Master of Science in Safety Engineering

Fact sheet

The Master's

The structure of the Master of Safety Engineering programme is modular, containing a common compulsory part and a part in which students may choose between two options.

Participants interested in the mainly technical aspects of safety may select the option “Process Safety” which is geared towards the study of safe and reliable plant operation. Teaching will be exclusively in English, opening up the programme to an international audience.

The option “Prevention” also includes non-technical aspects and refers to the local Belgian context. This option leads to the “Certificaat Preventieadviseur Niveau 1” as defined by Belgian law. Part of the teaching will be in Dutch.

My profile

The Master of Safety Engineering programme teaches students how to apply their knowledge and skills to the improvement and realisation of safety in the above-mentioned areas.

After finishing this advanced Master’s study programme, the student should:

• have a broadly based knowledge of the different scientific disciplines that are needed to study and analyse the diverse technical and non-technical issues related to safety technology, risk management and loss prevention.
• have acquired the capabilities and competences to perform or co-ordinate a scientifically sound analysis of safety related problems and their solutions within the governing boundary conditions (legal, organisational, technical, environmental, etc.).

Admission requirements

To the definitive admission requirements
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Study programme

To a detailed overview of the programme

Assets

For more than 25 years, the Faculty of Engineering has offered an advanced Master’s programme in safety technology. This programme was intended to prepare participants for the role of safety officer in large industrial plants, as required by Belgian law. The teaching was accompanied by research activities in industrial safety.

In order to meet changing industrial demands and to keep up with major new developments in the field of technical and occupational safety, KU Leuven and essenscia (the Belgian umbrella organisation of companies that are active in the field of chemistry and life sciences) joined forces to review and renew the contents of the existing programme.

As a co-funding of the ‘Education’ component within the SCORES4CHEM platform1, the essenscia Chair Safety Engineering was inaugurated at KU Leuven in November 2009 (Chair holder Prof. Jan Van Impe). One of the goals of this Chair is the promotion of high quality education in the field of industrial safety. As a result, the renewed and expanded Master of Safety Engineering has a stronger focus on process safety and is more inter - nationally oriented. Prof. Jan Degrève is currently the Programme Director.

Career prospects

In many countries, there is a permanent and growing need for scientists and engineers who are knowledgeable and trained on an academic level in the field of safety engineering and safety management. This is due to the increasing complexity of industrial production processes and the increase of rules and regulations both in Europe and internationally.

Graduates from the Master of Safety Engineering programme fill vacancies in smaller national and large multinational industrial companies at home and abroad, or are employed in private and/or governmental organisations.
Such organisations need experts with the ability to conduct research, to carry out analyses, and to perform inspection, monitoring and certification in the broad field of safety.

Moreover, in some countries (including Belgium), companies dealing with specific risks and beyond a certain size are required by law to hire or even employ a certified prevention adviser. This certification can be acquired through the option “Prevention” of the Master of Safety Engineering (Certificaat Preventieadviseur Niveau 1).

It is also possible for graduates to begin a career as an independent consultant with expertise in safety and environmental areas.

Registration fee

The tuition fee for participants admitted to the programme on a one-year full-time basis amounts to 5 600 Euro.

Participants who are not active professionally and are applying to the programme no later than two years after obtaining a Master’s degree pay a reduced tuition fee of 1 400 Euro.

Application

Preferred application deadline for the Master of Safety Engineering (for Flemish/Belgian students): 22 September 2011.

Application instructions and form

More information