Program Structure

Our mission is to develop well-educated graduates with the basic skills, attributes and knowledge that will enable them to practice as professional civil or environmental engineers.  Our graduates are equipped not only with knowledge but also the vital skills and understanding that will help them address real-world problems.

Because an engineer must combine technical capacities and knowledge with professional managerial and people skills, recent changes in our curriculum have been introduced to better develop in our students the following qualities:

• good communication skills,
• research skills,
• the ability to work as part of a team,
• critical thinking skills,
• managerial skills and
• the ability to adapt to changing environments (life long learning skills).

Our four year program covers both the fundamental knowledge systems of environmental engineering- beginning with mathematics and chemistry and engineering principles- and also the various complex uses and applications of such knowledge.

Design is a critical aspect of most engineering practice and the Faculty wide first year course Engineering Design and Innovation takes students into the collaborative engineering process from the very start, providing our students with immediate exposure to the core issues of engineering.

Second and third year courses introduce students to further learning in areas such as water engineering, chemical processes, soil mechanics, transport sustainability, solid waste management, and engineering operations.

The third year Environmental Engineering Practice subject uses 'Negotiation' as a framework to develop environmental engineering practice skills. The ability to negotiate is essential in many aspects of life, but the area of environmental engineering continually brings groups from different areas of society together and frequently these groups have conflicting aims and aspirations. The environmental engineer is often faced with finding the best resolution to these conflicting requirements and an appreciation of negotiating skills is clearly an advantage. Within this framework of negotiation -teamwork, personnel skills, leadership skills, report writing, and analysis will continue to be developed.

In the final fourth year students may choose from several Professional Electives in areas of geotechnical engineering, transport engineering, water or waste engineering, or water resources.