MSc in Municipal Water and Infrastructure
Recent decades have witnessed an increasing rate of urbanisation, particularly in developing regions and in countries in transition. About 80% of the world's mega-cities can be found in these regions.
During the next two decades the world's population is expected to double. The high concentration of people in urban areas will place
enormous pressure on the local environment and on available resources.
It will also generate ever-higher, sometimes conflicting demands on services such as water supply and sanitation.
At the same time, under decentralisation policies, the responsibility for delivering such services will be increasingly delegated to lower levels of government that are often ill equipped for this challenge in terms of financial and human resources.
Aim of the programme
The International Masters Programme in Municipal Water and Infrastructure educates professionals in the fields of water supply, sanitation and urban water engineering and management, particularly in urban areas.
Once they have successfully completed this programme, graduates will be able to:
- Place their profession in the wider social, economic and environmental contexts of urbanisation and municipal water and infrastructure services provision.
- Act as a competent professional in their area of chosen specialisation.
- Contribute to the development of innovative approaches to the provision of sustainable and equitable municipal water, sanitation, environmental and infrastructure services in developing and transition countries.
The programme is offered by the Department of Urban Water and Sanitation of UNESCO-IHE.
Participant profile
The programme is directed predominantly at civil and sanitary engineers working in water supply and waste-water companies,
municipal assemblies, government ministries and consulting companies dealing with water supply, sanitation and municipal infrastructure.
Depending on their choice of specialisation, participants should have a Bachelors or equivalent degree in civil engineering, sanitary engineering, chemical engineering, hydraulic engineering, environmental engineering or related fields.
Prospective candidates would also benefit greatly from having had several years of experience as a professional engineer.
Programme Structure
The International Masters Programme in Municipal Water and Infrastructure is an 18 month programme (please note that the Specialisation in Urban Water Engineering and Management has a different setup). During the first year students take basic and specialised modules and participate in an international fieldtrip and group-work. This is followed by a six months period during which participants conduct individual research and complete and defend an MSc thesis.
Programme Structure
The programme consists of four distinct phases:
- A foundation phase, consisting of basic subjects that are followed by all participants in the programme.
- A specialisation phase, in which participants follow modules within their chosen specialisation.During this phase the international fieldtrip also takes place.
- An integration phase, during which participants from the different specialisations work together on case studies and joint group work.
- A research and thesis phase, culminating in the writing of an MSc thesis.
Foundation Phase
The Municipal Water and Infrastructure Programme starts with basic subjects, which all participants are required to take.
Specialisation Phase
After the foundation phase, participants follow five three-week modules within their chosen area of specialisation, and one elective module. This part of the programme also includes fieldwork and a two-week international fieldtrip.
Integration Phase
After completing their specialisation modules, participants come together in a multi-disciplinary, problem-solving environment, to apply their knowledge, insights and skills, and to integrate what they have learned in a group work.
MSc Thesis
The Municipal Water and Infrastructure programme culminates in an MSc thesis. Research can take the form of experimental work, modelling, or case studies. It starts with a six-week period to develop an individual research proposal, combined with tuition in research methods and skills. The actual research takes place over a period of about six months.
Research topics preferably fit within the following research lines:
- River bank filtration, low-cost coagulants, optimising conventional treatment, membrane technology, and distribution-system water quality.
- Advanced nutrient removal, modeling wastewater treatment processes and plants, urine separation, ecological sanitation, advances in urban drainage and sewerage.
- Risk analysis of water distribution systems, asset management systems, integrated infrastructure design, and optimal design of urban drainage networks.
Interested?
For information about admission requirements, fees, fellowships and more, visit the prospective students section.
Where possible, topics are selected with a direct relevance to the participant's own country and working environment. In such cases part of the research work (data collection in particular) is often carried out in the home country.
Specialisations within the MSc Programme are:
The specialisation is positioned within an urban context and includes centralised versus decentralised approaches, advanced and low cost technologies and engineered and natural systems. It also focuses on sustainability of each system involved and their interactions within the urban water cycle.
The new Urban Water Engineering and Management specialisation is jointly offered by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education (UNESCO-IHE). The UWEM programme is a double degree programme.
Participants in this specialisation will learn how to deal with technical aspects of drinking water treatment and distribution in an integrated way, focusing on the choice of technologies and tools, ranging from low-cost to advanced options.
Brochure Municipal Water and Infrastructure MSc Programme
MP_MWI-2010.pdf (PDF/1.08 MB)