Safety, Risk and Reliability Engineering (online)

Entry requirements

Applicants to the MSc programme will normally:

• have a good undergraduate degree (minimum 2:2 honours or equivalent) in engineering or a relevant science discipline, or
• demonstrate equivalent academic ability based on industrial experience or membership of a professional institution.

Heriot-Watt Online students must first take exams in two courses of the programme, Human Factors Methods and Learning from Disasters. Based on the results for these entry courses students will continue on the programme at MSc or at PG Diploma level.

Students will additionally have access to the short course 'Introduction to Digital Study and Academic Skills', to prepare for postgraduate study.

Mathematical requirements

Applicants will need good mathematical ability to succeed on their Programmes. Students should have experience in university level mathematics of the sort commonly encountered on engineering degrees (e.g. a pass, or passes, in previous university level maths-based courses/modules) and be confident in further development of skills in statistical methods, simulation and modelling, and linear optimisation techniques. Please refer to the course guide for Data Analysis and Simulation

Recognition of Prior Learning

We are committed to providing study opportunities to applicants who have a wide range of prior experiences through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). For more information on RPL, please contact the Online Admissions Team (egis-idl-apps@hw.ac.uk) ahead of application. We can only consider requests for RPL at the time of application to a course of study.

Months of entry

January, May, September

Course content

Risk has become a key concept in modern society. Growing concern about the environment and a number of disasters have served to focus attention on the hazards and risks involved in a wide range of activities from offshore oil production to rail and air transport; from the design of football stadiums to the operation of chemical plants and environmental protection.

Today there is a wide range of techniques available to assess risk and reliability, both in relation to safety and in the wider sense. These techniques now underpin new legislation on safety and have relevance over a broad spectrum of activities, including environmental and other systems, where risk and reliability are key concerns.

The MSc/PG Diploma course in Safety, Risk and Reliability Engineering is designed to give a thorough understanding of these techniques and experience of their application to a variety of real-world problems. It aims to provide students with an understanding of safety, risk and reliability engineering in both a qualitative and quantitative manner, and to develop the skills to apply this understanding. The course will also introduce students to recent developments in analytical techniques, e.g. computer modelling of risk, reliability and safety problems.

If you are interested in our courses you can join our Linked In group Safety Courses at Heriot-Watt where you can link up with other applicants, current and previous students and potential employers. Applying to join needs approval from the group owner which may take a week or two.

Information for international students

Applicants will need a good English Language ability to succeed in their programme. Those for whom English is not their first language should have,

• Achieved a minimum of IELTS 6.5 or equivalent
• And/or have successfully completed courses (of 1 year or more in duration) delivered in English.

Fees and funding

See University website