South East 7

The MSc in Highways Engineering is the first postgraduate qualification in the UK to cover the specialised area of highways management.

A collaboration between the South East 7 councils, private sector contractors and the 91¶¶Òõ; the course was developed to better equip civil engineers to meet the specific demands of public sector highways management.

Developing the course 

The South East 7 group of councils initiated the development of the two-year work-based learning course together with the 91¶¶Òõ.

Phil Samms, Head of Highways for Hampshire County Highways was present at the very first meeting with the university when the concept was discussed.

His objective was for recently qualified civil engineers to develop technical skills in highways engineering, while also gaining management skills and a broader understanding of the political context.

To ensure the course would achieve this, and drive sector-wide improvements, the South East 7 councils collaborated with private highways contractors Balfour Beatty, May Gurney and Amey to develop the course.

Both Samms and Kolaru remain closely involved with student assessment and course refinement, and each of the six course modules has both an academic and an industry lead.

This continued collaboration ensures that the course remains academically rigorous while focused on the realities and the needs of the industry.

Kolaru has already seen how individuals on the course have benefitted, stating that he had noticed an increase in confidence in the student’s application of their highways management knowledge.

He also noted an increase in the student’s ability to see things in a wider context as according to him, a fundamental part of understanding highways management is understanding the political, budgetary and community pressures.

Developing technical and professional skills in highways management

Riaan Kruger was one of the first cohort of students who enrolled on the MSc in February 2012.

As an experienced civil engineer and project manager with May Gurney he was also involved in the development of the course and feels he has gained a huge amount of knowledge and technical skills from the course.

As part of the MSc, Riaan and other students had to develop a portfolio with evidence of they have put the theory learnt into practise which Riaan found very useful in shaping how he does his work.

He said:

"The course is a very good way to integrate learning with working, and I have found my professional capabilities have expanded exponentially."