Core modules

• Civil Engineering Design I
• Computational Methods I
• Energy and Environmental Engineering
• Fluid Mechanics I
• Geotechnics
• Materials
• Mathematics I
• Mechanics
• Professional Engineering Practice (including Construction Week)
• Structural Mechanics I

Core modules

• Business and Project Management
• Civil Engineering Design II
• Computational Methods II
• Environmental Engineering: Water Resource and Supply Engineering
• Fluid Mechanics II
• Mathematics II
• Soil Mechanics and Engineering Geology
• Statistics
• Structural Design
• Structural Mechanics II

Core modules

• Civil Engineering Design III
• Computational Engineering Analysis
• Structural Mechanics III
• Dynamics of Structures
• Fluid Mechanics III
• Geotechnical Engineering
• Environmental Engineering: Water and Wastewater Treatment, Waste and Resource Management
• Transport Systems
• I-Explore

Your I-Explore module offers you choices from a range of subjects hosted outside of the department. You will be taught alongside students from other courses with options including business, management and many more.

Optional modules

You will choose one elective from Group A and one from Group B.

The list of elective modules is indicative. In the event that an elective module is suspended or discontinued, we will communicate the changes to you.

Group A

• Nonlinear Structural Analysis
• Theory of Shells
• Coastal Engineering
• Highway Engineering

Group B

• Concrete Structures
• Design of Timber and Masonry Structures
• Traffic Engineering

Opportunities

Your fourth year consists of an agreed programme of study at an approved university in either Australia, China, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland or the USA. We currently have exchange agreements with:

• University of Melbourne, Australia
• University of Queensland, Australia
• Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China
• University of Grenoble, France
• Ecole de Ponts et Chaussees, France
• RWTH Aachen, Germany
• Politecnico di Torino, Italy
• Technical University of Delft, Netherlands
• UPC Barcelona, Spain
• University Polytechnic of Madrid, Spain
• ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• University of California, USA

This is an integrated year abroad so the grades you achieve will count directly towards your Imperial degree.

Conditions

Language proficiency

Teaching is in the language of your host country in France, Germany, Spain and Italy, so you will need to reach an acceptable proficiency in the relevant language before you go. Free language classes are available at the College to help you prepare.

Availability

There are limited places available on the Year Abroad programme, which means that competition for selection is strong and a placement cannot be guaranteed.

Normally, only students with marks of 60% or above will be eligible for placements in France and Germany. Only students with marks of 70% or above will be eligible for placements in Singapore and the USA.

Other

• Please note the above is an illustrative list of universities located abroad which the Department is currently partnered with. Partnerships with universities are subject to continuous review and individual partnerships may or may not be renewed.
• There may be limitations placed upon your ability to live and study in these locations. If applicable you will need to successfully apply for the relevant visa. This applies to all students, including Home students, in light of the UK's decision to leave the European Union. Find the latest information on Imperial and the EU.
  • Study abroad placements in Europe are currently available through the Erasmus scheme. Imperial College now has approval to continue implementing its 2020-21 Erasmus project into 2021-22. Find the latest information on the Erasmus scheme.

Surveying trip (Year 1)

As part of the Surveying module you will go on a field course to learn about practical land surveying. The six-day course is currently held at the National Trust's Stackpole Outdoor Learning Centre in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Geology field trip (Year 2)

There is a seven-day Geology field course as part of the Soils and Engineering Geology module. The field course is currently held in Minehead, Somerset.

Constructionarium (Year 2)

You will take part in the Constructionarium at the end of the second year. This is an exercise in putting theory into hands-on practice to build scaled-down versions of engineering projects.

The Constructionarium is currently held at the Construction Industry Training Board’s campus at Bircham Newton, Norfolk on a specially designed site, where students build projects often at about 1:10 scale.

Our students have previously made scaled-down replicas of dams, oil rigs, tunnels, towers, bridges and a stadium. The activity is supported by a teaching team comprised of a contracting firm, a consultant engineering firm and staff from Imperial.

The field trips listed above are included within the cost of your tuition.

Minimum entry standards

Our minimum entry standard for 2023 entry is A*A*A or A*AAA overall, to include:

• A* in Mathematics
• A/A* in Physics (A* is required if applying with three A-levels. At least an A is required if applying with four A-levels)
• A in a third/fourth subject

General Studies and Critical Thinking are not accepted.

Students taking English exam board science A-levels will be required to pass the practical endorsement.

Typical offer range

As a guide, here are the typical offers made to at least 80% of A-level applicants for 2021 entry:

• Three A-level offer: A*A*A

Practical endorsement (practical science assessment)

If you are made an offer you will be required to achieve a pass in the practical endorsement in all science subjects that form part of the offer.

The practical endorsement is part of the reformed English linear A-levels.

Language requirement

The minimum requirement for the Year Abroad programme, where your exchange takes place in Europe, is GCSE grade A or B in the appropriate language.

Additional Mathematics support

Our A-level Mathematics online course covers a range of key topic areas to help you gain a deeper understanding of the skills and techniques required to succeed in your A-level Mathematics exams.

This optional course has been built around the A-level syllabus with the aim of developing your thinking skills, fluency and confidence.

Please note: this course is not compulsory and does not form part of the entry requirements for this course. It is available free of charge via the EdX website. It is self-paced so you can start it at any time.

Minimum entry standards

Our minimum entry standard for 2023 entry is 39 points overall, to include:

• 7 in Mathematics at higher level
• 6 in Physics at higher level

Typical offer range

As a guide, the typical offer made to at least 80% of IB applicants for 2021 entry was 39 points.

Language requirement

The minimum requirement for the Year Abroad programme, is an appropriate modern foreign language grade 2 higher level, or grade 3 standard level.

Mathematics Higher Level

The Mathematics Analysis and Approaches or the Applications and Interpretation syllabi will be accepted at higher level with no preference.

Additional Mathematics support

We have launched an A-level Mathematics online course, which is available free of charge via the EdX website.

Although this optional course has been built around the A-level syllabus, it is relevant to your curriculum too.

Please note: this course is not compulsory and does not form part of the entry requirements for this course. It is self-paced so you can start it at any time.

The grades detailed below are the minimum requirements for students offering only Advanced Placements as their exams for entry to Imperial.

If you are studying a High School Diploma that is accepted by Imperial alongside Advanced Placements, requirements may apply to both your Diploma and Advanced Placements.

Please consult our country index to check whether we accept your High School Diploma programme for admission.

Our minimum requirement for this course is grades 5, 5, 5 to include:

• 5 in Calculus BC
• 5 in Physics
• 5 in another subject

You may also require a relevant language qualification for this year abroad degree.

Language requirement

An appropriate modern foreign language grade 2 Advanced Placement, or grade B in year 12 of a USA High School Graduation Diploma

Additional Mathematics support

We have launched an A-level Mathematics online course, which is available free of charge via the EdX website.

Although this optional course has been built around the A-level syllabus, it is relevant to your curriculum too.

Please note: this course is not compulsory and does not form part of the entry requirements for this course. It is self-paced so you can start it at any time.

Assessing your application

Admissions Tutors consider all the evidence available during our rigorous selection process and the College flags key information providing assessors with a more complete picture of the educational and social circumstances relevant to the applicant. Some applicants may be set lower offers and some more challenging ones.

Post-application recruitment

If your UCAS application indicates that you have the potential to thrive at the College you will be asked to complete a short online test and a video submission.

The online test comprises a number of multiple-choice questions on A-level standard Maths and Physics. The video submission is also completed online, in your own time. We will ask you to respond to questions that touch on your motivation, experiences and reasoning skills.

The results of these will then be considered along with all the information on your UCAS form and a final decision will be taken. We do not apply a pass/fail criteria to either the maths test or the video submission.

Currently, Civil and Environmental Engineering courses do not accept UCL UPCSE or Warwick IFP Science and Engineering applications.

We want to make sure that the Imperial learning community is as diverse as the society we serve. So to make our admissions process as fair as possible, we have introduced admissions schemes for Home students that allow us to consider your application in the full context of any additional barriers you may face.

Find out if you meet the eligibility criteria for our contextual admissions schemes. 

If your predicted grades meet the minimum College entry standard of AAA at A-level or an equivalent level qualification in the relevant subjects, this department will guarantee you an interview.

Read more about the contextual admissions scheme in this department and others.

All candidates must demonstrate a minimum level of English language proficiency for admission to the College.

For admission to this course, you must achieve the standard College requirement in the appropriate English language qualification. For details of the minimum grades required to achieve this requirement, please see the English language requirements for undergraduate applicants.

An ATAS certificate is not required for overseas students who apply for this course.

For more information about the Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS), please see the International Student Support website.

View our terms and conditions on visas.

Our competence standards highlight the core skills students should be able to demonstrate by the end of this course.

View the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering's competence standards [PDF]

We believe in providing the widest practicable access to all of our degree programmes and will make reasonable adjustments wherever possible to support your study. For more information, please contact the Department using the contact details below.

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

T: +44 (0)20 7594 5965
E: ciugo@imperial.ac.uk

2023 entry

£9,250 per year.

Please note, this fee is set by the UK government and is subject to change until it has passed into legislation. We will update this page when this happens.

Year abroad

For the 2022-23 year abroad, the fee was £1,385 for that year.

Read more about funding for year abroad placements.

For each subsequent year, you should expect and budget for your tuition fee to increase by an amount in line with inflation. The measure of inflation used will be the Retail Price Index (RPIX) value, taken from April in the calendar year in which the academic session starts.

For example, the RPIX value in April 2023 will apply to fees for the academic year 2023–2024.

Fee status

Whether you pay the Home fee or not depends on your fee status.

Your fee status is assessed based on UK Government legislation and includes things like where you live and your nationality or residency status.

Find out more about how we assess your fee status.

Home fee eligibility

You can find the conditions you need to meet to pay the Home rate of tuition fees from the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA). These apply to higher education courses in England and reflect the regulations as they currently stand, noting that these are subject to amendment.

Because of the UK’s exit from the European Union, some frameworks of eligibility have been amended. Individuals affected by the amended frameworks should refer to the UKCISA publication, Who pays ‘home’ fees for higher education in England [PDF].

Government funding

If you're a Home student, you can apply for a Tuition Fee Loan from the UK government to cover the entire cost of tuition for every year of your course.

You can also apply for a means-tested Maintenance Loan to help towards your living costs.

2023 entry

The fee for Overseas students has not been confirmed for the 2023-24 academic year. The fee is controlled by the College and we will update this page when it is announced.

As a guide, the Overseas fee for 2022-23 was £35,100.

Year abroad

For the 2022-23 year abroad, the fee was 100% of the relevant fee for that year.

Read more about funding for year abroad placements.

For each subsequent year, you should expect and budget for your tuition fee to increase by an amount in line with inflation. The measure of inflation used will be the Retail Price Index (RPIX) value, taken from April in the calendar year in which the academic session starts. For example, the RPIX value in April 2023 will apply to fees for the academic year 2023–2024.

Fee status

Whether you pay the Overseas fee or not depends on your fee status.

Your fee status is assessed based on UK Government legislation and includes things like where you live and your nationality or residency status.

Find out more about how we assess your fee status.

Home fee eligibility

You can find the conditions you need to meet to pay the Home rate of tuition fees from the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA). These apply to higher education courses in England and reflect the regulations as they currently stand, noting that these are subject to amendment.

Because of the UK’s exit from the European Union, some frameworks of eligibility have been amended. Individuals affected by the amended frameworks should refer to the UKCISA publication, Who pays ‘home’ fees for higher education in England [PDF].

This section outlines additional costs relevant to this course. These are not included in your tuition fees. It's possible that all, or only some, of these will be relevant to you.

Figures are approximated, usually based on costs in the most recent academic year. They are likely to change each year but it's useful for you to be aware of the things you may have to pay for. This can help you budget for life at Imperial.

Mandatory costs are those that you will need to pay to fully participate in and complete your studies. Optional costs are not essential to your studies so you can opt-out of these.

Drawing equipment

You will need to purchase the following items in order to complete the first year core module on drawing:

• Adjustable set square – minimum size 200mm/ 8" – £19.99
• Mechanical pencils (e.g. Rotring tikky or Pentel) – 0.35mm, 0.5mm and 0.7mm – £9.99
• Professional quality scale ruler – covering at least 1:1, 1:5, 1:20, 1:50, 1:100, 1:200 and 1:1250 and 1:2500 – £15.99

The prices provided are for the College shop for the 2016–17 academic year.

The items may also be useful in later stages of the course, if drawing by hand rather than using CAD programs.

Useful items

It is recommended that you purchase the following items as they are likely to help you improve the overall quality of your coursework (prices provided are for the College shop for the 2016–17 academic year):

• Quality large eraser – £2.99
• Pens for final inking in, e.g. Staedtler Fineliner – £9.99 for a set
• Eraser shield – £2.99
• Large bow compass – £9.99
• 2H wood pencil and a quality pencil sharpener – £1.99
• Coloured pencils for marking cut sections – £4.99
• Set square 30° and 45° for isometric and oblique projection – £4.99
• Large set of dividers for projecting circles – £15.99

Field trips

There are three field trips which all Civil Engineering students attend, and these trips are included within your tuition fees.

You can read more about what happens on each field trip in the Structure section of this page.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

All Civil Engineering students are required to have their own pair of safety boots. These can be purchased from a College-approved supplier during the first week of term. The cost for students beginning their studies in 2016 was £30. Cash payment is required direct to the supplier.

Alternatively, you can purchase boots independently providing they meet a particular safety standard. The minimum safety standard which the boots must meet is EN ISO 20345.

Other PPE will be provided by the Department where necessary.

Placements and year abroad

If you are undertaking a placement or year abroad, you may have to consider the costs involved. These will vary, depending on the location of your year abroad or placement.

Costs may include flights, transport, visas, travel insurance, health insurance and living expenses such as accommodation.

Find out more about the types of placement costs

Student status with the Year Abroad

If you spend an academic year abroad, you will retain your student status at Imperial so that you will normally remain eligible for the same loans and grants that you would receive in the UK. As an exchange student, you will not pay tuition fees to the host institution abroad.

Living costs, including accommodation, are not included in your tuition fees.

Most Imperial undergraduates choose to live in our halls of residence in their first year. You can compare costs across different accommodation options.

Read our rough guide to university spending in London.