industry based, to work safely and follow all rules and regulations of the institution (including those of USW) and follow any directions of any staff member that pertain to these.

Throughout their project, students will develop an awareness of and familiarise themselves with the use of appropriate information technology within their scientific field and the appropriate recording, documentation, and presentation of scientific literature.

The main output of the major project involves the production of a dissertation of approximately 9000 words, where the 9000 dissertation word count does not include data tables, graphs, charts, figures, pictures, appendices, etc.

Students are also expected to present their projects through different oral/visual media to a critical audience.

The project should involve at least 144 hours of practical application / laboratory work / scientific investigation /external placement by the student. Direct supervisor-student contact should be approximately 24 hours per academic year.

Employability:-

Students are expected to attend presentations provided by guest speakers to the subject area as directed.

Through active participation in workshops and other employability activities, students will develop skills in effective online job searching, job specific CV writing, networking, and presentation of self (e.g. online presence, at interviews, etc), in addition to identifying those skills most valued by employers in a given role and how they need to address these skills.

Students are assessed by a report that demonstrates the employability skills gained within the course.