MSc/PgDip Sustainable Engineering: Marine Technology

Key facts

  • Start date: January & September
  • Accreditation: RINA / IMarEST / meets the key requirements to attain Chartered Engineer status
  • Study mode and duration: MSc:12 months full-time
    PgDip: 9 months full-time
    *September start only
  • 1st in Europe & 3rd in the world for Marine/Ocean Engineering (Shanghai Rankings Academic Ranking 2022)

Study with us

  • one of the pathways offered in the Sustainable Engineering programe
  • combines study in specialist, advanced engineering technologies underpinned with training in sustainability
  • cross-disciplinary programme with input from industry
  • satisfy key requirements to attain Chartered Engineer status
  • develop sought-after understanding of sustainable approaches and practices
Back to course

Why this course?

This flexible programme combines study in specialist, advanced engineering technologies underpinned with training in sustainability. The programme has been developed with direct industrial involvement to provide you with a solid understanding of modern, sustainable engineering. As well as gaining an understanding of how sustainable engineering applies to Marine Technology, this programme will also provide you with key transferable skills to aid your employability.

The course is designed for experienced or newly-qualified engineers in:

  • Naval Architecture
  • Marine Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Civil Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering or related disciplines

The Department of Naval Architecture, Ocean & Marine Engineering (NAOME), a leading institution in Scotland, offers excellent teaching and research facilities in naval architecture, ocean and marine engineering, which expands your career opportunities in naval architecture, marine, offshore oil and gas industry.

Ship's superstructure, bridge and navigation sensors

THE Awards 2019: UK University of the Year Winner

What you’ll study

Studying at least three generic modules will meet the key requirements to attain Chartered Engineer status.

You must take three specialist modules if you are studying for the Postgraduate Certificate and up to five if you are studying for a Postgraduate Diploma or MSc.

Successful completion of six modules leads to the award of a Postgraduate Certificate.

Group project

You’ll work with a group of students from different pathways of the Sustainable Engineering programme. You’ll produce sustainable solutions to real-life industry problems. This project will include site visits, field trips and progress reports to industry partners.

Successful completion of eight modules and the group project leads to the award of a Postgraduate Diploma.

Individual project (MSc only)

MSc students will study a selected topic in depth and submit a thesis.

Successful completion of eight modules, the group project and an individual project leads to the award of an MSc.

Facilities

We have excellent teaching facilities including:

  • Catalina – our departmental racing yacht
  • Kelvin Hydrodynamics Lab – the largest ship-model experiment tank in any UK university
  • Towing/wave tank exclusively for teaching purposes
  • Marine engine laboratory
  • Cutting-edge computer facilities
  • Industry standard software

Student competitions

NAOME supports and promotes students in various competitions and awards, from cash bursaries for top performing students to the highest of awards from international organisations.

In recent years, students from NAOME have been triumphant in the following high profile competitions:

  • Science, Engineering & Technology Student of the Year (SET Awards)
  • Best Maritime Technology Student (SET Awards)
  • Double winner of BP’s Ultimate Field Trip Competition
  • Strathclyder of the Year
Go back

Course content

A typical selection of classes offered on the programme are outlined below. Please note that these classes may be subject to change.

Maritime Safety & Risk

This module aims to demonstrate how the principles and methods of risk analysis are undertaken and reflected in safety assessment. Risk analysis offers a variety of methods, tools and techniques that can be applied in solving problems covering different phases of the life cycle of a vessel (design, construction, operation and end-of-life) and, as such, this module will also elaborate on the practicalities of its application to a range of marine scenarios.

This module covers:

  • safety, risk and risk analysis; key terminology; lessons learnt from past experience; human factors.
  • formal safety assessment
  • hazard Identification
  • frequency analysis and consequence modelling
  • quantitative risk assessment methods
  • risk control and decision support, cost benefit analysis
  • human Factors and Safety culture in the maritime
  • industry guest lectures addressing topical issues related to maritime safety and risk

At the end of this module you'll be able to:

  • understand the concepts and importance of safety, risk and of all requisite fundamentals enabling quantification of risk in the maritime context
  • utilise methods and tools undertaking fundamental studies, specific to any component, system or function and in general first-principles implementation to life-cycle design
  • understand and have experience of the use of risk analysis in the marine field via related case studies (risk-based ship design, operation and regulation).
  • be able to appreciate components of a formal safety assessment and apply it for indicative problems of maritime operations

Assessment and feedback are in the form of one final exam (during Semester-2 diet) and two coursework assignments (assignment-one focusses on accident investigation, assignment-two is a safety assessment case study).

Risers & Mooring Lines

This module aims to:

  • give an overview of the current deep-water oil and gas developments around the world and the technical challenges in terms of riser and mooring line design
  • demonstrate methods for modelling and analysing risers and mooring lines

This module covers:

  • oil & gas field development options: platform types, marine riser systems, current design trends and deep-water challenges
  • riser systems: flexible pipe structure, typical configurations, top-tensioned vertical risers, hybrid risers.
  • flow assurance: multi-phase flow, deposition of solids, thermal management
  • riser analysis: governing equations, boundary conditions, natural frequency
  • mooring lines: typical mooring configuration, material and construction, anchors and ancillary equipment, static mooring line analysis
  • vortex induced vibration: drag, vortex shedding, surface roughness, lift, Strouhal number, VIV assessment, fatigue life calculation

On completion of the module you're expected to have

  • an overview of mooring lines and marine risers for deep-water floating offshore platforms
  • an understanding of the generic hydrodynamic issues
  • a grasp of the analytical/numerical methods for analysing risers and mooring lines

You'll carry out the coursework individually using the knowledge taught during lectures and computer lab sessions.

Advanced Marine Structures

This module aims to provide you with an understanding of the response of surface ships, at both a global and a local level. Structural analysis and design will both be discussed.

This module will teach the following:

  • introduction to ship structures and structural design principles
  • loads acting on ship structures
  • longitudinal strength of surface ships
  • analysis and design of columns and beam-columns
  • analysis and design of un-stiffened and stiffened plated structures
  • design of hull girder mid-ship section components from first principles

On completion of this module, you'll have gained:

  • an understanding of the nature of ship hull structures, the role of various components and ship structural design issues
  • an understanding of load action and its effects at a local and a global level
  • an understanding of how to analyse the global response of surface ships
  • an understanding of the basics of ship hull girder analysis at a local level
  • an understanding of a systematic ship structural design procedure at a global level

Assessment and feedback are in the form of a two-hour exam. You need to gain an overall mark of 50% to pass the module.

Sustainability

This class aims to provide you with an understanding of the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development. The social, environmental and economic impact of development strategies will be identified and the mitigation of negative impacts discussed.

Design & Construction of Floating, Production, Storage & Offloading Vessels

This module aims to introduce the shipbuilding technologies and equipment used in the construction of FPSO vessels. It will also provide an introduction to the ship design process as applied to FPSO vessels.

This module will teach the following:

FPSO Construction:

  • overview of facilities for shipbuilding
  • the shipbuilding process including the integration of hull construction, outfitting and painting
  • the role of product definition

FPSO Design:

  • functional requirements and design drivers
  • typical layouts and sizes
  • hullform and marine system arrangements
  • platform-topsides interfaces
  • comparison of new-build and conversion approaches
  • design process and schedules

On completion of the module the you're expected to be able to:

  • understand the technologies and processes involved in constructing FPSO vessels
  • appreciate the interaction between design and construction of FPSO vessels, especially in relation to conversions
  • understand the relationships between functional requirements and design solutions for FPSO vessels
  • demonstrate their awareness of the importance of marine systems and the platform-topsides interface in a successful solution

Assessment and feedback are in the form of coursework. You'll carry out the coursework in groups using the knowledge taught during lectures and tutorials and by referring to the other literature resources.

Theory & Practice of Marine Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

This module aims to introduce you to the theoretical background of marine CFD using the finite volume method. It also aims to illustrate the key ideas related to discretisation and solution of the fluid flow governing equations for incompressible flows. This module also aims to discuss some key issues related to the use of CFD packages in practical applications

This module covers:

  • briefing of basic CFD procedure
  • introduce fluid flow governing equations and their simplified forms
  • introduce CFD mesh generation
  • discretisation of governing equations and boundary conditions
  • introduce temporal discretisation
  • the solution of discretised equations
  • CFD software package use

At the end of this module you'll be able to:

  • be familiar with the basis for the key equations of CFD for incompressible flow in finite volume form
  • understand in principle how these equations may be discretised and solved numerically
  • apply commercial CFD package to simple two-dimensional engineering problem

Assessments are in the form of exam.

Design Management

This class provides a structured introduction to the design management process, issues and tools.

Risk Management

You'll explore the entire process of structuring a risk problem, modelling it, supporting and communicating recommendations, both theoretically and in practice. Risk management is linked with decision analysis in so far as we explore decision-making under uncertainty and it has links with quantitative business analysis as we explore the use of statistics in understanding risk. However, the topic has some unique attributes such as risk communication and the role that experts play in risk assessment.

Environmental Impact Assessment
Project Management
This class aims to provide you with skills relating to the use of engineering practices in project management with particular respect to the effective and efficient use of resources.
Computational Free-Surface Hydrodynamics

This module aims to introduce you to:

  • the theory background for solving turbulence flow and free-surface problems using Computational Fluid Dynamics method
  • basic knowledge for CFD coding

This module covers:

  • the challenges for modelling turbulence
  • the most widely used turbulent models and their applications
  • what are the basic techniques for CFD software coding?
  • what are the key issues and modelling methods to cope with free-surface capturing problem
  • how to use turbulent modelling and free-surface problem with commercial CFD software package
  • how to use User-Defined Function (UDF) to coding and solve customised CFD problem

At the end of this module you'll be able to:

  • understand the main methods in CFD to deal with turbulence and free-surface issues
  • understand basic skills for CFD coding
  • apply commercial CFD software package and develop UDF to solve three relevant problems with their applications in ocean engineering

Assessment and feedback are in the form of course work and individual interview.

Learning & teaching

There are two teaching semesters of 11 weeks each.

Each year about 15 experts from the industry give talks and seminars on wide-ranging topics. Industrial visits are made to a variety of companies.

You’re required to attend an induction prior to the start of the course.

Assessment

There are two types of method for module assessment. One is course work assessment only, the other is examination assessment. For examined modules the final assessment mark consists of 30-40% course work and 60-70% examination.

Chat to a student ambassador

If you want to know more about what it’s like to be an Engineering student at the University of Strathclyde, a selection of our current students are here to help!

Our Unibuddy ambassadors can answer all the questions you might have about courses and studying at Strathclyde, along with offering insight into their experiences of life in Glasgow and Scotland.

Chat now!
Back to course

Entry requirements

Academic requirements/experience

Normally a first-class or second-class honours degree (or international equivalent) in architecture, engineering or related subject.

Entry may be possible with other qualifications provided there is evidence of relevant experience and of the capacity for postgraduate study.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, please visit our English language requirements page for full details of the requirements in place before making your application.

Pre-Masters preparation course

The Pre-Masters Programme is a preparation course held at the University of Strathclyde International Study Centre, for international students (non EU/UK) who do not meet the academic entry requirements for a Masters degree at University of Strathclyde. The Pre-Masters programme provides progression to a number of degree options.

Upon successful completion, you'll be able to progress to this degree course at the University of Strathclyde.

British Council GREAT Scholarships

In partnership with the British Council and the GREAT Britain Campaign, The University of Strathclyde, Faculty of Engineering is offering scholarships to students in India, Malaysia and Thailand applying for postgraduate courses in the areas of environmental sciences and climate change, including for this course. The scholarship programme offers financial support of a minimum of £10,000 to students pursuing specific one-year postgraduate courses within the Faculty of Engineering at Strathclyde.

To be considered applicants should typically have a 2:1 (or equivalent) in their undergraduate degree and have an offer for an eligible course at the University of Strathclyde. Please note that applicants should be passport holders of India, Malaysia or Thailand and there is 3 scholarships available - one for India, one for Malaysia and one for Thailand.

The deadline for applications is 1 June 2023. 

Find out more

International students

We've a thriving international community with students coming here to study from over 100 countries across the world. Find out all you need to know about studying in Glasgow at Strathclyde and hear from students about their experiences.

Visit our international students' section

Map of the world.

Back to course

Fees & funding

All fees quoted are for full-time courses and per academic year unless stated otherwise.

Please note, for courses that have a January 2023 start date, 2022/23 academic year fees will apply. For courses that have a September 2023 and a January 2024 start date, 2023/24 academic year fees will apply.

Fees may be subject to updates to maintain accuracy. Tuition fees will be notified in your offer letter.

All fees are in £ sterling, unless otherwise stated, and may be subject to revision.

Annual revision of fees

Students on programmes of study of more than one year should be aware that tuition fees are revised annually and may increase in subsequent years of study. Annual increases will generally reflect UK inflation rates and increases to programme delivery costs.

Go back
Scotland

£9,250

England, Wales & Northern Ireland

£9,250

International

£23,050

Additional costs

Course materials & costs

Printing Services Printing: Prices variable per size

Binding: £3 per copy approx.

Placements & field trips

Travel to the Kelvin Hydrodynamics Laboratory may be required depending on selected courses. Frequency variable: Average 5 visits if relevant to subjects. Bus fare is £2-3 each way.  

Other costs

Access cards are provided free of charge. £10 charge to replace a lost card.

Visa & immigration

International students may have associated visa and immigration costs. Please see student visa guidance for more information.

Available scholarships

Take a look at our scholarships search for funding opportunities.

Please note: the fees shown are annual and may be subject to an increase each year. Find out more about fees.

Back to course

Fees & funding

All fees quoted are for full-time courses and per academic year unless stated otherwise.

Please note, for courses that have a January 2023 start date, 2022/23 academic year fees will apply. For courses that have a September 2023 and a January 2024 start date, 2023/24 academic year fees will apply.

Fees may be subject to updates to maintain accuracy. Tuition fees will be notified in your offer letter.

All fees are in £ sterling, unless otherwise stated, and may be subject to revision.

Annual revision of fees

Students on programmes of study of more than one year should be aware that tuition fees are revised annually and may increase in subsequent years of study. Annual increases will generally reflect UK inflation rates and increases to programme delivery costs.

Go back
Scotland

£9,600

England, Wales & Northern Ireland

£9,600

International

£24,450

Additional costs

Course materials & costs

Printing Services Printing: Prices variable per size

Binding: £3 per copy approx.

Placements & field trips

Travel to the Kelvin Hydrodynamics Laboratory may be required depending on selected courses. Frequency variable: Average 5 visits if relevant to subjects. Bus fare £2-3 each way.  

Other costs

Access cards are provided free of charge. £10 charge to replace a lost card.

Available scholarships

Take a look at our scholarships search for funding opportunities.

Please note: the fees shown are annual and may be subject to an increase each year. Find out more about fees.

How can I fund my course?

Go back

Scottish postgraduate students

Scottish postgraduate students may be able to apply for support from the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS). The support is in the form of a tuition fee loan and for eligible students, a living cost loan. Find out more about the support and how to apply.

Don’t forget to check our scholarship search for more help with fees and funding.

Go back

Students coming from England

Students ordinarily resident in England may be to apply for postgraduate support from Student Finance England. The support is a loan of up to £10,280 which can be used for both tuition fees and living costs. Find out more about the support and how to apply.

Don’t forget to check our scholarship search for more help with fees and funding.

Go back

Students coming from Wales

Students ordinarily resident in Wales may be to apply for postgraduate support from Student Finance Wales. The support is a loan of up to £10,280 which can be used for both tuition fees and living costs. Find out more about the support and how to apply.

Don’t forget to check our scholarship search for more help with fees and funding.

Go back

Students coming from Northern Ireland

Postgraduate students who are ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland may be able to apply for support from Student Finance Northern Ireland. The support is a tuition fee loan of up to £5,500. Find out more about the support and how to apply.

Don’t forget to check our scholarship search for more help with fees and funding.

Go back

International students

We've a large range of scholarships available to help you fund your studies. Check our scholarship search for more help with fees and funding.

Faculty of Engineering Scholarships for International Students

If you're an international applicant applying for a full-time, on-campus postgraduate taught course in the Faculty of Engineering, you'll be eligible to apply for a scholarship award equivalent to a 15% reduction of your tuition fees, which will typically be £3,670.

In addition to this, we also have a limited number of Dean’s International Excellence Awards for our postgraduate taught applicants. These scholarships are worth £5,000 and £8,000 and will be offered to exceptional applicants at postgraduate taught level only. Applicants need to only submit one application and will be considered for all levels of postgraduate taught scholarships.

Scholarships are available for applicants to all self-funded, new international (non-EU) fee paying students holding an offer of study for a full-time, on campus postgraduate taught course in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Strathclyde.

Please note you must have an offer of study for a full-time course at Strathclyde before applying. You must start your full-time postgraduate taught course at Strathclyde in the coming academic year (2023-24), this can be in September 2023 or January 2024.

The deadline for applications for the Dean’s International Excellence Award is 30 June 2023.

Faculty of Engineering Scholarships for International Students
Back to course

Careers

As a graduate you’re prepared for a wide range of challenging and rewarding careers in the marine and related industries. These include:

  • design and construction of all types of marine vehicles
  • project management
  • systems design
  • safety management
  • support services
  • classification societies
  • consultancy services.

Glasgow is Scotland's biggest & most cosmopolitan city

Our campus is based right in the very heart of Glasgow. We're in the city centre, next to the Merchant City, both of which are great locations for sightseeing, shopping and socialising alongside your studies.

Life in Glasgow

Gallery of Modern Art, Royal Exchange Square.

Back to course

Apply

During the application process, you're required to upload the following supporting documents. If these are not provided, we'll not be able to process your application:

  • certified individual semester mark sheets/academic transcript showing subjects taken and grades achieved for all qualifications; please note consolidated transcripts are not accepted
    • if still studying, provide individual semester mark sheets to date
  • certified degree certificate for all qualifications
    • if still studying, provide this after completing the qualification
  • provide evidence of suitable English language proficiency if English is not your first language, or you're not from a “UKVI recognised "Majority English Speaking" country”; check the University’s language requirements
  • if you have been out of full-time education for over two years, provide a CV, detailing employment history, organisations worked for and a brief description of roles and responsibilities
  • a copy of your passport containing your photo and passport number
  • a copy of your sponsor letter/scholarship award (if appropriate) 
  • names, job titles and email addresses for two nominated referees

January intake

Applications for January 2024 are not yet open for this course. In the meantime, please register your interest for January 2024 and we’ll let you know when applications are open.

Please note that courses are subject to approval and may be withdrawn at any time.

Start date: Sep 2023

Sustainable Engineering: Marine Technology

MSc
full-time
Start date: Sep 2023