Study Areas

Civil Engineering

What is civil engineering?

Civil engineering gives you the opportunity to benefit the community in many ways. You are able to specialise in design, construction, research and development or teaching.

You could be responsible for the design or construction of:

dams used for flood mitigation, water supplies, irrigation and hydro-electric power, as well as all the associated infrastructure works
major public utilities such as railways, urban and country roads, freeways, bridges, tunnels, airports, docks and harbours
the foundations and superstructures of buildings as diverse as domestic houses, hospitals and skyscrapers
water and wastewater treatment plants, coastal protection schemes and other environmental protection works.

Career opportunities

Most civil engineering students at USQ have secured employment before they complete their course and in the past all students have found employment within a short time of graduating.

Civil Engineering offers a unique range of career opportunities. You can work in an office, on a site in the middle of a city or in the bush. You can work for yourself or somebody else. As well as the many exciting opportunities in Australia, there are great opportunities overseas, in a wide range of building and development projects, including infrastructure development.

As a civil engineer, you would work closely with a wide range of people so project management skills are an important part of the program at USQ. We aim to make you an effective communicator and manager.

Research opportunities

If you specialise in research and development, you will focus on trying to find solutions to the many problems which arise in practice. You might develop new materials and new methods of design and construction which would lead to improvements in the key areas of economy and safety. You may pass on these new developments through publication in learned journals, at conferences or university teaching.