Civil Engineering with a Year Abroad

Civil Engineering with a Year Abroad

This course is professionally accredited by the Joint Board of Moderators (JBM), which includes the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE), the Chartered Institution of Highway and Transportation (CIHT) and the Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE). As well as your main Imperial degree, you will also receive the award of the Associateship of the City and Guilds of London Institute (ACGI) on completion of this course.

Civil Engineering is a broad discipline that covers many aspects of our everyday lives, from the provision of safe drinking water to the development of structures that can withstand earthquakes. It aims to improve our quality of life while also protecting the natural environment.

Our Department has strong industry links and excellent facilities for teaching and research, including a range of testing rigs, extensive computing provision, tension and compression machines, and wave generators and tanks.

This degree offers you the chance to spend your final year studying abroad at one of our partner universities. Places are currently available in Europe, Australia, Hong Kong or the USA.

In the first two years of the course you will take a range of core modules, covering topics such as computational analysis, structural mechanics, geotechnics and fluid mechanics. These will provide you with a strong foundation in engineering science and technology, and prepare you for advanced study.

During the third year, you can continue with a broad programme or tailor your studies to suit your interests through a range of specialist modules and a group design project.

You will reach Master's level study in the fourth year, with a wide choice of advanced modules and a major research-based project. Studying to this level means that graduates have fully met the educational base required for a chartered engineer and they can then go on to acquire the necessary work experience.

You will spend your fourth year at a leading university overseas. This is an integrated year abroad, so the grades you achieve will count directly towards your Imperial degree. You will study modules and complete a major project at your host university, undertaking a similar programme of study to the fourth year at Imperial.

Teaching is normally in the language of your host country, so an acceptable proficiency is required for placements in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Free language classes are available at the College to help you prepare. Limited places means competition for placements abroad is strong, so only students who are on track for at least a 2:1 by the time of selection in the third year will be eligible.

Field work is a great way to integrate theory and practice, and apply the knowledge you have gained in class to the real world. We run a number of field trips throughout the course, including practical land surveying in the first year and a geology field course in year two. Working in teams, you will form your own companies and over the course of a week, construct scaled down versions of well-known buildings, bridges, dams and other civil engineering projects. Each team member is assigned a role from Project Manager to Health and Safety Officer to ensure that their building is completed successfully and on time. There are also a number of field visits associated with different optional modules in the third and fourth years.