Welcome to Civil & Structural Engineering at Sheffield

Preparing to start university in Sheffield

Part of the excitement of starting university is the chance to discover things for yourself and the freedom to explore a new city. We want to make your transition to university life as easy as possible so on this page, we're giving you some resources to help you prepare before you arrive in Sheffield.

Get ready for Sheffield by completing your to-do list tasks from this helpful student checklist

Make sure you’re registered

Registration is the number one task before starting your studies. You should have already received information separately about the registration process and related activities that are run centrally by the University. If you haven’t please go to the registration homepage to find out more. You must complete online registration prior to arriving in Sheffield. 

If you haven't registered by Friday 27 September 2024, you must get in contact with us (civil-support@sheffield.ac.uk).

The deadline for registering is Monday 21 October to start your course, and the in person appointment deadline is Friday 18 October 2024.

---

Semester dates 2024 - 2025

Detail	Dates
Welcome Week	23 - 27 September 2024
Autumn Semester	30 September 2024 - 8 February 2025 (vacation 21 December 2024 - 19 January 2025)
Autumn Semester examinations	20 January - 7 February 2025
Spring Semester	10 February - 14 June 2025 (vacation 6 April - 27 April)
Spring Semester examinations	26 May - 13 June 2025

---

Welcome Week

This is a week of events before teaching begins. It is full of important information and social events, so do make sure you attend. Your Welcome Week will begin on Monday 23rd September 2024. 

Monday 23rd September

Time	Location	Activity
9.00 - 10.00	The Diamond, lecture theatre 5	Welcome to the School - Professor Sam Clarke (School Director of Education)
10.00 - 10.30	The Diamond, lecture theatre 5	Health, Safety and Wellbeing
10.30 - 11.00	The Diamond, lecture theatre 5	Meet the Societies
11.30 - 13.00	Arts Tower, Floor 13, Room 13.19	Introductory Meeting for Structural Engineering and Architecture students
12.00 - 13.00	Broad Lane, Lecture theatre 12	Introductory Meeting for Architectural Engineering students
13.00 - 13.30	Broad Lane, Lecture theatre 12	Meet the Architeers
13.30 - 14.00	Heartspace, D Floor, Student Support Office	Collect 'Little Book of Thermofluids"
14.00 - 15.00	Online	Whole School Welcome event

Tuesday 24th September

Time	Location	Activity
11.00 - 13.00	The Diamond CR-1	MASH Intro and Diagnostic Quiz
14.00 - 17.00	Pam Liversidge Building E05	Interactive Icebreaker Activity

Wednesday 25th September

Time	Location	Activity
10.00 - 10.30	The Diamond, lecture theatre 6	ELTC Introduction - an overview of the support available for students who do not speak English as a first language
10.30 - 10.40	The Diamond, lecture theatre 6	MLTC Introduction - an overview of the Modern Language Teaching Centre
10.40 - 11.00	The Diamond, lecture theatre 6	Library introduction
11.00 - 12.00	The Diamond, lecture theatre 6	Student Expectations - Professor Sam Clarke (School Director of Education)
12.00 - 13.00	See allocated slot for time & location.	Meet your Personal Tutor You should only attend the session your have been assigned to.

Thursday 26th September

Time	Location	Activity
10.00 - 11.00	The Diamond, lecture theatre 2	Introduction to Diamond labs
11.00 - 12.00	See allocated slot for time & location.	Meet your Personal Tutor You should only attend the session your have been assigned to.

Friday 27th September

Time	Location	Activity
10.00 - 11.00	See allocated slot for time & location.	Meet your Personal Tutor You should only attend the session your have been assigned to.
11.00 - 12.00	The Diamond, lecture theatre 2	Consent Conversations
12.00 - 13.00	The Diamond, lecture theatre 2	Race Conversations

---

Reading list

Below is a list of books that previous students have found to give a useful introduction and background to civil engineering (and engineering in general), prior to starting at University.  We suggest selecting one or two titles that take your interest (but we do emphasise that these books are NOT required reading for the course – you don't have to buy any books before you come to Sheffield, and you will find copies of these in our library when you do).

Title	Author	Publisher
Civil Engineering: A Very Short Introduction	D.M. Wood.	OUP Oxford, 2012. ISBN 019957863X.
Structural Engineering: A very Short Introduction	D. Blockley	OUP Oxford, 2014. ISBN 0199671931
The New Science of Strong Materials – or Why You Don't Fall Through the Floor	J.E. Gordon	Penguin, 1991. ISBN: 0140135979
Structures – or Why Things Don't Fall Down	J.E. Gordon	DaCapo Press, 2009.  ISBN: 0786730358
Why Buildings Stand Up	M. Salvadori	W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 1990. ISBN: 0393306763
Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail	M. Levy and M. Salvadori	W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., 2002.  ISBN: 039331152X
Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World	M. Miodownik	Penguin, 2014.  ISBN: 0241955181
How Structures Work	D. Yeomans	Wiley-Blackwell, 2016. ISBN: 1119012279
Sustainable Materials – With Both Eyes Open Available as a free download from http://withbotheyesopen.com/read.php	J. Allwood and J. Cullen	UIT Cambridge Ltd., 2012.  ISBN: 190686005X
Engineering in Society Available as a free (pdf) download from https://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/reports/engineering-in-society	R. Lawlor	the Royal Academy of Engineering, 2013
Thinking in Systems	A Primer. D. Meadows	Earthscan, 2009.  ISBN: 1844077268
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things	W. McDonough and M. Braungart	Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010. ISBN: 1429973846

Some places you might look for second hand books:
Abe Books, Amazon Marketplace, Biblio, Blackwells, Ebay

---

Maths revision

A good background in mathematics will make your first year at Sheffield easier and more enjoyable. If you want to revise, these Level Up Your Maths Skills pages provide an excellent revision opportunity available to you before you start officially as a University student. 

---

Laptop advice

In terms of equipment, we would recommend a laptop of a higher specification as most engineering types of programs require a higher specification.  Ideally, an i5 processor with 8GB of RAM should be enough but for future proofing and to be on the safe side, if budgets allow, we would recommend an i7 processor with at least 8GB of RAM.  Many engineering type software is limited to Windows operating systems.  Some do run with MAC OS but to avoid any compatibility issues in the future we would advise a Windows laptop of a medium to high specification.  An alternative option would be to run MAC OS and Windows as a dual boot system but this would need configuring and doesn't always run reliably. 

Software

The University offers great support to students, making available free of charge a wide range of software, including Microsoft Office, various programming suites, statistics and plotting packages, and referencing software for use on their own computers (click here for a full list).  You’ll be able access all of these once you have registered with the University.

---

Support

You will be well supported by the University during your time with us:

• Our Library Services have excellent online access to resources, as explained here. 
• The Sheffield Students’ Union is a hub of much student life, but it’s not all cafes and bars. It supports the student societies and provides a lot of student support, such as the Student Services Information Desk (SSiD). SSiD offers a one-stop shop for lots of student enquiries, from academic verification to a Jobshop, to council tax exemption! 
• The University Health Service is a National Health Service (NHS) GP practice for students and their families. You can register with UHS during your course registration or anytime on their website. UHS staff won't share your information with other University departments, including our department, without your consent.
• The University’s Disability and Dyslexia Support Service (DDSS).
• And, should you ever need it, mental health support through the University’s Student Mental Health, Counselling and Therapies Service service.

---

Your guide to Sheffield

Whether you already live in Sheffield, or you're coming to us from elsewhere, there's plenty to see. From the stunning Peak District right on our doorstep to the trendiest cafes and bars all the way to Tramlines music festival, we've got it all.

We have a full guide to Sheffield, including food and drink, sports, arts and culture and how to get around.

Another guide to the city can be found here, which includes information on our festivals, augmented reality art trail 'Look Up' and an alternative LGBTQ+ guide to the city. 

There are also maps of Sheffield and information on local public transport to help you navigate the city. In fact, we have a range of different maps to help you find your way around and find what you need:

• Interactive campus map
• Gender neutral toilets map
• Prayer rooms & quiet spaces
• Food and drink