Civil Engineering with Integrated Foundation Year
Civil engineering is the discipline responsible for designing, building, and maintaining the physical infrastructure that modern society depends on: roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, railways, dams, water supply systems, sewage treatment, coastal defences, and the foundations of buildings. It is one of the oldest engineering professions, and its practitioners combine deep technical knowledge of structures, materials, geotechnics, hydraulics, and environmental engineering with the project management, communication, and leadership skills needed to deliver complex infrastructure safely and on budget. Civil engineers work at every scale, from individual structures to entire urban systems, and they bear genuine public responsibility for the safety and durability of what they build.
At the University of Brighton, this five-year programme includes an integrated foundation year, making it accessible to students who do not yet meet the standard entry requirements for degree-level engineering, as well as a sandwich year with a work placement. The foundation year builds the mathematics, physics, and academic skills needed for the main degree. The subsequent engineering curriculum covers structural analysis, geotechnics, hydraulics, transportation engineering, environmental engineering, construction materials, and project management, alongside design and computing tools including CAD and finite element analysis software.
The sandwich placement gives you extended professional experience in a civil engineering organisation before you complete your degree, which is a significant differentiator in a profession that values practical experience alongside academic training.
Civil engineering graduates are in sustained demand, particularly as the UK faces significant investment needs in housing, transport infrastructure, and climate adaptation. Consulting engineering firms, construction contractors, government departments such as Highways England and Network Rail, and local authorities are major employers. Structural, transportation, geotechnical, environmental, and water engineering are areas of specialist practice within the profession.
Many graduates work towards chartered engineer status through the Institution of Civil Engineers. Postgraduate study in structural engineering, environmental engineering, or construction management is an option for those who want to develop specialist expertise.