Future Students

Civil Engineering

Civil engineering originally encompassed all ‘civilian’ as opposed to ‘military’ engineering.  It is a profession with a rich history and an exciting future.  The pyramids and Roman roads, bridges and aqueducts are but a few early examples of civil engineering.

Civil engineering is very diverse.  It is a broad-based profession whose members can be found in all major industrial and commercial environments.

There are two majors available in the Civil Engineering programme:  Civil Engineering or Offshore Engineering.

Civil Engineering Major
Civil Engineers touch almost every aspect of our lives.  They plan, design, construct, maintain and recycle many community facilities such as:  bridges, roads, tunnels, airports, railways, harbours, reservoirs, water supply, dams, power stations and buildings of every sort (towering offices to heritage buildings). 

They are also involved with the infrastructure of mining and onshore and offshore oil and gas projects.

There is a very strong demand for Civil Engineering graduates in Western Australia in construction, consulting and design, government and semi-government organisations and in offshore engineering and mining companies.

Offshore Engineering Major
Offshore Engineering involves the design of infrastructure for offshore oil and gas production including offshore platforms, subsea production equipment and pipelines.

Offshore Engineers may specialise in design of offshore platforms; offshore installation of structures; subsea technology; structural design and analysis of offshore structures; and the dynamics and hydrodynamics of offshore structures.

Offshore Engineering  graduates work as design engineers  with oil companies, offshore contracting and consulting firms, government bodies, port and harbour authorities, Defence departments and contractors or in academia.

Level 1
All engineering students follow a common course in Level 1, allowing the flexibility of selecting any engineering stream at the end of the level. The subjects include mathematics, engineering fundamentals and physics, plus electives from a variety of engineering streams.

Level 2 and 3
The second and third levels of the Civil Engineering course include basic engineering courses in fluid mechanics, solid mechanics and structural engineering, geomechanics, drawing and computer graphics and engineering analysis.

Level 4
The fourth level is devoted to options which can form a broadly based course, or a course with varying degrees of specialisation. Specialised areas include geomechanics, structural engineering and hydraulics. All students undertake a substantial project which may result in the award of an Honours degree.

During the Bachelor of Engineering, you will also complete at least 12 weeks full time (or equivalent part time) of professional work experience.

Career opportunities

The booming WA economy means that the demand for Civil Engineering graduates from UWA has never been higher. Our graduates receive multiple job offers. In addition to local opportunities there is high demand both across Australia and abroad.

Opportunities exist in private firms of all sizes and Government Authorities to specialise in any of the areas mentioned above. The critical nature of the work to the function of society ensure that the demand for Civil Engineers is insulated from many of the economic fluctuations that control demand for recently developed engineering sub-disciplines and other technical areas.

Professional accreditation

The degree is fully accredited by the Institute of Engineers Australia, ensuring recognition in Australia and in many overseas countries.