It promotes excellence in appropriate Water, Environmental and Transportation Engineering research and application of technology.  It offers career-orientated diploma and degree qualifications, consonant with the requirements of the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), Council for Higher Education (CHE) and the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC). Our alumni are technicians and technologists employed around the Eastern Cape Province as well as Nationally. Our qualifications are responsive to the socio-economic needs of the Eastern Cape region.

The department of Civil Engineering operates from two delivery sites: College Street delivery site (Buffalo City Campus) and Ibika delivery site (Butterworth Campus).

The following qualifications are offered by the Department of Civil Engineering:

Students admitted into the Diploma in Engineering in Civil Engineering are required to complete the 360 credits, which incorporates 30 credits (900 notional hours) of work-integrated learning (WIL). Also, each student is required to be competent in 12 graduate attributes as prescribed the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) before he or she can be qualified to obtain this qualification.

Likewise, our Advanced Diploma in Civil Engineering comprises of two specialisations: Water Engineering and Transportation Engineering. Students admitted into the Advanced Diploma in Civil Engineering qualification are required to complete the 140 credits in any of the specialization of their choice. The qualification incorporates project-based learning in each of the core discipline-specific modules. Each student is required to be competent in 11 graduate attributes as prescribed the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) before he or she can be qualified to obtain this qualification.

Every student admitted into our qualifications must be competent in ECSA outlined graduate attributes (GAs). These GAs are built and mapped into all the modules in all our academic qualifications. However, at the exit level of the qualification, these GAs will be assessed via the relevant modules as either an assignment, a laboratory practical, a project based assignment or through a work integrated learning technical report, as the case may be.

The department partners with the Civil Engineering industry through the departmental advisory board. This board comprises of academic, support and the industry stakeholders. This board meets twice a year and aims to facilitate two-way communication on academic matters between the University, external stakeholders and the community that the University serves. The advisory board provides input and guidance concerning aspects related to the curriculum (including admission and assessment requirements), external needs, vocational profiles, relevance and research; advises on continued professional development and extracurricular offerings.

Most importantly, all our qualifications are evaluated and accredited by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), a professional body that regulates engineering qualifications in South Africa.