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Assuming that your background in real estate is also quite limited, I would focus on valuation first. The Appraisal Institute has a very useful (albeit academic) pamphlet/book that is good for an introduction to real estate valuation fundamentals. Fairly inexpensive.
Check out "Rates and Ratios Used in the Income Capitalization Approach" from the Appraisal Institute's website.
If you are in the UK, you may want to consider the RICS - Chartered Valuation Surveyor routes to certification.
I think I know the program you are in, and from personal experience, they are putting you in the program to teach you everything you need to know. So, as long as you have the basics down, they will take care of everything else. In terms of basics, know how to do an NPV and IRR on a property's cash flow (basically a DCF analysis). And I would have a general overview of the CRE game if you don't have previous CRE exposure (actually, the book "the Real Estate Game" is a good overview).
If you really want to be ahead of everyone, learn some of the lingo so that you know when to say "this looks like it will be a price-per-pound play" and not sound stupid =). Someone on WSO once said that knowing CRE lingo is half the learning curve and I tend to agree. Not sure if there is a lingo dictionary anywhere, but WSO is a great resource for that. Off the top of my head, here are some things you might want to learn about: cap rate, "play" (refers to the motivations surrounding a deal), value-add, institutional vs. private buyers, CMBS, non-recourse debt, mezz loans, defeasance, OM, BOV, capital expenditures, TI's. Maybe others can chime in on the lingo bit. I assume the lingo is the same for the same U.S. company around the world, but I could be wrong.
Good luck!
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