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Laing O'Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology

 

Are you an experienced professional with the ambition to drive sustainable and meaningful transformation of the construction industry? Then, the CEM degree programme could be ideal for you.

 

Entry requirements

  1. Applicants need to demonstrate significant experience in the industry.  If you have alternative experience or qualifications, please contact the Centre Manager for advice.
  2. First or upper-second-class UK honours degree or overseas equivalent in a relevant or related discipline. We won't be able to consider your application if you don't have a first degree (an HND alone can't be considered).
  3. Fluency in English and a high standard of academic writing is a pre-requisite for our programme. If your first language is not English, or you are a national of a country where English is one of several official languages, you will be asked to take a language proficiency test to show you have the necessary command of the language to get the most out of the programme (check requirements here). Applicants should be able to demonstrate proficiency in English to the following standards:

If you are made a conditional offer and have not already met our English language requirements, one of the conditions of admission will be that you pass a test at the correct level. Please note that sometimes there can be long waiting times to take a language test, so you should make arrangements to take a test as soon as possible. 

 

How to apply

The 'Apply here' button on the right will take you to the Applicant Portal, where you can create and submit your application and supporting documents and request references.

An application is only complete when:

  1. You have submitted your application and supporting documents via the Applicant Portal
  2. You have paid the £50 application fee
  3. Your referees have provided their references.

If you miss the deadlines specified in this section, you will not be able to submit your application.

Potential applicants are advised to consider carefully their capacity for balancing personal and professional commitments before submitting an application.

Your application will require the following documentation:

  1. curriculum vitae.
  2. A letter of support from your employer.
  3. A transcript of all the courses you have taken during previous programmes of study, with the result you obtained, and with the credit value if applicable. If your documents are not in English, you must also upload a full translation of each document prepared by a registered translator.
  4. An official copy of the academic degree and any chartership certificates.
  5. A brief outline of reasons for applying, ​ indicating your motivation for applying to this course, relevant experience and interests.
  6. A more detailed statement of interest that covers the following: your future aspirations and expectations; any particular research topics you may wish to explore during the course**; how this course will help you in your personal and career development; any other information you wish to include in support of your application; and whether you have any other applications in progress.
  7. (A) If you meet the academic requirement and wish to upload a research paper that you have published to support your application, you may upload this with your application (optional).
    (B) Candidates invited to the interview stage who do not hold the minimum academic requirement of a UK  2:1 Hons degree (or international equivalent) will be required to submit a research proposal detailing the focus of their proposed research dissertation (a template will be provided by the Construction Engineering Masters Centre Manager: centre.manager@construction.cam.ac.uk). If preferred, applicants may give details of a published/awaiting publication research paper they have written that demonstrates their ability to undertake a research dissertation in the second year of the CEM.

** Please note the dissertation topics are not finalised until year two.

You will be asked to nominate two referees who will be contacted to provide a letter of reference for your application. Please consult the guidance at the Postgraduate Admissions site on who these referees should be.

 

Application process

Applications for 2025 entry are open. Applications close on 30th April 2025.

Applications will be considered in two gathered fields, one consisting of applications received by 31st December 2024 and the remaining applications submitted by the application closing date (30th April 2025). Interviews for the two gathered fields will be carried out in January and May, respectively, with conditional offers being made from late February and from late June, respectively.

Interviews will take place via video call.

Download the details of supporting documents that you will need to upload as part of your online application.

Apply here