MSc — 2025 entry Advanced Geotechnical Engineering with Industrial Practice
Geotechnical engineering is the advanced study and research focused on the behaviour of Earth’s materials. Our Advanced Geotechnical Engineering with Industrial Practice MSc degree produces well-trained graduates that are in high demand and equipped to work in fields such as construction, infrastructure development, environmental engineering, and geological consulting.
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Why choose
this course?
Geotechnical engineering – the mechanics of the Earth’s materials – is a sector with a huge global skills shortage. This means that well-trained geotechnical engineers are in high demand.
Our MSc will equip you with the necessary skills and knowledge to pursue an exciting career in the geotechnical engineering sector, including offshore and earthquake geotechnics.
You’ll be taught in highly specialised facilities, such as our Geotechnics and Geology Teaching Laboratory, by academics who are leaders in their field. Throughout your course, you’ll also benefit from the expert knowledge of specialist guest speakers, including visiting academics and engineers working in industry.
You'll also have the opportunity to undertake a postgraduate placement year, allowing you to gain crucial workplace experience. We’ll support you in finding a placement with a company most suited to your career goals.
Accreditation
What you will study
Our MSc will develop your understanding of the principles and theories behind ground engineering, from soil mechanics to site investigation and from advanced soil testing to foundation design. We’ll provide you with the necessary skills to address technological challenges in the geotechnical engineering sector.
You’ll explore a variety of topics, including deep foundations in urban areas, deep water energy resources exploration, field monitoring, foundations for energy infrastructure and major bridges, and tunnelling.
The course covers the following:
- Analysis techniques
- Simplified (spreadsheet-based)
- Standard (code-based methods or simple software)
- Advanced (finite element method)
- Back analysis of collapse of foundations
- Design and construction of foundations for bridges, buildings, offshore structures, tunnels and deep basements in busy cities
- Dissertation on a geotechnical topic
- Fundamental soil mechanics and its modelling using numerical approaches
- Testing of soils to obtain design parameters – we use our purpose-built SAGE laboratory for teaching.
Prizes
VJ Tech Prize for Best MSc Student in Advanced Geotechnical Engineering
A prize of £1,000 sponsored by VJ Tech, one of the world’s top geotechnical engineering manufacturers specialising in advanced soil testing equipment for labs. The £1,000 prize may be awarded to an individual student or split between two students displaying the best performance in their MSc.
Keller Prize for Best MSc Project in Advanced Geotechnical Engineering
A prize of £500 sponsored by Keller Group plc, the world’s largest independent ground engineering contractor.
The prize will be awarded to the student(s) with the best dissertation completed as part of our Advanced Geotechnical Engineering MSc. The £500 prize will be awarded on the basis of quality and potential impact, and may be awarded to an individual student or split between a number of students with the best dissertations.
Facilities
Masters students benefit from a range of highly specialised facilities in our School of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering. These include:
- Air Quality Lab
- Centre for Environmental Health and Engineering, a designated World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for water quality and health
- Geotechnics and Geology Laboratory, recently upgraded with a £450,000 investment
- Materials and Structures Laboratory
- Surrey Advanced Geotechnical Engineering (SAGE) Lab
- Wind tunnel facilities.
In addition to our Library and Learning Centre’s extensive resources, our excellent engineering testing facilities can support experiment-based dissertation projects.
The structure of our programmes follows clear educational aims that are tailored to each programme. These are all outlined in the programme specifications which include further details such as the learning outcomes:
General course information
Contact hours
Contact hours can vary across our modules. Full details of the contact hours for each module are available from the University of Surrey's module catalogue. See the modules section for more information.
Timetable
New students will receive their personalised timetable in Welcome Week. In later semesters, two weeks before the start of semester.
Scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week (Monday – Friday), with part-time classes normally scheduled on one or two days. Wednesday afternoons tend to be for sports and cultural activities.
View our code of practice for the scheduling of teaching and assessment (PDF) for more information.
Location
This course is based at Stag Hill campus. Stag Hill is the University's main campus and where the majority of our courses are taught.
We offer careers information, advice and guidance to all students whilst studying with us, which is extended to our alumni for three years after leaving the University.
Our masters courses in civil and environmental engineering open up a huge range of career opportunities, including with major consultancies and contractors.
Recent MSc graduates have been employed by:
- AECOM
- Amey
- Arcadis
- ARUP
- A-squared Studio
- Atkins
- Capita Real Estate and Infrastructure
- Fluor
- Highways England
- Laing O’Rourke
- Mott MacDonald
- Peter Brett Associates
- WSP.
UK qualifications
A minimum of a 2:2 UK honours degree in civil engineering (or geology, engineering geology and other allied subjects), or equivalent recognised international degree.
Applicants will be considered on an individual basis, based on strength in specific subjects related to the MSc programme and/or professional experience.
English language requirements
IELTS Academic: 6.5 overall with 6.0 in writing and 5.5 in each other element.
These are the English language qualifications and levels that we can accept.
If you do not currently meet the level required for your programme, we offer intensive pre-sessional English language courses, designed to take you to the level of English ability and skill required for your studies here.
Recognition of prior learning
We recognise that many students enter their course with valuable knowledge and skills developed through a range of ways.
If this applies to you, the recognition of prior learning process may mean you can join a course without the formal entry requirements, or at a point appropriate to your previous learning and experience.
There are restrictions for some courses and fees may be payable for certain claims. Please contact the Admissions team with any queries.
Placements
This two-year MSc includes a placement year which enables you to gain invaluable professional experience working within an organisation.
After a year of full-time study at Surrey, you'll spend up to an additional 12 months on placement. You'll be responsible for securing your own placement, but we’ll support you in your search with a series of employability workshops and individual coaching.
We work closely with potential employers to help facilitate your successful placement. In addition to this, our award-winning Employability and Careers team are always ready to help, and they can provide you with a range of specialist resources and advice.
Scholarships and bursaries
Discover what scholarships and bursaries are available to support your studies.
Fees per year
Explore UKCISA’s website for more information if you are unsure whether you are a UK or overseas student. View the list of fees for all postgraduate courses.
September 2025 - Full-time (with placement) - 2 years
- UK
- To be confirmed
- Overseas
- To be confirmed
- These fees apply to students commencing study in the academic year 2025-26 only. Fees for new starters are reviewed annually.
Payment schedule
- Students with Tuition Fee Loan: the Student Loans Company pay fees in line with their schedule (students on an unstructured self-paced part-time course are not eligible for a Tuition Fee Loan).
- Students without a Tuition Fee Loan: pay their fees either in full at the beginning of the programme or in two instalments as follows:
- 50% payable 10 days after the invoice date (expected to be October/November of each academic year)
- 50% in January of the same academic year.
- Students on part-time programmes where fees are paid on a modular basis: cannot pay fees by instalment.
- Sponsored students: must provide us with valid sponsorship information that covers the period of study.
The exact date(s) will be on invoices.
Funding
You may be able to borrow money to help pay your tuition fees and support you with your living costs. Find out more about postgraduate student finance.
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Our code of practice for postgraduate admissions policy explains how the Admissions team considers applications and admits students. Read our postgraduate applicant guidance for more information on applying.
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Terms and conditions
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We provide these terms and conditions at offer stage and are shown again at registration. You will be asked to accept these terms and conditions when you accept the offer made to you.
View our generic registration terms and conditions (PDF) for the 2025/26 academic year, as a guide on what to expect.
Disclaimer
This online prospectus has been published in advance of the academic year to which it applies.
Whilst we have done everything possible to ensure this information is accurate, some changes may happen between publishing and the start of the course.
It is important to check this website for any updates before you apply for a course with us. Read our full disclaimer.
Subject to validation
This programme is subject to approval. This means that it has received initial agreement from the University and is currently undergoing a detailed final approval exercise, through the University’s quality assurance processes.
These processes are a requirement for all Higher Education Institutions within the UK, to ensure that programmes are of the highest standard. Occasionally there may be instances where the University may delay or not approve the introduction of the programme.