Environmental Engineering

Brochure Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering

The aim of the Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering is to provide in-depth knowledge of concepts and criteria that are fundamental to an understanding of the relations between human activity and the environment. The master’s degree provides up-to-date training in technologies for the prevention and treatment of pollution, as well as basic tools for managing and guaranteeing the quality of the environment. It produces graduates who are able to practise their profession with due regard to ethics and the proper management of environmental issues.

This master's degree provides multidisciplinary scientific, technical and technological knowledge for identifying, measuring, predicting and correcting environmental problems, which will enable you to make decisions and lead teams. It is aimed at anyone who is interested in deepening their knowledge in the field of environmental engineering from different perspectives who meet the general and specific access requirements.

Master's program in the process of EXTINCTION due to curriculum change starting from the academic year 2024-2025. Please consult the extinction and adaptation calendar at Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering (2024 program)

Academic year starts in Fall semester (Q1): September
Spring semester (Q2): February
Duration 2 years
Study load 120 ECTS (including the Master's Final Thesis)
Minimum academic progress The minimum academic progress for first year students is 30 ECTS.
Delivery On-campus
Enrolment
  • Full-time
    At least 30 ECTS enrolled on the first year, and up to 72 ECTS the rest of the years
  • Part-time
    At least 30 ECTS (and up to 60 ETCS) enrolled on the first year, and up to 72 ECTS the rest of the years
Language Spanish
Places 30
Official degree Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (recorded in the Spanish Ministry of Education's degree register)
Fees

More information about fees and payment options

More information about grants and loans

Academic coordinator Daniel Fernández García

Specific admission requirements

In order to gain admission to the Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering, you must be a:

  • Holder of a bachelor's degree in architecture or engineering in the areas of civil engineering, industrial engineering, chemistry, the environment, forestry, mining, physics, biology or agriculture.
  • Holder of a bachelor's degree in environmental, chemical, physical, biological or geological sciences.
  • Holder of a pre-EHEA Spanish degree in architecture or engineering in the areas of civil engineering, industrial engineering, chemistry, the environment, forestry, mining, physics, biology or agriculture.
  • Holder of a pre-EHEA Spanish diploma in environmental, chemical, physical, biological or geological sciences.
  • Holder of a pre-EHEA Spanish degree in environmental, chemical, physical, biological or geological sciences.

Candidates seeking admission who have qualifications other than those mentioned above will be reviewed by the master's degree committee with the aim of establishing the bridging courses they must take.

Students pending obtaining the degree that gives access to the master's degree

UPC undergraduate students who, despite not having obtained the bachelor’s degree, have pending the TFG and, at most, up to 9 ECTS (including credits pending recognition or transfer) or who have completed their studies, but are waiting to achieve, if possible, transversal competence in a third language. Under no circumstances will students who access this route be able to obtain a master's degree if they have not previously obtained a bachelor's degree.

Candidates from other universities who are enrolled in all the credits to complete the studies that give access to the master's degree can apply for access. Acceptance will be conditioned to the fulfillment of the general and specific access and admission requirements at the time of formalizing the registration.

You will find all the information about the general Access requirements to UPC master's programs here.

Admission criteria

The following factors or parameters are considered for admission to the Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering:

The relationship between prior formation and the academic and professional competencies established for this master's degree will also be taken into account in the final weighting score.

You can check the results of the evaluation and selection of the applications for the current academic year here.

Pre-enrolment and enrolment

Check here the general admission requirements for UPC masters and information on pre-enrolment: calendar, how to apply for admission, how to reserve a place if the resolution is favourable, etc.

Career opportunities

The master’s degree in Environmental Engineering is a strategic, high-level master’s programme aimed at training environmental engineers and providing them with the skills needed to take decisions and lead teams. Graduates will have the scientific and technical knowledge required to identify, measure, prevent and correct environmental problems, and the skills needed to define, select and develop appropriate solutions and technologies, technological and management tools, and related action programmes. The master’s degree combines advanced scientific content and applied engineering methods in a balanced way to produce graduates who are able to solve complex problems involving different aspects of environmental engineering or successfully undertake doctoral studies in these areas. Graduates are hired mainly by engineering and environmental consulting firms, construction companies, government agencies (local, provincial, regional and state-level), universities (doctoral-level teaching) and research institutes.

Competencies

General competencies

Generic competencies are the skills that graduates acquire regardless of the specific course or field of study. The generic competencies established by the UPC are capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship, sustainability and social commitment, knowledge of a foreign language (preferably English), teamwork and proper use of information resources.

Specific competencies

On completing this master's degree, students will be able to:

  • Conceptualise engineering within the framework of sustainable development.
  • Know and familiarise themselves with legislation applicable in the sector and become involved by making proposals.
  • Direct, coordinate and develop complete projects in all areas of environmental engineering.
  • Identify and design solutions for environmental problems within an ethical, social and economic framework.
  • Understand the interaction of their work with society and the environment, locally and globally, in order to identify possible challenges, risks and impacts and to design appropriate solutions.
  • Design and use infrastructures and installations for purifying and treating water, correctly managing waste, maintaining air quality and the treating polluted sites, taking the regulatory and legal framework into account.
  • Come up with systems for monitoring the quality of air, water and soil.
  • Define, coordinate and implement environmental management systems and environmental impact studies.
  • Be involved in the design of processes and products through the use of appropriate techniques (cleaner technologies, life cycle analysis, etc).
  • Identify, design, construct, operate and deconstruct the systems of modern society, taking into account the legal, economic and social framework, which involves the management and the optimum use of natural resources.
  • Develop new systems to protect people and the environment from existing environmental damage, while progressing towards sustainable development.
  • Understand the contribution and the effect of their work in different cultural, social and political contexts.

For more information on course groups, coordinators and codes check the printer version of the curriculum.

COURSES

ECTS

First year
Fall semester
250653 - Climate & climate change 5
250654 - Introduction to environmental biotechnology 5
250655 - Environmental systems 5
250660 - Characterization, management & treatment of air pollution 5
250661 - Environmental economics, legislation & policy 5
250673 - Characterization, management & treatment of waste 5
Spring semester
250462 - Life-cycle analysis & sustainability assessment 5
250656 - Geochemical processes 5
250658 - Characterization, management & treatment of soil & groundwater contamination 5
250662 - Systems & tools of environmental management 5
250672 - Modeling of environmental systems 5
250680 - Energy & environment 5
Second year
Fall semester
Mandatory courses
250659 - Characterization, management & treatment of water pollution 5
250663 - Management of environmental projects 5
Elective courses
250665 - Noise pollution 5
250666 - Water of provision 5
250674 - Organic contaminants in aquatic ecosystems & their environmental risk 5
250667 - Integrated environmental assessment of building materials 5
250668 - Ecomaterials & sustainable construction 5
250670 - Food industry & environment 5
250679 - Socio-environmental statistics & decision-making 5
480092 - Industrial ecology 5
250681 - Laboratory of environmental engineering 5
820742 - Biogas and biofuel 5
Spring semester
Elective courses
250669 - Advanced treatment of industrial wastewater 5
250675 - Management of infrastructures of waste treatment 5
250677 - Environmental geology 5
250678 - Environmental & ecological economics 5
250683 - Environmental oceanography 5
480081 - Urban metabolism & ecological urbanism 5
Fall & spring semesters
250699 - Master's thesis 30
Professional placement 12 to 15

Students enrolled at UPC for the Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering can access the following information:

The Master's Thesis is an original exercise to be done individually and presented and defended before a university panel consisting in a project in the sphere of the specific civil engineering technologies synthesising and integrating the competences acquired on the course.

This program has been awarded the following quality label: