Shaping the world with the best maritime engineer professionals in the business

Anna Ntasiou moved from Greece to study MSc Coastal Engineering at Plymouth to engineer a successful career in the UK
Anna Ntasiou

Specialising in maritime engineering

Studying at the University of Plymouth broadened my mental horizons, gave me significant educational and technical knowledge, and provided me with the opportunity to enter the UK’s professional engineering world.

Since completing my studies I have been working as a maritime engineer in Arup – a firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists working across every aspect of today's built environment.

I am a Maritime Engineer and have been involved in many interesting projects such as the Aberdeen Nigg Bay development and the Swansea Tidal Bay Lagoon.

I have been working side by side and learning from the best maritime engineer professionals in the business.

Choosing Plymouth

I chose MSc Coastal Engineering at Plymouth because it’s the best UK university in terms of coastal and maritime engineering studies. It was also suggested to me by my university professor. 

Compared to similar courses it offered a broad range of modules such as coastal engineering, environmental and project management modules, which are very important in an engineer’s professional career.

If I had the knowledge of how UK universities and particularly Plymouth operated, I would have done my undergraduate course at Plymouth, instead of doing it in Greece.

coast opening
The COAST laboratory provides physical model testing with combined waves, currents and wind
Ocean Basin
COAST's Ocean Basin facility

The professors on my course were very kind and dedicated and always ready to answer queries. The University library had all the studying material and resources we needed for our projects. 

Using the coastal laboratory for my dissertation projects was of the utmost importance to my development and one of my favourite memories. 

My dissertation, entitled ‘study of the shoreline response of submerged breakwaters', was an exciting experience and a fantastic opportunity to see how theory is put into practice in the real world.

All the tools to succeed

Before studying at Plymouth, I was not sure whether I would stay in the UK for a career. Studying at the University of Plymouth broadened my mental horizons, gave me significant educational and technical knowledge, and provided me with the opportunity to enter the UK’s professional engineering world.

The University gave me all the tools to face the challenges in my future career; it gave me a high-level technical knowledge, helped me with multitasking, prioritising, working in teams, and also boosted my organisational and presentation skills.

Studying at Plymouth helped me to cope with pressure and stress and getting accustomed to working as part of demanding projects.

All in all, I think the whole course was structured to prepare us for the UK engineering industry and professional environment.

I recommended the University of Plymouth to people because I know that it will give them – like it did for me – the proper knowledge and qualifications to pursue a career as an engineer in the UK industry.

Alderney - Island in Guernsey (OCtober 2002)