Deadline:
January 20, 2025
Location(s)
Czech Republic Italy Portugal Spain
Prague, Padova, Minho, Barcelona
Overview
SAHC is a leading international Masters Course in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions. SAHC ran for ten consecutive years as an Erasmus Mundus Masters Course, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. In that period, SAHC received 325 students from 65 countries worldwide and more than 50 Scholars from top Universities inside and outside Europe. SAHC has reached its maturity and is now running as a self-sustainable Masters Course, without financial support from the European Union.
Details
The objective of SAHC is to offer an advanced education programme on the engineering of conservation of structures, with a focus on architectural heritage. The main focus of this training is the application of scientific principles in analysis, innovation and practice of conservation of monuments and historical constructions worldwide.
The language of instruction and examinations is English. The degree awarded is a Master’s degree, provided as a double degree from the institutions involved.
Scholarships financed by the SAHC Consortium are available for students coming from any geographical origin. Scholarships sponsored by the European Union are not available.
OBJECTIVES
The building industry and tourism represents about 15-20% of the GNP in Europe. As the built environment ages, conservation of existing buildings and infrastructure is receiving more and more attention, reaching an average value of 1/3 of the market in Europe. The SAHC programme will address the issue of existing buildings, but with a focus on buildings with cultural value. Being monuments and historical centres main attractors for tourism, their conservation is not only a societal demand but also an economical one.
Europe is a world leader in the generation of knowledge, methodology and technology applicable to the conservation and restoration of the architectural heritage. The large investment made during the last years lead to significant advances in experimental and numerical techniques applied to the conservation of architectural heritage structures.
The objective of SAHC is to offer an advanced education programme on the engineering of conservation of structures, with a focus on architectural heritage. The Master combines the diversity of expertise at leading European universities in the field, offering education oriented to a multidisciplinary understanding of structural conservation through the involvement of experts from complementary fields (engineers, architects, materials scientists and others). Students face top level structural analysis knowledge in a research oriented environment, with close cooperation with the industry and a focus on problem solving.
The Master course will provide a cross-disciplinary education comprising engineering oriented issues (experimental techniques, computer modelling, structural analysis, seismic behaviour and structural dynamics, repairing and strengthening techniques, surveying, monitoring, etc.) with more general methodological or philosophical concepts (history of construction and restoration, principles and methodology of conservation, building rehabilitation, etc.).
The main focus of this training is the application of scientific principles in analysis, innovation and practice of conservation of monuments and historical constructions worldwide. The course will combine the very recent advances in research and development with activities oriented to practical applications. In turn, the course will pay significant attention to the regional differences shown by the architectural heritage and historical construction techniques within Europe or at World scale.
PROGRAMME STRUCTURE
The SAHC programme has duration of one academic year (60 ECTS credits) and is held on a rotating basis among partners. Coursework (September – March) is concentrated at University of Minho and dissertation work (April – July) can be performed in any of the involved institutions. It is expected, but not mandatory, that students carry out the entire coursework in one location and the dissertation in another location. Mobility track is based on students preferences taking into account adequate balance between different institutions. The curriculum is exactly the same, no matter the student mobility track.
Changes of mobility path from the one defined by the Consortium and informed to the candidate will not be accepted, unless of exceptional reasons. Any student requesting a change in path must provide a substantiated request before the starting of the program. After the starting of the program no changes will be allowed.
The study programme is composed of eight units, with six sequential units, one unit project-based and one dissertation. The units are as follows:
- SA1: HISTORY OF CONSTRUCTION AND OF CONSERVATION
- SA2: STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES
- SA3: SEISMIC BEHAVIOUR AND STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS
- SA4: INSPECTION AND DIAGNOSIS
- SA5: REPAIRING AND STRENGTHENING TECHNIQUES
- SA6: RESTORATION AND CONSERVATION OF MATERIALS
- SA7: INTEGRATED PROJECT
- SA8: DISSERTATION
Units SA1 to SA6 are arranged as a mix of theory and application, in a context of a project-led education. Lectures are held from 9:30h to 12:30h and individual/group work is carried out at University from 14:00h to 19:00h. A schematic course calendar can be found here.
The Integrated Project (SA7) is s truly project-based course, includes a mini group project to solve a real engineering problem, with site visits.
The Dissertation (SA8) aims at developing research and/or professional competences in the field of conservation and restoration of architectural heritage structures.
DEGREE AWARDED
The degree awarded is a Master’s degree, provided as a double degree from the institutions involved. The degree awarding institution and degree awarded are as follows:
- University of Minho, Portugal: Mestrado em Análise Estrutural de Monumentos e Construções Históricas;
- Czech Technical University in Prague, Czech Republic: Advanced Masters in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions;
- University of Padova, Italy: Master in Analisi Strutturale dei Monumenti e dell’Edilizia Storica;
- Technical University of Catalonia, Spain: Advanced Masters in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions.
Opportunity is About
Eligibility
Candidates should be from:
Description of Ideal Candidate
The admission requirements for students wishing to enroll in the Master Course are a good quality degree in Civil Engineering or equivalent qualifications. Architects wishing to apply should have a solid background in structures. Typically, students are expected to have a higher education degree with four or five years.
Students not holding a previous MSc degree cannot enroll in the University of Padova, Italy.
Students from non-English speaking countries are required to have one of the following certificates:
- TOEFL certificate paper based (minimum score 525)
- TOEFL certificate internet based (minimum score 72)
- IELTS certificate (academic version, minimum score 6.5)
- other recognized language proficiency certificate
Dates
Deadline: January 20, 2025
Cost/funding for participants
PARTICIPATION COSTS (TUITION FEE)
The admission fee for the SAHC programme is 9,000 Euro. This covers the administrative costs of the programme (registration, enrolment, subscription, administrative support, access to faculty and university services, the organisation of the case studies, the thesis defence, and other expenditures directly linked to the organisation of the course). The admission fee does not cover the costs for health insurance, which should satisfy the “Minimum requirements for the health and accident insurance coverage”.
CONSORTIUM SCHOLARSHIPS
SAHC ran for ten consecutive years as an Erasmus Mundus Masters Course, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. In that period, SAHC received 325 students from 65 countries worldwide.
SAHC has reached its maturity and is now running as a self-sustainable Masters Course, with scholarships sponsored by the SAHC Consortium.
Consortium scholarships are planned for students from any geographical origin applying within the first call and second call. These scholarships are financed by the SAHC Consortium itself and are open to students of any nationality.
Consortium scholarships are organized as follows:
- two scholarships of 13,000 Euro;
- eight scholarships of 6,000 Euro;
- ten scholarships of 4,000 Euro.
DEPOSIT
Any selected applicant must bear in mind that, if selected to a scholarship, the confirmation of acceptance of the scholarship by the student implies automatically that other interested applicants will not receive a scholarship, as the number of applicants is much larger than the number of grants. Therefore, the SAHC Consortium will request to all students selected for a scholarship the payment of a deposit of 250 Euro to confirm their acceptance of the scholarship and enrolment in the Master Course. The purpose of this measure is to avoid filling up the Master Course places with students that will not finally participate and that will compromise the enrolment of other interested students.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
- Only students who have applied to and have been accepted by the SAHC Consortium in accordance with its specific students’ application and selection criteria, are eligible for a scholarship.
- Students with a double nationality must specify the nationality under which they submit their application.
Un-save Opportunity
Internships, scholarships, student conferences and competitions.
