MSc Sustainable Engineering (including Professional Practice)

This postgraduate programme embeds sustainability and sustainable development deep within the mind-set of engineers, providing them with the skills to design and construct new technologies, and envision engineering solutions that embrace the challenges of global sustainable development. This course also features the opportunity to undertake a professional placement in its second year.

Course outline and modules

This course aims to develop globally minded and socially aware engineers that are future agents of change, able to innovate and bring forward more holistic solutions that meet the needs of societies without discrimination while protecting our natural resources.

Through a balanced provision of fundamental and technical knowledge, practical application, students will be equipped with the necessary qualitative and quantitative analytical tools and skills, and further develop essential professional skills, that will enable them to tackle the evolving, complex local and global sustainable development issues and challenges.

The role of professional engineers in sustainability and sustainable development is vital; working to improve people’s quality of life, welfare and health and safety, they provide options and solutions that minimise environmental impact and maximise the sustainability of natural resources. Naturally then, this role is significantly influenced by the opportunities and challenges that accompany sustainability. These challenges include the depletion of resources, environmental pollution, rapid population growth, and damage to ecosystems.

To tackle these growing challenges, engineers are increasingly required to adopt a wider, more global perspective than a purely environmental approach that embraces the 17 sustainable development goals as set out by the UN. This presents engineers with significant opportunities to promote change by means of global connections, sharing of experience and best-practice, and leadership of increasingly multi-disciplinary teams across the world.

With this in mind, the proposed programme is designed with the primary focus of embedding sustainability and sustainable development deep within the mind-set of engineers from all disciplines and industrial sectors, where the skills to design and construct new technologies that embrace the challenges of sustainable development are of critical importance.

What you'll learn

Through an integrated approach of Multi-/Inter-disciplinary, Real-World Problem-Based Learning and collaboration with our industrial partners and network, this course will enable engineers to innovate and bring forward more holistic solutions that meet human needs while protecting our natural resources, by equipping students with the necessary tools and skills in critical thinking, communication, team working, leadership, research, project management, and innovation that are required to produce globally minded and socially aware engineers that are future agents of change, furnished with attitudes of service to engineer a sustainable world.

Professional Practice

The difference between this course and the MSc Sustainable Engineering course is that this one features a professional placement. Students are responsible for finding their own work placement, with the help of our award-winning Careers and Placements Team, who have helped so many of our students to secure placement and work opportunities. Aston is 3rd in the UK for the number of students taking a sandwich year (HESA 2018), showing just how much we encourage students getting professional experience and how successful we are at enabling them to secure work placements. Take a look at our specific placement information and support. Please find more about the time frame under ‘Learning, teaching and assessment’.