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MSc

Civil Engineering

Prepare yourself for a career in Civil Engineering. Gain relevant expertise and get hands-on with state-of-the-art facilities at USW.

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Key Course Details

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £10,250*

  • International students

    £16,000*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £1,140*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

The MSc programme is your opportunity to establish or consolidate your career as a Civil Engineer. Your studies will develop critical and analytical skills, and management expertise needed to manage civil engineering projects and implement sustainable solutions. The course will provide the learning required to progress to Chartered Engineer status.

DESIGNED FOR

The MSc in Civil Engineering Course is intended for civil engineering graduate or a closely related discipline who wish to extend their expertise to a higher level in preparation for a professional career prospect.

Accredited by

  • Joint Board of Moderators (JBM) comprising;
  • The Institution of Civil Engineers
  • Institution of Structural Engineers
  • Institute of Highway Engineers
  • The Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation
  • The Permanent Way Institution

Career Paths

  • Highways and Transportation Engineer
  • Construction Manager
  • Structural Engineer
  • Decarbonisation Manager
  • Water and Wastewater Engineer
  • Geotechnical Engineer
  • Infrastructural Engineer

Skills taught

  • Problem solving through analysis using scientific and engineering theory
  • Developed knowledge of cutting-edge technology
  • Teamworking, management and leadership.
  • Communication skills
  • Understanding professional responsibilities

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Course Highlights

Msc Civil Course Has Ice Embedded Scheme

Working professionals may progress towards CEng status through a tailor-made route under the embedded Scheme. This embedment a unique feature of the master’s degree course and significantly reduces the period required to achieve Chartered status..

This Degree is Accredited by the Joint Board of Moderators (Jbm)

JMB comprising of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Structural Engineers, Institute of Highway Engineers, the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation and the Permanent Way Institution

Further Learning for CEng Status

This course meets the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer (CEng). Candidates must also hold a Bachelor (Hons) degree that has been accredited as partially meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer (CEng).

Accredited MSc

Candidates completing the MSc who hold an underpinning accredited Bachelor degree accredited for IEng only or a non-accredited bachelor degree will need to apply for an academic assessment to determine whether they will meet the educational base for CEng registration.

Module Overview

The course has two distinct pathways to enable you to specialise in either Structural or Environmental Engineering. You should select the relevant pathway – MSc Civil Engineering (Structural) or MSc Civil Engineering (Environmental) when completing your application.

Pathway One

Advanced Structural Mechanics
Advanced understanding of structural mechanics to solve engineering problems, including seismic and finite element analysis.

Advanced Structural Design
Understanding design of advanced structures and exercising appropriate judgement, based on requirements of client/multidiscipline design team and sustainability.

Design of Timber & Masonry Structures 
Develop design techniques for Timber and Masonry construction and embodied carbon assessment.

Advanced Civil Engineering Materials 
develop knowledge of a variety of construction materials and use them to maximise sustainability

Geo-Environmental Engineering 
developing geotechnical concepts and applying field and laboratory data to geo-environmental problems.

Civil Engineering Project Management
Develop and apply best practice construction management techniques for operational planning and control of civil engineering work.

Individual Dissertation
A major, comprehensive, innovative piece of investigative individual research.

Pathway Two

Carbon Management
Develop knowledge and deepen understanding of Low Carbon Technologies and Sustainable methods

Environmental Management
Broadening awareness of current and established environmental management issues and practice, to critically evaluate strategies for business improvement.

Environmental Engineering
Develop an understanding of environmental processes and environmental engineering and the impact they have on public health.

Advanced Civil Engineering Materials 
Develop knowledge of a variety of construction materials and use them to maximise sustainability

Geo-Environmental Engineering
developing geotechnical concepts and applying field and laboratory data to geo-environmental problems.

Civil Engineering Project Management
Develop and apply best practice construction management techniques for operational planning and control of civil engineering work.

Individual Dissertation
A major, comprehensive, innovative piece of investigative individual research.

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

This postgraduate degree in Civil Engineering is delivered in three major blocks that offer an intensive but flexible learning pattern, with two entry opportunities for applicants each year – February and September.

You will learn through lectures, tutorials, and seminars, as well as guest lectures and seminars with prominent industry experts. You will complete a research dissertation on a chosen topic of interest using our excellent laboratory facilities and specialist support. Some modules are assessed through coursework, others by a combination of design projects and a formal examination.

Teaching staff

Our Civil Engineering lecturers are experts in their subject areas, having worked in, or with, industry, conducting research, presenting at conferences, publishing their work, and informing your studies with the latest insights. Not only will you be taught by academics who are specialists in their fields, but you will also benefit from guest speakers from the engineering world.

Placements

Civil engineering graduates can join world-class engineering consultants, contractors and clients with established, accredited training programmes and continuing professional development opportunities worldwide. As a USW student, you will have access to advice from the Careers and Employability Service throughout your studies and after you graduate.

Our Careers service has dedicated teams: A central work experience team to help you find relevant placements; an employability development team which includes an employability programme called Grad Edge; and an Enterprise team focused on new business ideas and entrepreneurship.

Facilities

Facilities
Access to a range of industry standard facilities, including:

Laser Master-Sizer 2000

Thermogravimetric and derivative thermogravimetric analyser

Prior Clave environmental chamber

High resolution image microscope

Mercury intrusion porosimeter

Thermal conductivity equipment

Avery-Denison tensile/compressions 600kN load machine

Careers and Employability

Graduate careers

Our MSc Civil Engineering graduates are highly employable and strongly positioned for rewarding opportunities, with well-developed skills in areas such as numeracy, team working, report writing and creativity, graduates from University of South Wales are in demand, the university's high academic standards and excellent teaching attracting many recruiters.

Possible career paths

Whether you are a graduate or a professional with industrial experience, the MSc Civil Engineering offers excellent opportunities for career progression. 

 

You can develop a career as a Civil engineer, Design engineer, Nuclear engineer, Site engineer, Structural engineer, Water engineer, wastewater engineer, Construction manager, Project manager, Geotechnical engineer, or work in the environmental management or health and safety sectors, with leading international consultancies, contractors, or national and local civil engineering companies. 

 

Alternatively, you can work as a technical or research and development manager in research, regulatory authorities, local government, or non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

 

Careers support

Our careers service offers a range of advice and guidance to students. We can link you up with industry, we can help you with interview skills and CVs and help you to focus on your own direction of travel.

Innovation Hub at USW

A student observes a robot arm with a claw on the end on a desk while sat at a computer at the Innovation Hub in an engineering workshop at the Treforest campus

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Typical qualification requirements:

A minimum of a 2:2 Honours degree in Civil Engineering or a related engineering disciplines will be considered. Applicants with professional/industrial experience and/or training but not meeting the normal entry requirements will be considered on their merits.

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch and we'd to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£10,250

per year*
UK Full-time Fee

£10,250

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,000

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,000

per year*
UK Part-time Fee

£1,140

per 20 credits*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Busaries Alumni Discount

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.  

 

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Read about campus developmentsOur new STEM Hub

Investing in your future

We are investing in the future of STEM at USW with an exciting new Computing, Engineering and Technology building at our Pontypridd Campus.

STEM Hub Pontypridd Campus

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

Related Courses

Construction Project Management - MSc Learn more

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