MSc Advanced Structural Engineering

Detailed degree guide

Understanding, Knowledge and Cognitive Skills

Students should demonstrate an ability to:

• Acquire advanced knowledge of modern civil engineering practice including project management and construction management skills
• Acquire expert knowledge in their chosen field of specialisation within Civil Engineering
• Develop the applied mathematical skills required by professional engineers
• Gain a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of the concepts, principles and theories of specialist technical issues to meet to their professional aspirations
• Transfer problem-solving skills to a variety of contexts and multidisciplinary scenarios
• Apply engineering technical and management skills to solve practical Civil Engineering and Construction Management problems

Scholarship, Enquiry and Research (Research Informed Learning)

Students should be able to:

• Develop their abilities to research unfamiliar technical issues
• Demonstrate an understanding of technical advances in the field of Civil and Structural Engineering
• Undertake personal management of complex project-based activities
• Transfer technical knowledge to application in new and diverse situations and in the analysis of novel problems
• Provide professional leadership when required by technical responsibility
• Apply numerical and analytical problem-solving skills and engineering knowledge in a variety of Civil and Structural Engineering related contexts

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

This Civil and Structural Engineering postgraduate programme provides students with a'general' higher degree in Civil and Structural Engineering. The programme is based on eight mandatory courses designed to allow the student gaining in-depth knowledge of a relatively broad range of topics within Civil and Structural Engineering. All students on this programme are either studying on-campus or by distance learning. At masters' level, these students are expected to take a large degree of responsibility for their own studies. On Campus students are provided with lectures, tutorials, laboratory sessions and seminar activities wherein personal knowledge and team working activities can be undertaken. Distance learning students rely on the provision of practical study guides, detailed course texts (or a required text book) and/or comprehensive lecture notes, tutorial examples and fully worked solutions through the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Communication with academic staff, dedicated IDL tutors and other students is either provided through the VLE in the form of email, discussion groups, or other social media (e.g. blogs, wikis). Students are also encouraged to participate in discussion with other students and more experienced work colleagues. Courses will usually include objectives, theory, applications in the real world, worked examples and exercises that usually form part of the formative assessment and feedback for the individual courses. Some courses also have a coursework component to address a deeper level of understanding of more complex and lengthy problems or where practical software applications are required.

Approaches to teaching and learning are continually reviewed and developed with the aim of matching them to the abilities and experiences of students, with regard also for the subject area. Industry feedback on course content is also used in the updating and improvement of all courses. Specific details about teaching and learning methods are provided in the appropriate course descriptors.

Assessment Policies

The programme uses a range of assessment types.

Coursework is used to develop problem solving skills, to demonstrate mastery of techniques taught as part of the course that would be too lengthy to undertake as exam questions or where software applications are required. Coursework also helps develop professional report writing skills with emphasis on correct report structure, writing style, resume, and referencing. All courses have some form of formative assessment that provide self, peer or staff feedback as required.

Examinations make up the majority of summative assessment as these are the best way to be certain of testing the capabilities of the individual student against the course aims.

Each student progressing to the MSc dissertation will be required to demonstrate good research skills and a deeper level of critical thinking and analysis than can be assessed by exam.

An academic supervisor will be assigned to each student throughout the duration of their project.

Approaches to assessment are continually reviewed. Specific details about methods of assessment are provided in the appropriate course descriptors.