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Engineer's degrees in Europe

In most countries of continental Europe, universities specializing in technical studies have awarded their students an engineer's degree instead of a master's degree. The typical length of studies for an engineer's degree has been five years.

Following the introduction of the Bologna process, it has instead become increasingly common for the universities to split technical studies into two parts, the first being the one after which they award the bachelor's degree (baccalaureus, typically three years), and the second part being an optional two years, upon the successful completion of which they award either the engineer's degree or a master's degree (MEng or MSc).

Countries have varied in the implementation of the Bologna process. Most traditional universities continue to have a primary academic degree program distinct from the program to obtain the Bachelor of Engineering degree. For example, in Finland the two concepts — academic and vocational engineering degree — remain separate, even if the qualification no longer requires one or the other de jure.

A German-style engineer's degree is considered equivalent to a MSc degree in U.S. or UK and in international context, the holders of the Engineer's degree are authorized to use MSc. However, there has been some debate over whether the Engineers should differentiate themselves from a Master of Science, this degree having become victim of inflation lately. It might also be argued that, because the European high school curriculum covers the topics of the typical U.S. freshman year, the five-year-long engineer's degree is actually the complete equivalent of the U.S. degree.

In France, engineering is taught in Ecoles d'Ingénieurs, which are part of the French Grandes écoles famous system. Since the Bologna process, the Diplôme d'Ingénieur is officially considered to be at the level of a European master's degree, though many argue that it is a bit more than a mere master's degree since competitive exams allow only top students to enter the Grandes écoles system. It is often considered as something between MSc and MEng when compared to the U.S. system as it is a blend of strong theoretical knowledge and professional experience.


In countries with significant German influence on higher education, the engineer's degree was one attained as a Diplom, and was typically awarded after around five years of study. In addition to Germany itself, this has included states like Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.

In German, the engineer's degree is called Diplomingenieur (abbr. Dipl.-Ing.). The word diplom refers to the thesis written at the end of the studies. This degree is generally equivalent to a Master's degree, which is not to be confused with the old Magister degree. Most programs that used to lead to a Dipl.-Ing. degree lead to Master's degrees today, as the Diplomingenieur as an academical title is phased out because of the Bologna process.

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In Croatia, the old system included the engineer's degrees diplomirani inženjer (abbr. dipl.ing.) which was awarded by university faculties, and a lower ranked engineer's degrees inženjer (abbr. ing.) which was awarded by polytechnics. The old dipl.ing. degree could later be upgraded to a magistar (abbr. mr., Magister degree) and then a doktor (abbr. dr., Doctorate). The situation was the same in other countries previously part of Yugoslavia.