After getting your Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, you can further specialise by completing a master’s. This is what most graduates choose. A few join the job market straight away or start their own business.
Most graduates choose to continue studying at UT: around 70% continue on to one of our master’s. With your bachelor’s diploma, you are directly admissible to the programmes listed below.
If you want to complete a different master’s at UT, such as Mechanical Engineering or Industrial Engineering & Management, you will be required to do a pre-master’s. Check the transfer matrix for transfer requirements for all master's programmes at UT.
Of course, with your Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, you can also continue on to a master’s at other universities, in the Netherlands or abroad. You will be admissible to most Civil Engineering Master’s with your Bachelor’s degree.
Even a Master’s in social sciences, such as Psychology, Philosophy or Business Administration, is possible after finalising a pre-master's programme. Some students combine their post-graduate studies with our Dutch-taught Master’s in Science Education & Communication, which allows you to work in education, among other things.
Most students do not enter the job market until they have a Master's degree, although you can do so after your Bachelor's. Thanks to the inter- and multidisciplinary nature of our Civil Engineering Bachelor's degree and the subsequent Master's at UT, you can pursue many different directions. You will be well-prepared for positions that focus on building and construction, as well as the organisational aspects surrounding them. There is a lot of demand for people who feel at home in both areas, both in the Netherlands and abroad.
You can set to work at engineering and consultancy firms – such as Tauw or Royal HaskoningDHV – as a designer of bridges, roads or dams, or as project leader. You help these clients by helping to carry out complex model analysis or by creating a civil engineering design. Some consulting firms specialise in areas such as water management or infrastructure for the oil industry. In the latter sector, there is also a lot of demand for civil engineers with a broad, interdisciplinary perspective.
Governments and public organisations – for example, government bodies, provincial governments, municipalities, or water boards – initiate many civil engineering projects. They ask engineers and consultants, but also contractors to carry out these projects. Also, together with research institutions, they research new developments. With employers like these, you could work, for example, in the role of a project manager, supervising technical solutions from design to realization and maintenance. You can also set to work as a researcher, analysing complex challenges from a multidisciplinary perspective.
With your knowledge of organizing construction processes, you will be highly sought after by large contractors and project developers, such as Arcadis or Ballast Nedam. At first, you will gain experience in (executive) construction, for example, as an assistant project leader or management trainee. Later you can move on to other roles. The key is that you will be able to combine knowledge from different scientific areas to give new solutions a place in a complex business environment.
After finishing your Master's, you can work as a researcher at the UT or another university, by following a PhD or EngD programme. You can also work as a researcher at research institutes and knowledge centres such as Deltares or TNO.
You can also start your own business with a solution that you have developed. UT is recognised as ‘the most entrepreneurial university’ in the Netherlands. We are strong in applying expertise to meaningfully influence society. Together with our students, we like to work with the innovation specialists from Novel-T, who like to tap into promising innovative business cases.