Master in Environmental Engineering

Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering

Presentation

In order to produce, the industry and business in general essentially need raw materials, energy and water. Raw materials generally come from non-renewable natural resources, energy requires from important environmental impacts to e produced, and lastly, water must also be considered as a limited natural resource. In a parallel way, the production process causes pollutants, atmospheric pollutants or noises, vibrations, wastes and waste waters. Then, it is easily identifiable that the production process has a very notable incidence on the environment at different levels.

The business’ carelessness regarding the impacts their operation had been producing on the environment has become evident in the consumption of natural resources and the consequently pollution.

Currently, this attitude is changing and this makes it necessary for business to worry about the environment and adopt the policies needed to save as much as possible the resources’ consumption and to contaminate less, all of that keeping up with the same competitiveness level.

Markets globalization has meant an increase in the competitiveness between organizations and the break of many business paradigms. Nowadays, an organization cannot afford a one-dimensional vision of its productive process, but must take into account a multitude of environmental, social, economic and ethical factors. This means that it is not only necessary to produce with good quality at a lesser cost, but that it is also necessary to do so respecting the environment and the social conditions, the employees’s and the community where the production takes place or to whom the product is destined.

Obviously, it all leads to the need for counting on professionals who are capable of having a series of general competencies -instrumental, personal and systemic who work as environmental engineers or whose professional practice is linked to a line of research that is associated with such competencies

In this way, the Master in Environmental Engineering is conceived as an specialized postgraduate and aimed at training professionals to solve the environmental problems and to adopt good practices in an industrial environment, which is why it is a professionally-oriented master’s degree.

The training methodology integrates practices that are aimed at acquiring basic as well as specialized knowledge, what means an approach to the society needs, at the same time that it powers the scientific interest.

Learning Results

Throughout the Master in Integrated Management: Environment, Quality and Safety, students will have to develop the following competencies:

  • Identifying the more appropriate management way for a certain type of urban or industrial solid waste, according to the hierarchic model of integral waste management boosted by the framework directive of the European Union.
  • Evaluating which subproducts are the most appropriate to produce dense and light construction materials and assessing the economic and environmental implications
  • Relating the vitrification technology with the interting of toxic and hazardous products
  • Planning a methodology for the recovery of all types of solid waste, from an integral model that meets a series of variables (social, environmental, economic, etc.) and define the necessary tools for their instrumentation in the legislation framework in force.
  • Identifying the most appropriate purifying technique (physical-chemical or biological) depending on the characteristics of the influencing residual agent and propose alternatives based on reducing pollution, recycling and good practices.
  • Relating the filtration mechanisms with the physical purification techniques for industrial waste waters and evaluating the optimal operation point and the better granulometric disposition basing on the mathematical models
  • Identifying the phases needed to carry out the coagulation and floacculation chemical processes of industrial waste waters, from the selection and optimal dosage of reactives until their use at different scenarios.
  • Interpreting the biological processes that happen at technology -aerobic and non-aerobic- involved in the degradation of the organic material present at urban or industrial waste waters and analyzing alternatives for the management of the subproducts that have been generated
  • Relating the principles of ionic exchange for the purification of industrial waste waters with their use with resins and membrane treatments
  • Relating the emission and immission of particles and gases from combustion with their implications at the health, environment and infrastructure level, and analyzing the legal instruments (prevention, control, etc.) that States declare to preserve the quality of the air and to protect human health and the environment in general.
  • Interpreting the main mathematical models explaining the dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere and evaluating to what extent do the emission and climatic factors favor their evolution and scope
  • Identifying the procedures and sampling instruments, particles analysis and certain air pollutant gas within the framework of the legislation in force
  • Comparing the incineration -with or without recovering energy- to other kind of technologies applied to the waste management from the social, economic and environmental point of view within the framework of the hierarchical act strategy stated by European environmental laws
  • Identifying the most adequate technology to energetically value an organic waste depending on its characteristics
  • Relating the cogeneration with the simultaneous use of heat and electricity coming from the solid urban waste aimed at being fuel
  • Evaluating the influence of forming factors (climate, natural and anthropic activity, materials...) on the biological processes and the ionic change dynamics, as well as on the soil’s salinity
  • Identifying the mechanisms of accumulation, degradation and transport that govern the evolution of different pollutants in the soil as a result of natural and/or anthropic activity, assess the risk of pollution generated in these circumstances
  • Developing a research and sampling plan from a potentially contaminated soil as a tool to diagnose the contamination’s evolution and dispersion
  • Identifying the best sanitation and/or contaminated soils recovery technique among different alternatives
  • Using, organizing and keeping an environmental management system based on the ISO 14001 standard that makes it possible for the introduction of the environmental variable into the business’ operations
  • Relating the process of environmental auditing according to ISO 19011 with the diagnostic phase of the management system and use this instrument for the collection of objective evidence according to the audit manual.
  • Summing up a part of the documentation belonging to the management system from templates and general questionnaires that are used in an environmental audit
  • Assessing the adequacy of a tertiary treatment basing on different methods and scenarios, according to the needs and in compliance with the international and European legislation regarding water reuse-regeneration in both the non-industrial and industrial sector
  • Justifying the adoption of good practices basing on the information provided by different indicators related to the industrial waste waters characterization

Graduate Profile

The master trains the student for these careers:

  • Environmental technician in companies from any sector, big, medium or small, public or private.
  • Technician or operator in a solid and industrial waste treatment plant.
  • Technician or plant operator at a material recovery plant (composting) and/or and energetic waste plan
  • Technician or operator in an industrial or domestic waste water treatment plant.
  • Head of the environmental department at a business and to implement an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System
  • Technician in controlling air pollution in industrial facilities.
  • Technician in analysis and soil decontamination.

Degree

Once the program is completed, the student will obtain the diploma MASTER IN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING issued by the European University of the Atlantic.

Study Programme

The Master in Environmental Engineering is organized in 90 credits distributed into the subjects, the external internship and a master’s degree final project. Estimated time for completion is three academic semesters.

  SUBJECTS CREDITS NATURE
1stSemester Integrated management of solid waste 3 MAND
Urban and industrial solid waste 5 MAND
By-products recovery: vitrification and chemical residues 6 MAND
Purification of industrial wastewater 2 MAND
Chemical and biological processes of purification. 6 MAND
Reverse osmosis and ion exchange processes 5 MAND
Water reuse and purification 4 MAND
Good practices in the industry 3 MAND
2ndSemester Nature of the air pollutants 2 MAND
Air pollution dispersion and control 4 MAND
Sampling and analysis of air pollutants 4 MAND
Combustion and thermal destruction of waste: incineration 3 MAND
Other energy conversion processes of the waste organic fraction 2 MAND
Cogeneration 5 MAND
Land degradation and soil contamination 4 MAND
3rdSemester Potentially polluted site investigation 3 MAND
Design and implementation of recovery and monitoring techniques 3 MAND
Business and environment 2 MAND
The environmental management systems in the company 3 MAND
ISO 14001 and auditing 5 MAND
INTERNSHIP
External internship		 6 PR
FINAL PROJECT
Master’s Degree Final Project		 10 MFP
TOTAL 90 ETCS  

*The Iberoamerican University Foundation (FUNIBER) offers financial aids for these master degrees.

Access Requirements

Requirements to access to master’s degrees’ studies

According to what is established in artículo 16 del Real Decreto 1393/2007, as amended by the Real Decreto 861/2010, access to these studies will be granted for students who meet either of the following conditions:

  • Be in possession of an official Spanish university undergraduate or any another issued by a higher education institution of the European Higher Education Area, which qualifies in the issuing country for the access to Master's degree studies.
  • Those students that hold an undergraduate not belonging to the educational systems of the European Higher Education Area can access without the need for the accreditation of their degrees, after the University has verified that they have an equivalent level of education to the corresponding Spanish official university undergraduate studies, and that allows to access to postgraduate studies. Access by this via does not denote, in any case, the approval of the prior diploma held by the applicant, or its recognition for purposes other than entering the master’s degrees studies.
  • In the case of students with special educational needs arising from a disability, the need for possible curricular adaptations, itineraries or alternative studies.

Besides the legal requirements, the university requires to access to this master’s degree:

A basic knowledge equivalent to an undergraduate level, of the master’s degree academic field and particularly of the following areas: Foundations of environmental engineering.

These academic requirements for admission shall be credited by presenting academic documents that justify the completion of the corresponding degree (access requirement) in which subjects from areas of knowledge related to those cited above have been studied. The student will prove, by showing the study plan or the subjects’ programs, to have previous knowledge in these areas, otherwise, the student will prove to have completed continuous, permanent, complementary or postgraduate training at an expertise level, to demonstrate a previous knowledge in the areas above.

Once these requirements are met, the admission process is done in two phases: preregistration and enrollment.

Student profile

For the proposed master’s degree it will be specially assessed to be in possession of any of the studies included in the list below:

  • Graduates in Engineering (Agricultural, Industrial Organization, Forest, Civil, Chemical) or equivalent (Higher or Technical Engineers).
  • Graduates in Chemistry
  • Graduates in Physics
  • University graduate of any qualification equivalent to the ones above, may they be future qualifications in the Spanish university system, may they be existing qualifications in the university systems in other countries.
  • University degree in any specialization accrediting to have received specific training in Environmental Engineering.
  • University degree in any specialization accrediting to have received specific training in Environmental Engineering for a long time.

Preregistration and Enrollment

Preregistration and place payment.

The admission process to the Master’s Degree begins with the submission, via postal service or courier company to the Postgraduate Admission Section the following documentation:

  • Completed Admission Application Form
  • Up-to-date resume
  • ID photocopy (only Spanish applicants), NIE or passport (only foreign applicants)
  • Academic record photocopy (finished studies or taking the last year of the studies)
  • Two color passport-sized photos.

To ease the admission process to the master’s degree the European University of the Atlantic allows the submission of the documentation via e-mail: Likewise, to formalize the admission process it is necessary to submit the required documentation via postal service or a courier company to the Postgraduate Admission Section.

Once the documentation is received, the Admissions Committee for Master’s Degrees made up by the Academic Planning head, the Admissions Department Management, the Master’s Degrees Academic Manager and two professors teaching at the Master’s Degree will check that the diploma enables the admission to the studies and will analyze the applications received in order to determine the applicants’ adequacy. In this admission phase, the following criteria will be considered:

  • Student’s academic record (80%)
  • Other merits linked to the diploma’s field (scholarships and prizes relates to the diploma, postgraduate studies in similar studies, professional experience related to the diploma) (20%)

The Master’s Degree Academic Committee reserves the right to interview the applicants, in case it deems so necessary as to complement the information stated in the submitted documentation. Once the applicants’ assessment and analysis has concluded, the Admissions Committee approves or rejects the application form.

The number of places is 90 per group for every academic year, as established in section 1 in this present document.

Once this phase is finished, the applicant is informed, via phone or e-mail, about the result of the admission process and the registration process, the documentation required, dully legalized if required by the nature of the documentation submitted, documents that have to be submitted to start the preregistration process/place reservation and then the enrollment.

Enrollment

Admitted students will be contacted by the Student Secretariat, who will indicate which documents must be submitted in order to formalize the enrollment to the master’s degree program.

Enrollment via Internet: The self-enrollment service from the university’s web allows the admitted students to make all the academic, economic and administrative procedures, without having to go the university in person.

This Master’s Degree has more than one call per year. For more information about dates and deadlines, contact with the University’s Academic Secretariat.

Transfer and credit’s acknowledgment systems

With the objective of making more effective the students’ mobility, “recognition” means the acceptance on the part of the European University of the Atlantic of the credits which, having been obtained in any official program, in this or another university, are valid for obtaining an official diploma.

The acknowledgment of credits must be requested by the student at the time of the enrollment. In exceptional cases, and with an explicit authorization, a different deadline from the one stated may be established and the student will have to pay for the academic fees established.

The credits obtained by the student included in the following list will be eligible for acknowledgment:

  • The credits obtained in university studies leading to other degrees, mentioned in artículo 34.1 of the Ley Orgánica 6/2001, December 21st, de Universidades, modified by the Ley Orgánica 4/2007, April 12th.
  • The experience and professional accredited experience if such experience is related to the competences inherent to the master’s degree. In this sense, those profiles defined for the master’s degree will be the general criterion.
  • The rest of credits may be acknowledged by the University taking into account the competences and knowledge associated with the subjects taken by the student and those foreseen in the study plan or that have a cross-cutting nature.

The maximum number of credits of the assumptions (a) and (b) shall not be greater than 15% of the total number of credits that constitute the study plan. The credits’ transfer also implies the inclusion, in the official academic documents, proof of each student’s coursed studies, of the credits earned in previous official studies, in this or another University, which have not led to an official degree.

For more information about dates and deadlines, contact with the University’s Academic Secretariat.