Newcastle University

Civil and Structural Engineering MEng Honours
UCAS Code: H242 (4 Years)

• Course Overview
• Modules
• Entry Requirements
• Careers
• Finance

Civil engineers combine scientific understanding, practicality and ingenuity to design, build and manage the infrastructure that underpins our basic quality of life.

It is creative problem solving on a huge scale, which is key to finding solutions to the major challenges facing the world today.

In your work as a civil engineer, you could be responsible for water supplies and sanitation, large construction projects like the 2012 Olympics, improving life in the developing world or building the road and rail networks that allow us to travel for work and leisure.

But all the time, you will need to be mindful of how your project fits in to the bigger picture. For example, how might climate change affect your construction in the future? Is your new building design sustainable? Will it withstand a seismic event?

This degree is for students who wish to follow a career in structural engineering. While it does not prevent you from working in other areas of civil engineering, it specifically focuses on the design of structures such as bridges and buildings.

In Stage 4, MEng students advance their knowledge and skills with specialist topics. You also undertake an investigative research project, developing your research skills.

Professional accreditation

This degree is accredited by the Joint Board of Moderators (JBM), which is made up of the following four professional bodies:

• Institution of Civil Engineers
• Institution of Structural Engineers
• Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation
• Institute of Highway Engineers

See the MEng or BEng section below for more information about professional accreditation and the difference between studying to BEng and MEng level.

Quality and ranking

Newcastle is ranked in the top 10 UK universities for civil engineering in The Complete University Guide 2014 and The Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide 2014. We also achieved an overall student satisfaction score of 90% in the 2013 National Student Survey.

Civil and Structural Engineering at Newcastle ranks in the top 150 universities in the world in the QS World University Rankings by Subject.

Teaching and assessment

Your course balances lectures, practical work, site visits, individual study, and group work. A typical week includes lectures each morning with two or three laboratory or design sessions in the afternoons.

In Stage 4, we teach all of our modules in weekly blocks, often alongside our MSc students and professional engineers from industry. This means you will work full time on a unit of study for one week, with the following week timetabled for independent study to consolidate and complete your studies. 

Coursework may take a variety of forms, ranging from reports and calculations, through to using 3D visualisation tools, and making presentations to practising engineers from industry. Teaching and assessment methods may vary from module to module; more information can be found in our individual module listings.

Visit our Teaching and Learning pages to read about the outstanding learning experience available to you at Newcastle University.

Flexible degree structure

The first two years of this degree are shared by all of our Civil Engineering and Civil and Structural Engineering students. They are designed to develop core civil engineering skills through topics based around four themes.

• Infrastructure introduces you to the principles of structural and materials engineering that can be applied to the design and building of bridges, buildings and highways
• Modelling and informatics develops the fundamental mathematical, analytical and computational skills that you will use in your design projects
• Environmental systems explores our relationship with the environment around us, including water, land and air
• Human and management systems focuses on the challenges facing civil engineers, such as climate change, growing populations and scarce resources

This shared curriculum provides you with a broad foundation of civil engineering knowledge while giving you time to see where your interests lie.

It also gives you the flexibility to transfer between our programmes should you find your interests have changed, though transfer from a BEng to an MEng is subject to you achieving the appropriate academic standard.

Industry links

The School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Newcastle has close links with industry. We have an industrial advisory panel that feeds the views of the profession into our degree programmes. This helps us to make sure that our graduates meet the needs of the industry.

We also host the regional office of the Institution of Civil Engineers, giving you the chance to network with practising engineers.

Other benefits of our links with industry include:

• learn from speakers from industry, who are used extensively throughout our degrees to bring the theory to life
• receive support and advice from practising engineers on your annual team design project, which will involve producing conceptual sketches, drawings and a formal report, as well as an exhibition showcasing your work
• observe professional engineers at work through field visits to live civil engineering sites
• compete for prizes donated by industry at each Stage, in categories such as best overall student performance, best design performance and best project

Study abroad

UK and EU students have the chance to broaden their academic experience by taking part in a study abroad exchange that counts directly towards their degree. We currently have partnership agreements with universities across the world including Sweden, Singapore and the USA.

Facilities

You will have lots of opportunities to analyse your design theories in our state-of-the-art facilities, which have been independently rated as ‘excellent’ by professional accreditors. We have:

• laboratories for testing heavy structures, such as steel-reinforced concrete beams and a shaking table for analysing the effect of seismic forces on structures
• geotech and materials laboratory where you can analyse the properties of engineering materials such as steel, rock, and timber, and learn about foundation and embankment design
• hydraulics and hydrology laboratory for studying how water behaves in circumstances such as heavy rainfall, flood, or blockages in river channels
• environmental engineering laboratory for analysing the chemical and biological properties of waters, wastewaters, sludges and soils
• a driving simulator that allows you to try out different highway designs and analyse driver behaviour

 You will also have access to full-scale field facilities off campus, including:

• flood defence schemes
• instrumented river catchment system
• hydro-borehole facility
• engineering embankment
• electric vehicles

Take a virtual tour of our facilities on the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences' website.

School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Study at Newcastle and you will join our School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. The School is housed in two purpose designed buildings on the University’s city centre campus: the Cassie Building and the Drummond Building.

All our students have access to an exceptional range of facilities equipped with a wide range of analytical instrumentation supporting our teaching. Take a virtual tour of some of the laboratories.