Postgraduate qualifications
Learn more to achieve more. Specialise in one of our post graduate programmes and advance your network, skillset, employability, and world view.
The civil engineering faculty and postgraduate teaching community is filled with engineering leaders. Our courses are taught by international guests, industry leaders, and our own faculty, many of whom are recognized internationally for research excellence.
Our postgraduate community is a diverse, international, and welcoming community. It includes students continuing their studies and working professionals who are ready for the next level. Our graduates obtain employment internationally.
Engineer your future.
Research Programmes
Master's degrees are specialist degrees that can be completed within 1-year or up-to 4-years part-time. They can be completed solely with coursework or include a research thesis.
The Master of Engineering is a research-based masters degree.
Doctoral degrees are research-oriented degrees that teach the student how to tackle and solve highly complex problems. These degrees are completed within 3-4 years full-time.
For information about the regulations: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Taught Programmes
Our postgraduate courses are taught in "block mode" to cater for both full-time students and also working professionals to increase their skill level while still in employment.
Postgraduate Certificates in Engineering
- Postgraduate Certificate in Engineering (PGCertEng)
- Postgraduate Certificate in Civil Engineering (PGCertCivilEng)
- Postgraduate Certificate in Architectural Engineering (PGCertArchEng)
Master of Civil Engineering (MCivilEng)
The Master of Civil Engineering (MCivilEng) is a taught post-graduate programme that enhances an engineer’s knowledge and skills, improving their prospects for career progression. Acquiring advanced knowledge in Civil Engineering through The Master of Civil Engineering aims to produce graduates who:
- Have developed advanced knowledge and skills relevant to their future careers in a research or professional environment.
- Have developed mastery of topics relevant to design, analysis and management of civil infrastructure systems, so that they can provide leadership in a professional context and engage effectively with future research opportunities.
- Can apply independent thinking and advanced knowledge and skills to the development and remediation of civil infrastructure systems.
- Engage effectively and confidently in a variety of academic and professional settings.
- Provide expertise to support high-level decision making processes.
- Have the interpersonal skills needed to be ready for the workplace, with the attributes listed on the UC graduate profile.
The programme requires students to successfully complete courses for a total of 120 points. This typically involves taking eight 15 point courses, four per semester. However, there are options for part-time study as well as distance learning.
A total of 10 different endorsements are offered as part of the MCivilEng programme, described below. Note that not all courses listed within each endorsement are offered every year and so students should check the calendar for each year when selecting courses.
Construction Management is the overall planning, coordination, and control of a project from beginning to completion. Construction Project Management is aimed at meeting a client's requirements in order to produce a functionally and financially viable project. The Construction Management programme offers graduates study leading to the Master of Engineering degree. The focus is on professional programmes that combine theory and application with a strong emphasis in applied management. The master's programme is an advanced curriculum designed to allow students to tailor a portion of the specialisation requirements to meet individual interests and goals.
The courses currently on offer in this endorsement include:
Part I:
ENCI601 Risk Management
ENCM620 Construction Procurement and Contract Administration
Part II:
ENCM610 Construction Management
ENCM630 Project Management, Planning and Control Techniques
ENCM640 Strategic Management in Construction
ENCM650 Cost Engineering
ENCM671 Special Topic in Construction Management
ENCM676 Construction Equipment and Heavy Construction Methods
ENCM678 Special Topic: Principles of Contact Negotiations
ENCM682 Research Project
Renewable Energy is transforming the world from a reliance on fossil fuels to sustainable energy systems. Researchers at UC are involved in renewable energy projects in Pacific Island nations and in South East Asia, as well as Aotearoa New Zealand-based work like transitioning the Burnham Army Camp to more sustainable energy sources. Renewable Energy is a multidisciplinary subject and students will learn about the variety of renewable energy resources and conversion technologies, system modelling techniques, challenges to sustainability, and practical solutions to common issues.
The courses currently on offer in this endorsement include:
Part I:
ENCI 601 Risk Management
ENGR 621 Energy, Technology and Society
ENNR 423 Sustainable Energy Systems
Part II:
ENCN 623 Energy Systems - Modelling & Analysis
ENCN 625 Wind Resource Modelling
ENEL 667 Renewable Electricity System Design
Transportation engineering covers all aspects of transportation related issues, from determining the future transportation needs of a community or country through to the performance of the materials that are used to construct roads. All modes of travel are covered, from pedestrians/cyclists to cars/trucks to buses/trains to ships and planes (although our programmes at Canterbury largely deal with land transport).
The courses currently on offer in this endorsement include:
Part I:
ENTR 401 Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering
ENTR 603 Advanced Pavement Design
ENTR 604 Road Asset Management
ENTR 617 Traffic Network Modelling and Optimisation
ENTR 619 Special Topic: Quantitative Techniques for Transport Engineering and Planning
Part II:
ENTR 602 Accident Reduction and Prevention
ENTR 608 Special Topic in Transport Engineering
ENTR 612 Transport Policy and System Management
ENTR 613 Highway Geometric Design
ENTR 614 Planning and Design of Sustainable Transport
ENTR 615 Advanced Traffic Flow Theory and Simulation
ENTR 616 Transport Planning and Modelling
ENTR 618 Transport and Freight Logistics
Earthquake Engineering encompasses a broad range of activities that seek to minimise the damage and disruption communities suffer when hit by an earthquake. The University of Canterbury has a long history in earthquake engineering and has shown significant leadership over the years in this area on an international stage. As part of the earthquake engineering endorsement students are offered the opportunity to advance their knowledge of seismic risk, geotechnical and structural earthquake engineering and seismic resilience. The programme draws on significant lessons learnt from the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes and the strong ties the college has with the industry, preparing graduates who are knowledge and highly employable.
The courses currently on offer in this endorsement include:
Part I:
ENCI438 Introduction to Structural Earthquake Engineering
ENEQ610 Seismic Hazard and Risk Analysis
ENEQ624 Nonlinear Structural Analysis and Dynamics
Part II:
ENEQ620 Advanced Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
ENEQ633 Advanced Timber Structures
ENEQ640 Displacement-based Design of Low Damage Structures
ENEQ642 Seismic Assessment and Retrofit Strategies for Existing Reinforced Concrete Buildings
ENEQ650 Advanced Steel and Composite Structures
ENEQ670 Seismic Bridge Engineering
ENEQ680 Seismic Performance and Loss Estimation
ENEQ621 Special Topic
ENEQ629 Special Topic: Seismic Soil Structure Interaction
The courses specified under this endorsement develop specialist knowledge in Structural Engineering and produce graduates who have advanced skills to support a career in structural engineering of buildings and other structural systems. Complementing the structural engineering training offered separately within the MCivilEng endorsement in earthquake engineering, this endorsement aims to prepare graduates with a broader understanding of multi-performance objectives for structures and develop skills to deal with potentially critical non-seismic load cases such as wind and blast loading or vibration control.
The courses currently on offer in this endorsement include:
Part I:
ENCI436 Behaviour and Design of Structures II
ENEQ623 Finite Element Analysis of Structures
ENEQ641 Nonlinear Concrete Mechanics and Modelling Techniques
ENEQ624 Nonlinear Structural Analysis and Dynamics
Part II:
ENEQ633 Advanced Timber Structures
ENEQ650 Advanced Steel and Composite Structures
ENCI621 Concrete Materials and Practice
ENCI670 Special Topic: Blast Engineering and Progressive Collapse
ENAE603 Structural Design Practice
ENAE604 Structural Assessment and Retrofit
The courses specified under this endorsement develop specialist knowledge in Structural Fire Engineering and produce graduates who are competent structural engineers with competence in fire engineering. Graduates will obtain knowledge and skills related to general fire engineering, fire dynamics and modelling techniques in both structural and fire engineering. This will enable them to amalgamate the two disciplines in order to better predict and design structures for fire safety.
The courses currently on offer in this endorsement include:
Part I:
ENGR403 Fire Engineering
ENCI436 Behaviour and Design of Structures II
ENEQ623 Finite Element Analysis of Structures
ENFE601 Structural Fire Engineering
ENFE602 Fire Dynamics
Part II:
ENEQ624 Nonlinear Structural Analysis and Dynamics
ENEQ641 Nonlinear Concrete Mechanics and Modelling Techniques
ENFE610 Advanced Fire Dynamics
ENFE618 Advanced Structural Fire Engineering
The courses specified under this endorsement develop specialist knowledge in Geotechnical Engineering and produce graduates who have critical competence in the non-linear behaviour of soils and foundations, preparing them for a career in geotechnical engineering. Graduates will have obtained knowledge of engineering seismology, geotechnical earthquake engineering, ground remediation techniques and other specialist geotechnical engineering topics such as soil-structure interaction.
The courses currently on offer in this endorsement include:
Part I:
ENCN452 Advanced Geotechnical Engineering
ENCN454 Introduction to Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
ENEQ610 Engineering Seismology
ENGE412 rock mechanics and rock engineering
GEOL479 active tectonics and geomorphology
Part II:
ENEQ620 Advanced Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
ENEQ682 Ground Improvement Techniques
ENEQ629 Special Topic: Seismic Soil Structure Interaction
The courses specified under this endorsement develop specialist knowledge in Water Engineering. Graduates develop advanced fundamental knowledge to become specialists in a wide range of water engineering topics. Water engineering encompasses analysis and design of: water supply and irrigation systems, stormwater and wastewater systems, water resource evaluation, flood and drought estimation and planning, fluid flow in complex natural environments, water resources management, design of hydraulic structures, assessment of environmental effects of discharges in water environments, water chemistry in engineered and natural systems, wastewater treatment and management of treatment residuals, water flow and quality modelling, groundwater quality and contaminated site management, rural and urban impacts on water environments. Relevant New Zealand stakeholders are WaterNZ, Hydrological Society of New Zealand, Waste Management Institute of New Zealand, along with all levels of government, consultants, and construction companies. Graduates also develop professional skills increasingly expected for subject-area specialists in water engineering.
The courses currently on offer in this endorsement include:
Part I:
Part II:
The department also offers the following Master's degrees that can be completed within 1-year or up-to 4-years part-time:
- Master of Architectural Engineering (MArchEng)
- Master of Engineering Studies (MEngSt)
- Master of Engineering in Fire Engineering (MEFE)
Facilties
All graduate students have office space within the department and there is a dedicated postgraduate computer suite. The department has more than 20 highly skilled, experienced technicians who are available to assist with experimental research. Specialised services within the department include electronics technicians, a graphic designer and computer support. Our well-equipped can produce specialised experimental equipment.
The College of Engineering has undergone a $142 million upgrade and boasts some of the most cutting-edge laboratories available. View our for a general overview of the college or our department page for more specific details about Civil and Natural Engineering.
For further information about postgraduate qualifications:
