Expert: David A. NewMyer - 7/1/2011

Question
sir, am in final year BE environmental engineering and i have an aggregate of 75%,as am very much interested in pursuing job related to  aviation is there any jobs in aviation related to my course,if not guide me in detail with courses or masters degree related to aviation career and the scope of mentioned job in long run and other details like entrance,course fee, scholarships,duration,college....etc.
Thanking you

Answer
Hi, Ammar:

It is nice to hear from you!  I will try to help with your questions!

Masters degrees in aviation are fairly plentiful in the USA and are also offered in some other nations (I am not an expert in those but I know of some).  Here are some of the aviation master's degree options out there:

INDIA

University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dheradun, India

Hindustan Institute of Technology, Chennai

UNITED KINGDOM

Cranfield University, Kent

London Metropolitan University

UNITED STATES--MBA in Aviation  (Master of Business Administration):

Daniel Webster College, New Hampshire

Dowling College, New York

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Florida

University of Tennessee-Knoxville (MBA in Aerospace)

UNITED STATES--MPA in Aviation Administration.  In this case, an MPA is a Master of Public Administration, which has a government focus in the coursework instead of a business focus):

Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Illinois

University of Nebraska at Omaha, Nebraska

UNITED STATES, other:

Florida Institute of Technology, a masters that focuses on airports and airport planning

Middle Tennessee State University, the same as FIT

Purdue University, Master of Aviation Technology

Arizona State University, Master of Technology with emphasis on Aviation Management and Human Factors

While this is not a complete list, you can see that there are quite a few masters degree offerings in aviation, particularly in the USA.

Once you decide on the particular direction you want to take within such a degree, you will need to contact the particular school or schools in that subject matter area and ask them about  the enrance requirements, courses, scope, costs, scholarships available, and jobs that their graduates obtain when they gradaute from their programs.

Generally, the duration of these programs is from 12 to 24 months.

As far as careers that you can pursue with such a degree, especially for someone like yourself (since you already have a BE in Environmental Engineering, on top of a masters in aviation):  

1.  First of all, I would focus on the airports segment in your job search since most larger airports in the world (especially those that serve airline aircraft) have some sort of environmental issues to deal with.  So, whether it is from an operations or planning perspective, airports will, in general, need people with those qualifications;

2.  Second, airport planning in general is a good field for you with these two degrees.  Airport planning can be done at the local level by the airport, by airport consultants and by state/provincial governments as well as national/federal governments.

3.  Finally, someone like you will be able to work into the entire "Green Airports" movement--where airports are trying to plan/engineer themselves to be more sustainable over the long term.  In other words, you can help airports think about how they can become more efficient and use less resources in their daily operations.

And, the above are just for the airport segment of aviation....think about similar possibilites in airlines, aviation/aerospace manufacturing, etc.

I think you will have some good opportunities in aviation....

With all best wishes to you,

David A. NewMyer, Ph.D.