Master of Science in Civil Engineering Technology
The Civil Engineering Technology programme focuses on the construction of functional and sustainable buildings and road infrastructure, while also paying attention to aspects of safety, stability and the environment.
What
The Civil Engineering Technology programme focuses on the construction of functional and sustainable buildings and road infrastructure, while also paying attention to aspects of safety, stability and the environment. These constructions have quite a set of criteria to live up to: they must conform to architectural aesthetics, their long-time stability must be guaranteed, the materials and construction techniques must stand the test of time, and their interiors must be comfortable. Throughout the programme, you learn to draw up construction files (in the context of residential, apartment as well as industrial construction) and you will design road infrastructure and artwork (e.g. culverts, bridges, towers). In addition, we introduce you to topical projects and themes by means of company visits, international study trips, study days, ... . For the Master's dissertation you have the option of collaborating with the industry.
For whom
The admission requirements vary. Depending on your preliminary training, you are either able to enrol directly, or there are additional requirements.
Structure
Our Master's programme in Civil Engineering Technology is a continuation of the academic Bachelor’s programme in Civil Engineering Technology. The curriculum covers all aspects of civil engineering. Civil engineering, stability, construction engineering, ... are covered extensively in the Master’s curriculum. In addition, we focus on construction law and administration, sustainability, project management, ... . We also have on offer a set of electives from which you can choose depending on your interests. Throughout the programme you embark on a month-long work placement twice. This takes place either at a contracting company, an design office, an architectural firm, a research centre, a government agency, ..., either at home or abroad. Your Master's dissertation is part of new or ongoing research in the context of a PhD or in collaboration with a company.
Labour Market
There is a great variety of job opportunities for Civil Engineering Technology graduates, in the public as well as the private sector. Our graduates most obviously find their way onto the countless building sites in Flanders. The Civil Engineering Technology graduate (in Dutch: industrieel ingenieur bouwkunde) has a pivotal role and acts as single point of contact. Regardless of the nature of the construction site - be it a bridge, road or building - our graduates act as site supervisor and co-ordinate, organize and monitor all the activities. Some project managers may have broader and more general responsibilities. In your role of creative designer and BIM-modeller you are involved in the preparation and start-up phase of projects, or you make detailed calculations at a design office.
If you are more technically or commercially inclined, you can find your way into buying or selling building materials. Other possibilities include project manager, technical manager of buildings, expert at a survey bureau or consultant in advisory bodies for the construction industry. An international job with a contractor in one of the many large-scale construction projects is another possibility.
Be sure to check out these interesting testimonials at ikbenindustrieelingenieur.be (in Dutch).
Quality Assurance
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
More information:
Unique Selling Points
- Multiperspectivism:we train our students to become critical professionals who are able to work in a team. We teach our students the necessary skills to work in a creative and problem-solving manner.
- Talent development: our students can to a certain extent shape their curriculum according to their own interests.
- Knowledge creation: we strongly value gradual knowledge-building. We never cease to encourage our students to think self-critically. We deliver versatile yet sufficiently specialized and highly employable alumni
- Curriculum: our curriculum leaves ample room for practical applications, site visits, work placement and international exchange.
- Integration of theory and practice: our curriculum contains many hours of tutorials and practicals, during which we use our well-equipped infrastructure to apply the theoretical knowledge covered in the lectures. We hone our students’ critical thought and problem-solving skills and bring them the newest technological developments in the discipline. Our curriculum additionally contains two work placements of at least four weeks each.
Strengths
- Preparation: we offer summer courses and an introduction week so that our students can start the programme well-prepared.
- Motivated lecturers: our programme boasts a group of motivated lecturers from various disciplines, who combine their research expertise with a passion for teaching and a continued enthusiasm for the quality of their lectures.
- Room for practical experience: we have a long-standing tradition of investing in practical experience by means of lab sessions in which we complement theoretical knowledge with practical skills as well as frequent contacts with the professional field. Our curriculum contains two work placements of four weeks each. In addition, we organize regular company visits and an international study trip.
- Assessment: our students appreciate the fact that they are well informed about the form and content of the assessments. It gives them a clear view of what to expect while studying. We provide feedback sessions after interim assessment and after each exam period.
- Approachability: we invest in personal contact between our lecturers and our students. Our lecturers are available via email, during and after classes, and by appointment.
- Research competencies: throughout the curriculum we stimulate the acquisition of research competencies for all our students. This takes a start from the first year onwards by means of the CDIO project and continues in the shape of individual as well as group assignments in various course units. The Bachelor’s paper is a thorough preparation for the Master’s dissertation.
Weaknesses
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Internationalization: we want to invest more in internationalization. As is, only a limited number of students participate in Erasmus-funded exchange. Internationalization is limited mainly to an international study trip and a handful of students with a study abroad experience, or an international work placement. In addition, we find it difficult to attract international students to take our Dutch-taught study programme. We want to strengthen internationalization for all our students by:
- investing in internationalization@home;
- Informing students better on existing funding options for international work placements;
- Encouraging students to participate in Erasmus-funded exchange programmes;
- Attracting international students with an offer of English-taught course units, and to communicate this offer to our international partners.
- Study load: students have correctly argue that the study load of certain course units is too heavy, and that the distribution of deadlines for assignments, designs and reports leaves much to be desired. We are aware of this and will try to take this into account in the future. At the same time, we try to make students more aware of the fact that this is part and parcel of a practically-oriented study programme and, as such, a proper preparation for the real-life professional context. To guarantee and strengthen our study programme’s practical profile, we will invest in teaching our students to make a clear realistic planning rather than cutting back on study load.
- Feedback: as a consequence of large student groups and a heavy work load of some of our teaching staff, interim feedback might not always be as timely as it could be. We are working on solutions for this problem.
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organization of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2017. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here.
This information was last updated on 14/02/2023.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.