CSM Student and staff handbook

1. Introduction

1.1 Introducing CSM at the University of Exeter

1.2 Your first week - Welcome Week

1.3 CSM staff members

1.4 Academic week numbers and key dates for the forthcoming academic year

 

1. Introduction

Welcome to the Camborne School of Mines (CSM). We hope you have a happy and rewarding time whilst studying towards your degree with us. The geology and mining engineering degrees at CSM will provide you with the academic background and key transferable skills to develop a career in one or more of the many areas of geoscience and mining and beyond.

This student and staff handbook is given to all first year mining engineering and geology students and staff in CSM. It provides an overview of the structure, regulations and assessment of our undergraduate degree programmes. It also provides a guide to effective study practices and a summary of the expectations that CSM has of its staff, and those that CSM staff have of its students.

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1.1 Introducing CSM at the University of Exeter

CSM is part of the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences (CEMPS) and is based at the Penryn Campus in Cornwall. The University of Exeter shares the Penryn Campus with Falmouth University and, between us, run a 50:50 joint venture called Falmouth Exeter Plus (FXPlus) who manage the campus's buildings, facilities and services.

 

CSM is driven by a set of core values. These are:

(1) Belonging - We welcome everyone to CSM and the University of Exeter's extended family throughout your education and career. We respect each other, our community, environment and heritage.

(2) Global - We see people, careers, industry, diversity and cultures with a world view. Our graduates demonstrate professionalism, respect and versatility to operate on a global basis.

(3) Responsibility - We demonstrate integrity, ethical behaviour, and environmental responsibility whatever we do and wherever we go.

(4) Students are the future - Our passions are to educate and develop scientists, engineers and future talent for the industries we serve. We want to inspire our students and ignite them with the same enthusiasm we have.

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1.2 Your first week – Welcome Week

The first few days at university can be bewildering. The purpose of Welcome Week is to give you an opportunity to get to know your way around before your programme commences. There is much that is new and perhaps a little confusion is inevitable, so do not hesitate to ask if you are unsure about anything.

Registration: First, you need to register formally as a student. This is done on-line via Exeter’s Student Record System. Please register as soon as possible. Fees are due on the first day of term and after mid-October a late payment fee may apply. If you have any queries about registration or fee payment, please visit Info at Penryn, based in the Peter Lanyon Building (click here and here for more information).

Meet your Personal Tutor: You will be allocated a personal tutor, who you will meet in Welcome Week. Your Personal Tutor is a member of CSM academic staff. Their role is to monitor your progress, from examination performance and module choices to offering help with non-academic problems such as advising you as necessary on the availability of appropriate specialist and professional assistance. It is very important that you attend all timetabled meetings with your tutor.

Campus Services: Welcome week is an opportunity to familiarise yourself with the services available to you on the Penryn Campus such as the library, Students’ Union, and The Career Zone. These services are described in this handbook (Sections 6 and 8). You will, however, be allocated times to be formally introduced to some of these services by University staff.

Orientate Yourself: Locate the Info at Penryn, based in the Peter Lanyon building. This is the place where you will find information about modules and exams and it is where you will submit assignments. If there is ever a reason why you cannot complete an assignment or attend an exam you should inform Info Point staff as soon as possible. The majorityof CSM staff are found in the western end of the Du Maurier building. At the eastern-end of this building you will find the CSM Geology Teaching laboratory and Engineering laboratory. Other lecture and seminar spaces are found on Level 3 in the Du Maurier building above the Stannary, on Levels 1 and 2 in The Exchange, and on Levels 0 and 1 in the Peter Lanyon building.

Safety Briefing: will be held in Welcome Week. At this meeting you will be asked to fill in two important documents. Please make sure that you complete and return these forms. If for any reason you miss the safety briefing, please see Dr. Ian Bailey (Geology).

Online Compliance Form:

Email: The best way to make contact with the CSM staff is via email. You should check your University email account daily. You can forward email to another external email account (click here for instructions), but the University accepts no responsibility for the loss of messages forwarded to such accounts and guidelines require that university business is only conducted using the University’s email accounts.

'In Case of Emergency' forms (ICE)

During your time at CSM, you may have the opportunity to attend Day or Residential Fieldclass away from the University. It is therefore very important that we hold up to date details about your emergency contact and any medical conditions you may have, so we can greatly assist the Emergency Services and allow your nominated emergency contact to be quickly informed. This may mitigate the consequences of your injuries and alleviate unnecessary concern.

The information you provide will be kept safe for the current academic year and will be treated in the strictest confidence. If you are due to attend a fieldclass, and you have not completed an ICE form, you will not be permitted to attend the fieldclass.

The ICE form can be found here.

If you know you will be attending a Residential Fieldclass, and know the name of the fieldclass, please select its name from the 'Please select the field trip you are going on' menu.

If you are unsure about which fieldclass you are due to attend, please select 'don't know : unknown' from this menu

Seminar Series:

The CSM Association: The CSM Association is an independent, self-governing and entirely self-financing organisation for CSM alumni. The Association supports students throughout their studies, through linking students with industry mentors early on during their studies. The Association supports the name and reputation of CSM, and mining and resource education in general. The Association is pleased to offer our new alumni a gateway in to global professions in resources, civils, environment, finance and many others - our membership reflects the spread of alumni achievement. Our alumni are active, worldwide, at every level of seniority in many industries. The Association can be contacted by email and through social media, and has an office in the CSM Museum.

Our annual CSM dinner is a major event and an opportunity to meet alumni from our 130-year history. CSMA also organises social events around the world. We produce three newsletters and the CSMA Journal every year, promoate career openings and opportunities within the industry, as well as being the supplier of CSM merchandise. Please visit the CSM Association website for more information (click here) or contact us: info@csmassociation.com.

 

1.3 CSM staff members

CSM lecturing staff maintain an open-door policy for student enquiries. They also have one set time each week during term time when they will be in their office (which will be advertised on their office door). All CSM staff and their contact details are provided in 9.1. Key staff and their contact details are provided in Table 1. Staff whereabouts should always be indicated by a message on their door.

 

                                            Table 1. Key undergraduate education-facing CSM staff

NAME	KEY ROLE	CONTACT
Prof. Steven Hesselbo	Head of CSM	S.P.hesselbo@exeter.ac.uk     01326 253651
Prof. Pat Foster	CSM Director of Eduation	P.J.Foster@exeter.ac.uk   01326 371828
Dr. Sam Hughes	CSM Deputy Director of Eduation	S.P.Hughes@exeter.ac.uk 01326 259410
Dr. Andrew Wetherelt	Programme Lead for undergraduate Mining Engineering	A.Wetherelt@exeter.ac.uk                                                         01326 255693
Dr. Ian Bailey	Programme Lead for undergraduate Geology	i.bailey@exeter.ac.uk                                            01326 259322
Dr. Aveen Hameed	Undergraduate Senior Tutor	A.Hameed@exeter.ac.uk
Dr. Robin Shail	Undergraduate Admissions Officer	R.K.Shail@exeter.ac.uk                                                             01326 371826

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1.4 Academic week numbers and key dates for the forthcoming academic year

The academic year has 32 weeks divided into three terms of varying lengths. The dates of terms are published in the University Calendar. The University refers to specific weeks in the academic year using an alphanumeric week label scheme (Tab. 2). The current academic year, including important dates, is shown in Table 3. University regulations require that you are not permitted to be away from the University during Revision Week or during the Exam periods.

 

Table 2. University of Exeter alphanumeric week label scheme

SA01, ...., SA08	Summer Vacation
T1:00	Freshers' Week
T1:01, T1:02, ...., T1:12	Autumn Term - Teaching
X001, X002, ....	Christmas Vacation
T1:00	Spring Term - Assessment Week
T2:01, ...., T2:11	Spring Term - Teaching
E001, E002, ....	Easter Vacation
T3:01	Summer Term - Revision Week
T3:02, ...., T3:07	Summer Term - Teaching/Assessment
SP01, SP02, ....	Summer Vacation (post teaching)

 

                                                              Table 3. Timetable for 2020-21

Week Commencing	Term	Week Label*	Timetable week	Important Events
September 13th 2021	-	T1:00	8	Welcome Week
September 20th 2021	1	T1:01	9	Week one of teaching
September 27th 2021	1	T1:02	10
October 4th 2021	1	T1:03	11
October 11th 2021	1	T1:04	12
October 18th 2021	1	T1:05	13	ACTIVITIES WEEK (2nd, 3rd and 4th years)
October 25th 2021	1	T1:06	14	OPPORTUNITIES WEEK (1st years)
November 1st 2021	1	T1:07	15
November 8th 2021	1	T1:08	16
November 15th 2021	1	T1:09	17
November 22nd 2021	1	T1:10	18
November 29th 2021	1	T1:11	19
December 6th 2021	1	T1:12	20
CHRISTMAS VACATION	-	X001-X003	21-23	Out of term period = 10th December-7th January
January 10th 2022	-	T2:00	24	Exam Period
January 17th 2022	2	T2:01	25	Week one of teaching
January 24th 2022	2	T2:02	26
January 31st 2022	2	T2:03	27
February 7th 2022	2	T2:04	28
February 14th 2022	2	T2:05	29
February 21st 2022	2	T2:06	30
February 28th 2022	2	T2:07	31
March 7th 2022	2	T2:08	32
March 14th 2022	2	T2:09	33
March 20th 2022	2	T2:10	34
March 28th 2022	2	T2:11	35	Term finishes 1st April 2022
EASTER VACATION	-	E001-E004	36-39	2nd April-1st May
May 2nd 2022	3	T3:01	40	Exam Period
May 9th 2022	3	T3:02	41	Exam Period
May 16th 2022	3	T3:03	42	Exam Period
May 23rd 2022	3	T3:04	43	Exam Period
May 30th 2022	3	T3:05	44	Exam Boards
June 6th 2022	3	T3:06	45	Exam Boards
June 13th 2022	3	T3:07	46	Summer Term ends 17th June 2022
June 20th 2022	-	SP01	47
June 27th 2022	-	SP02	48
July 4th 2022	-	SP03	49
July 11th 2022	-	SP04	50
July 18th 2022	-	SP05	51
July 25th 2022	-	SP06	52
August 1st 2022	-	SP07	53
August 8th 2022	-	SP08	54
August 15th 2022	-	SP09	55	Ref/Def Exams and Coursework
August 22nd 2022	-	SP10	56
August 29th 2022	-	SP11	57
September 5th 2022	-	SP12	58
September 12th 2022	-	SP13	59
September 19th 2022	-	SP14	60

*see Tab. 1 for code explanations

 

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