Course Overview
Civil Engineering is concerned with the planning, design, construction and maintenance of the built environment. It encompasses minor and major structures, ranging from drainage systems, houses, commercial buildings, roads and bridges to multi-storey buildings and water and wastewater treatment facilities. The work of civil engineers is most visible in the structures in which we live and work, and their contribution is also seen in such transportation systems that we use on a daily basis as subways, motorways, railways, airports and harbours. They are also involved in the design, construction and operation of complex water supply and sanitation systems for our ever-growing cities. In such projects and more generally, they perform a critical public and environmental health function as well.
The Civil Engineering degree programme sets out to develop the scientific, technical, organisational, IT and communication skills needed for a satisfying and rewarding career as a Civil Engineer.
Civil Engineers work in rapidly changing and challenging areas using traditional and new materials and techniques, and increasingly incorporating IT solutions at design and construction stage. You could be involved in schemes from design to management stage through to completion in what are often highly complex projects. Therefore, the profession combines creative skills with an aptitude for mathematics and technical subjects. At the most challenging end of the profession, where the management of large projects is involved, a high degree of administration skills are also required.
If you think you might enjoy developing and constructing bridges, tunnels, roads, railways, major building or other infrastructural projects, you should consider Civil Engineering. The skills you will learn will give you opportunities for work worldwide wherever development is taking place, not least in the fast-growing economies of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China).
Further Education
Upon completion of the undergraduate degree, suitably qualified students have the option to enrol and continue their studies to Masters or PhD level.
Students can advance to Master’s level (ME) through our one year taught Masters programme (September-June) that builds on the successful completion of their undergraduate programme, subject to a sufficient standard (2nd Class Honours minimum). This programme is an integrated follow-on to the BE programme and is designed to meet Engineers Ireland’s criterion for Level 9 degrees, providing graduates with a route to Chartered Engineer status that will be recognised worldwide.
Master’s degree education is becoming increasingly the norm internationally in Engineering, and this programme strengthens the ability of our graduates to compete nationally and internationally at the highest level for employment in industry and other sectors of the economy.
In our PhD programme, students develop innovative state-of the-art solutions to current problems in civil engineering. Students will specialise in one of the discipline’s areas of research, working with a high degree of independence and becoming experts on their chosen topic. This work is usually presented at international conferences and published in journals.
Career Opportunities
Graduates from this programme will find employment in:

Consulting/Contracting (dealing e.g. with Structures, Transportation, Public Health, Offshore and Coastal Engineering)
Government Departments
Semi-State Organisations
Local Authorities