Why Study Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at Adelaide?

Be part of an exciting profession that shapes the world we live in

Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineers are leaders in our society, and are responsible for the analysis, design, construction and management of our infrastructure, including buildings, roads & traffic systems, dams & tunnels, bridges, water supply systems and water & wastewater treatment facilities, as well as the management and rehabilitation of our natural resources, including rivers, lakes and oceans.

Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineers work in companies ranging from small to medium enterprises to large multinationals, including consulting engineering practices, government bodies, construction companies, mining and oil companies, research organisations and universities. Because of the strong analytical training and transferable nature of the skills that are a feature of engineering degrees, Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineers can work anywhere in Australia and overseas, as well as in non-engineering positions, such as advertising, banking, computing, commerce, management consulting, planning, teaching, supply management and systems management. Engineers are essential to most large companies.

Be a member of a group of students committed to learning and achieving at the highest level

In recent years, the degree programs offered by the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Adelaide had among the highest Tertiary Entrance Rankings (TER) of any Civil Engineering program in Australia. The degrees attract a wide variety of talented students, including a large number of international students and young women. Approximately 50% of the students in the Civil & Environmental Engineering degree are young women.

The high quality of graduates produced by the degree programs offered by the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Adelaide is highlighted by the high degree of employability and active recruitment of graduates from the School, including positions in Adelaide, interstate and overseas. A survey in 2002 showed that the employment rate of graduates from the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering was 100%.

Receive high quality, award-winning teaching

The education offered in the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Adelaide is considered as one of the best in Australia, producing top quality graduates who are highly motivated life-long learners with the right mix of theoretical and practical skills.

The teaching approaches in the School are of the highest quality and have received international awards from the “Commonwealth of Learning” and the “Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education“. Lecturers from the School have also been awarded the “Pearson Education UniServe Science Teaching Award” and the “Stephen Cole the Elder Prize for Excellence in Teaching“.

Be immersed in an active and vibrant research environment

Researchers in the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Adelaide are world leaders in a number of research areas. These include water resources and hydrological modelling using artificial neural networks, the optimal design and operation of water supply systems using evolutionary algorithms (e.g. genetic and ant colony optimisation algorithms), the use of pressure transients for condition assessment of water distribution systems (e.g. finding leaks and blockages), stochastic hydrological modelling related to rainfall simulation and climate persistence and modelling of coastal processes with particular emphasis on tidal inlets (e.g. the Murray Mouth). The assessment and rehabilitation of infrastructure is also a strong focus in the School. Internationally recognised research in this area includes the strengthening and stiffening of reinforced concrete structures with FRP or metal sheets/plates adhesively bonded or bolted to the external surfaces, the seismic assessment of the out-of-plane response of unreinforced masonry walls, the design and performance of residential foundations on expansive soils, modelling the seismic performance of reinforced concrete frames and developing methods for their seismic upgrade, the design and fatigue assessment of composite steel-concrete beams and investigating the influence of spatial variability of soil properties on the reliability of geotechnical systems.

The high quality of the School’s research has been recognised by a number of prestigious national and international awards, including the Telford Premium and George Stephenson Gold Medal awarded by the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, and the Chapman, Warren, Peter Nicol Russell Memorial and John Connell Gold Medals awarded by the Institution of Engineers, Australia.