The built environment is where most of us spend our lives, and related industries constitute an enormous part of the global economy.

In this master’s programme, you will investigate issues related to manmade structures and buildings, contributing to a more sustainable and resource-efficient society. Investigating structural systems and complex buildings requires a deep and intuitive understanding of their properties, as well as the ability to cooperate, take charge of diverse projects and communicate effectively in international environments.

Studying this programme will give you these very tools, allowing you to meet the demands of this fast-paced, challenging and changing industry.

Structural engineering and building technology:

The built environment is fundamental for everyday life and comfort. It is also essential for the global economy. In this master’s programme, you will handle issues related to structures and buildings and work towards developing a more sustainable and resource-efficient society.

Today, and in the future, the engineering skills to model, analyse, and design structural systems and complex buildings need to be based on a deep and intuitive understanding of the physical and mechanical behaviour of structural elements and systems.

You will strive towards a more sustainable, resource-efficient society by working with new construction, and operation and maintenance of a considerable stock of buildings, bridges and other civil engineering structures.

The master's programme in Structural engineering and building technology is strongly influenced by current research activities at Chalmers and has the ambition to renew engineering methodology in the practice by well-educated students. The research groups behind the programme have close contact with relevant fields in the building industry, preliminary in design and maintenance.

The programme has been developed in cooperation with industry representatives from leading Swedish companies, the practising engineers from these companies contribute to the programme as guest lecturers and supervisors for project work. Furthermore, every year a significant number of master’s projects are related to development work within the industry and are carried out within the companies we collaborate with.

Topics covered:

The subjects of civil engineering structures, such as bridges, buildings and underground structures, the performance of buildings, materials, physics and building services engineering design are fundamental areas in the Structural engineering and building technology master’s programme.

The courses included in the programme handle topics such as conceptual design, structural systems, sizing of structural members in concrete, steel and timber, instability phenomena, dynamics, design of footings, piles, retaining structures and tunnels.

Furthermore, climate protection, indoor climate, human comfort, efficient use of materials and energy, heat and mass transfer, thermal performance, durability, moisture control, HVAC (heat, ventilation, air, condition), sustainable life cycle analysis, development of systems and technical solutions, engineering ethics, engineering tools and numerical modelling, finite element analysis, finite element method and computational methodology.​

Career outcomes:

There is an increasing need for technical specialists and engineers with a high level of general knowledge in the Structural engineering and building technology programme's field as well as researchers and academic teachers.

Graduates from the track 'Structural engineering' can be found at companies that design advanced structures for various applications, such as buildings, bridges, and offshore structures; and from the track 'Building technology' at design and analysis of complex building systems, especially concerning thermal performance, indoor climate and efficient use of energy; and from the track 'GeoStructures' at design and analysis of complex geostructures, such as footings, piles, retaining structures, and bored tunnels.

From each track, graduates from the programme can continue as a PhD-student. A PhD-position is normally about five years, including own courses, research and teaching.