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Kickstart your postgraduate journey at Brunel in January 2025

Civil Engineering MSc

Key Information

Start date

January

September

Subject area

Civil Engineering

Mode of study

1 year full-time

14 months full-time

Fees

2024/25

UK £13,750

International £25,000

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Entry requirements

2:2

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Overview

This MSc course offers civil engineering graduates and professionals the opportunity to widen their expertise across the key sub-disciplines within civil engineering. It is designed to provide both holistic knowledge and practical experience in the discipline.

From the perspective of industry and government, graduates possessing a broader understanding of Civil Engineering problems are better equipped to contribute to global challenges, such as meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals) and tackling the climate emergency. The programme consists of nine compulsory modules spanning structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, water and hydraulic engineering, as well as project and infrastructure management.

Throughout the course, students will have full access to our state-of-the-art technical laboratory facilities. Our purpose-built computer labs are equipped with the latest industry-standard engineering software packages. These facilities are also at the disposal of students for their dissertation projects.

In addition to the course’s broad-based approach across various sub-disciplines, it also teaches advanced design skills and the versatility that engineers require to tackle the complex current challenges in the field of civil engineering.

At the end their final year, engineering and maths students are invited to showcase their project work at Brunel Engineers +, an event that both celebrates their achievements and gives them the chance to network with industry figures and employers. This video shows some of the projects exhibited at the 2024 Brunel Engineers + event, with explanations by the students themselves.

This degree is accredited by the Joint Board of Moderators (JBM) comprising of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Structural Engineers, Institute of Highway Engineers, and the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation on behalf of the Engineering Council as meeting the requirements for Further Learning for a Chartered Engineer (CEng) for candidates who have already acquired a partial CEng accredited undergraduate first degree.* See www.jbm.org.uk for further information.

NB: It should be noted that candidates completing the MSc who hold an underpinning accredited IEng degree or a non-accredited bachelor’s degree will need to apply for an academic assessment to determine whether they will meet the educational base for CEng registration.

 

Course content

Compulsory

  • Nonlinear Structural Analysis & Finite Element Method
    This module aims to further develop the student’s knowledge on structural mechanics, to enhance the student’s perception of structural behaviour and the corresponding modelling tools, to enable students to design structures based on the Finite Element Method, and to make students competent in using computer codes for structural analysis.
  • Water Infrastructure Engineering
    This module aims to provide engineering students with an advanced understanding of water and environmental engineering related to civil engineering.
  • Research Methods and Professional Development

    This module aims to instill principles of good research practice and enable students to acquire skills to conduct scientifically-robust research with due consideration of engineering quality issues and environmental and health and safety risks, and to develop understanding of how research and development drives innovation in a business context and the mechanisms to protect intellectual property.

  • Civil Engineering Dissertation

    The dissertation aims to provide experience in defining and organising, executing and evaluating a substantial individual in-depth investigation into a topic related to the appropriate Civil Engineering MSc programme and presenting the information in the form of a dissertation.

  • Civil Engineering with Artificial Intelligence

    Aims: To enable students to learn the fundamental principles in artificial intelligence including data analytics, machine learning and deep learning; to enable the students to further develop their ability to artificial intelligence techniques to solve problems relevant to civil engineering, especially within the contexts of SDGs such as SDG11 (Sustainable cities and communities), SDG6 (Clean water and sanitation), SDG9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure); to enable students to develop programming skills.

  • Advanced Construction Materials and Structural Retrofitting

    This module aims to further broaden and deepen of students’ knowledge of the range of advanced construction materials, low carbon, low energy and low environmental impact construction materials, and to introduce students to the principles of structural retrofitting technology and structural retrofitting design with advanced construction materials.

  • Advanced Geotechnical Engineering

    This module aims to develop students’ critical understanding of design and construction of contemporary geotechnical structures such as foundations, slopes and retaining walls. Students will learn to critically analyse design scenarios for contemporary geotechnical structures such as foundations, slopes and retaining walls, and acquire knowledge about geotechnical construction and site investigation.

    The module introduces the climate change impacts on geotechnical infrastructures (e.g. slope failure, retaining wall/foundation failures due to excessive rainfall), recognising contributions to SDGs such as SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 12 (Climate Action).

  • Project Management

    MAIN AIMS

    1. Deeper understanding of the roles of various engineering professionals involved in engineering and construction project delivery.
    2. Deeper understanding of management science as applied to engineering and infrastructure projects.
    3. Wider appreciation of the role of the Engineer in society and in sustainable project development.
  • Climate Change and the Environment

    This module covers the following contents.

    • Climate change: Natural science basis and human drivers, Impacts on the natural and built environments, Adaptation and mitigation options, Analysis of pathways and progress towards net zero 2050, Different energy sources and their environmental impact, Introduction to renewable energy sources.
    • Contemporary challenges and design/environment assessment in urban environments: Types, causes, and impacts of urban air pollution, Fundamentals of air quality assessment, Air quality positive design, Technical issues and management of solid waste, Contemporary challenges and design/environment assessment in flood and coastal engineering.

This course can be studied undefined undefined, starting in undefined.

Please note that all modules are subject to change.

Careers and your future

An MSc Civil Engineering degree will equip you with advanced knowledge and skills to work on a vast range of modern projects in the construction and civil engineering sector. From the perspective of the needs of industry and government, graduates of this MSc, who will have a broader understanding of Civil Engineering problems, would be able to contribute to global challenges that require more holistic knowledge such as fulfilling UN Sustainable Development Goals (https://sdgs.un.org/goals) and addressing climate emergency.

Many of our civil engineering graduates have technical and creative roles with contractors and consultants working on large infrastructure projects.

Some go on to jobs with national and local government agencies or major firms of consulting engineers. Others specialise in construction, sustainability, innovative materials, foundation engineering, geotechnical exploration, and highway engineering.

UK entry requirements

  • A 2:2 (or above) UK Honours degree, or equivalent internationally recognised qualification, in an Engineering or technology subject. Other qualifications and relevant experience will be assessed on an individual basis.

EU and International entry requirements

English language requirements

  • IELTS: 6 (min 5.5 in all areas)
  • Pearson: 59 (59 in all sub scores)
  • BrunELT: 58% (min 55% in all areas)
  • TOEFL: 77 (min R18, L17, S20, W17) 

You can find out more about the qualifications we accept on our English Language Requirements page.

Should you wish to take a pre-sessional English course to improve your English prior to starting your degree course, you must sit the test at an approved SELT provider for the same reason. We offer our own BrunELT English test and have pre-sessional English language courses for students who do not meet requirements or who wish to improve their English. You can find out more information on English courses and test options through our Brunel Language Centre.

Please check our Admissions pages for more information on other factors we use to assess applicants. This information is for guidance only and each application is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Entry requirements are subject to review, and may change.

Fees and funding

2024/25 entry

UK

£13,750 full-time

International

£25,000 full-time

More information on any additional course-related costs.

Fees quoted are per year and are subject to an annual increase. 

See our fees and funding page for full details of postgraduate scholarships available to Brunel applicants.

Scholarships and bursaries

Teaching and learning

An integrated holistic approach is taken for delivering the teaching including classroom lectures/seminars, self-studies, individual research reports, laboratory experiments and field trips. A number of practical (physical or computer labs) and field works are employed for delivering the module blocks. The labs (physical or computer labs) and field trips will be delivered using a hybrid model (online and face-to-face).

Some teaching innovations introduced in recent years improve the teaching and learning experiences including Team-Based Learning (TBL) and the use of digital media for teaching and assessment. The CEE’s Industry Advisory Panel (IAP) facilitates speakers/guest lecturers from industry providing practical inputs towards making the teaching/learning process more relevant to industry.

It is ensured that the teaching/learning strategy is aligned with nine attributes recommended by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) through addressing them in various study blocks. Although students are not expected to fully meet ICE attributes during their study or even a few years after graduation, it is important that they learn about the professional attributes and plan to fully comply with them during and after their studies.

Assessment and feedback

The assessment strategy is aimed at covering all learning outcomes and helping students to achieve the programme aims. The assessment is arranged through a series of summative and formative assessment across various modules.

The envisaged summative assessments are final exams (from 50% to 70%), oral presentations, assignments and design projects. The final exams are time-limited (2-3 hours) and are held either in January or May in a closed-book format (except for the pandemic time where exams are held in an at-home style).

The assignments and design projects are planned across all modules and give students the opportunity to apply the knowledge to real-world situations. Assignment briefs are prepared beforehand by module leaders and are communicated to students at least one month before assignments’ due dates. Module leaders provide support to help students accomplish the tasks requested by assignments and design projects.