Civil Engineering Students Spend a Year at Osborne

The University of Surrey in Guildford is one of a number of academic institutions we have a strong relationship with for offering entry routes into the industry for their students. Each year Osborne takes on between three and four Civil Engineering students to take part in a one-year industrial placement.Last year, saw the arrival Callum and Victoria, who each took on very different roles at Osborne.

Callum experienced a traditional “contractor” role, working on a daily basis as part of a site team to undertake setting out, QA checking and general site management with the site engineers. Victoria worked in the One Team Wessex Development Team. This largely office-based role involved learning areas such as design management, customer interfacing and programme management. Her experience also bridged into wider business improvement aspects through the StART Assessment scheme and helping with the Improvement Opportunity Panel.

After their year working at Osborne, the students are now back at University.

As part of their course, Victoria and Callum were assigned to share their experiences and learning with a poster and presentation during an annual event.
James Buckley, their former manager, was invited by the University to be part of the audience.

“I think a key message that stood out for me, is the diverse experience they each got whilst working for us… shows how diverse an opportunity we can offer trainees, and it’s not just mud, concrete and big machines! A number of people were surprised at what Victoria got involved with considering she came to work for a contractor.” – James Buckley, Manager

With the skills shortage high on the agenda in the industry, the intake of trainee students is vital for the future. Currently only 2000 out of the 3000 annual civil engineering graduates continue in the sector, being instead swayed into other industries. The large variety of work Osborne offers enables individual’s to find a role suiting their skill set and personal preferences, in turn keeping their engagement in the engineering world and hopefully changing those statistics.

Osborne looks forward to taking on more students in the coming years, providing a rare opportunity through support and mentoring to allow education and professional development to be overlapped and provide invaluable industry experience.