The MSc in Environmental Engineering is a two-year postgraduate Civil Engineering program offered at Pulchowk Campus under the Institute of Engineering (IOE), Tribhuvan University.
The program is organized across four semesters and carries 60 credits. Its academic focus includes wastewater treatment, water chemistry, environmental microbiology, solid waste management, advanced water treatment, environmental laboratory work, and specialized electives covering air and noise pollution, water and sanitation, environmental hydraulics, machine learning, hazardous waste, environmental impact assessment, biotechnology, ecotoxicology, industrial pollution control, contaminant transport, and environmental modelling.
Students complete taught courses during the first year, move into electives and project work in the third semester, and undertake a 16-credit thesis in the fourth semester.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Course | MSc in Environmental Engineering |
| Degree award | MSc in Environmental Engineering (Civil Engineering) |
| Level | Master’s degree |
| Campus | Pulchowk Campus – Institute of Engineering |
| Academic field | Civil Engineering |
| University | Tribhuvan University |
| Institute | Institute of Engineering (IOE) |
| Duration | 2 years |
| Academic structure | 4 semesters |
| Total credits | 60 |
| Eligibility | BE in Civil Engineering |
| Major components | Core courses, laboratory, electives, project, thesis |
Environmental Engineering at Pulchowk Campus is structured as advanced study within Civil Engineering.
The curriculum concentrates strongly on water, wastewater, solid waste, environmental processes, pollution control, environmental assessment, and modelling. It combines engineering design and treatment processes with chemistry, microbiology, laboratory study, data analysis, environmental risk, and research.
The course begins with physical and chemical wastewater-treatment processes, water chemistry, environmental microbiology, integrated solid waste management, and laboratory work. The second semester introduces biological wastewater treatment and advanced water treatment while allowing students to begin specializing through electives.
The third semester provides further elective choices and a project. The fourth semester is devoted to thesis research.
At Pulchowk Campus – Institute of Engineering (IOE), Environmental Engineering is part of the Civil Engineering postgraduate portfolio. The campus operates under Tribhuvan University.
Master's-level Environmental Engineering at Pulchowk Campus dates to 1997 (2054 B.S.).
The program sits within a Civil Engineering academic environment that also includes postgraduate study in Structural Engineering, Water Resources Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Disaster Risk Engineering and Management, Construction Engineering and Management, and Hydropower Engineering.
These are separate postgraduate programs rather than specializations within the MSc in Environmental Engineering.
Environmental Engineering has its own curriculum, eligibility requirement, project structure, and thesis requirements.
Eligibility: BE in Civil Engineering.
The program is therefore positioned as postgraduate specialization after an undergraduate Civil Engineering degree.
Admission operates through the applicable Institute of Engineering postgraduate framework. Candidates must satisfy the relevant academic and entrance requirements before proceeding through the Pulchowk Campus admission process.
The program runs for two years across four semesters.
The credit distribution is:
The complete curriculum carries 60 credits.
The structure gradually shifts from taught core courses toward elective specialization, applied project work, and independent thesis research.
| Semester | Main courses | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Year I, Part I | Wastewater Treatment; Water Chemistry and Environmental Microbiology; Integrated Solid Waste Management; Environmental Engineering Laboratory | 16 |
| Year I, Part II | Biological Wastewater Treatment; Advanced Water Treatment; Elective I; Elective II | 16 |
| Year II, Part I | Elective III; Elective IV; Project | 12 |
| Year II, Part II | Thesis | 16 |
The first semester establishes the core technical and laboratory foundation of the program.
This 4-credit course focuses on the physical and chemical side of wastewater treatment.
Its position at the beginning of the curriculum provides a foundation for later study in biological treatment, advanced treatment, industrial pollution control, and environmental process design.
Environmental engineering depends on understanding both the chemical and biological characteristics of water and wastewater.
This 4-credit course brings those two areas together, providing the scientific base needed for treatment-process study and environmental analysis.
Solid waste is treated as a core environmental-engineering subject rather than only an elective area.
The course gives students a dedicated 4-credit study component in integrated solid-waste management during the first semester.
The first semester also contains a 4-credit Environmental Engineering Laboratory.
Its presence as a full course gives practical and laboratory work a defined place within the postgraduate curriculum rather than leaving laboratory exposure only to thesis or project work.
The second semester builds on the first-semester treatment and laboratory foundation.
Students complete two compulsory courses and two electives.
This 4-credit course shifts wastewater treatment toward biological processes and their design.
Together with the first-semester physical and chemical treatment course, it gives wastewater treatment a substantial position within the program.
Advanced Water Treatment extends the curriculum beyond basic treatment concepts into higher-level water-treatment study.
The course is compulsory and carries 4 credits.
Students may choose from:
These options introduce different environmental perspectives.
Air and Noise Pollution expands the program beyond water and waste. Environmental Hydraulics connects environmental problems with fluid processes. Sustainable Water and Sanitation maintains a strong connection with water systems, while Sustainable Environmental and Resource Economics introduces an economic dimension to environmental decision-making.
Options include:
This group allows students to move toward public-health and development issues, research methods, computational applications, or hazardous waste.
Applied Machine Learning in Environmental Engineering is particularly distinct within the curriculum because it introduces data-driven methods into environmental engineering study.
Applied Research Methodology can also support students preparing for project and thesis work.
The third semester consists of two electives and a 4-credit project.
Students complete:
This stage gives students greater control over their academic emphasis while introducing a substantial applied component before the thesis.
Options include:
These subjects connect environmental engineering with assessment, quantitative analysis, biotechnology, and environmental risk.
Environmental Impact Assessment introduces a planning and evaluation dimension. Statistics for Environmental Engineers supports quantitative environmental analysis, while Environmental Biotechnology and Ecotoxicology and Risk Assessment move further into biological and risk-oriented study.
Options include:
This elective group is especially focused on pollution processes, remediation, industrial wastewater, and modelling.
Students interested in environmental modelling can choose between contaminant transport and broader air- and water-quality modelling, while Biodegradation and Bioremediation focuses on biological approaches to environmental treatment and recovery.
The third semester includes a 4-credit project of approximately three months of full-time work.
The project may take several forms, including:
This range gives students flexibility to work with laboratory, field, institutional, community, or analytical environmental-engineering problems.
The fourth semester is devoted to a 16-credit thesis.
Although the thesis appears formally in the final semester, thesis work begins from the start of the third semester. It may also be connected with the project.
Students may carry out their thesis research with one or more supervisors.
The thesis structure allows students to move from taught environmental-engineering subjects into a focused research problem. Depending on the chosen topic, the work may involve field investigation, laboratory analysis, modelling, case studies, treatment processes, environmental assessment, pollution control, or related research.
Most taught courses carry 4 credits.
The general assessment pattern is:
The listed theory courses have three-hour final examinations.
The Environmental Engineering Laboratory carries 40 marks for assessment and 60 marks for final evaluation.
The third-semester project carries 100 marks, while the fourth-semester thesis also carries 100 marks.
The program therefore combines written examination, laboratory assessment, project evaluation, and research assessment.
Across the core and elective curriculum, students may study:
The course therefore extends beyond a single environmental problem and covers treatment, pollution, waste, health, modelling, risk, laboratory science, and research.
Through coursework, laboratory study, electives, project work, and thesis research, students may develop abilities related to:
The specific depth of these abilities depends on elective choices, project work, thesis topic, and academic engagement.
The MSc in Environmental Engineering is intended for Civil Engineering graduates seeking advanced study in environmental problems from an engineering perspective.
It may be particularly relevant to students interested in combining:
The curriculum is technically focused and research-based in its later stages, so students should be prepared for both engineering coursework and independent project and thesis work.
Applicants must hold a BE in Civil Engineering.
The program runs for two years across four semesters.
The complete curriculum carries 60 credits.
Yes. The first semester includes a 4-credit Environmental Engineering Laboratory.
Yes. Students choose four electives across the second and third semesters.
Electives include air and noise pollution, environmental economics, water and sanitation, environmental hydraulics, hazardous waste, machine learning, environmental impact assessment, statistics, biotechnology, ecotoxicology, bioremediation, industrial water pollution, contaminant transport, and environmental modelling.
Yes. The third semester includes a 4-credit project of approximately three months of full-time work.
Yes. The fourth semester includes a 16-credit thesis, with thesis work beginning from the start of the third semester.
The degree awarded is MSc in Environmental Engineering (Civil Engineering).
