Engineering

Knowledge, skills, imagination and experience: as an engineer you’ll need all of these to realise your vision. Our course enables you to develop them to the highest levels.

Creating a better future

Engineering is about solving problems: about designing processes and making products to improve the quality of human life. From reservoirs to robots, aircraft to artificial hips, microchips to mobile phones – engineers design and manufacture a huge variety of objects that can make a real difference to both individuals and society.

"I wanted a course that would provide a good insight into all types of Engineering and allow me to specialise once I’d more of a chance to explore the subject. I’m now specialising in an area that I never would have considered when I was applying. It’s really different to any other course and has strong links with industry and a good team building and managerial aspect." – Rachael

The aim of our course is to provide you with all the analytical, design and computing skills that underpin modern engineering practice, while encouraging the creativity and problem-solving skills that are so important to a good engineer.

The Cambridge course is unique. It isn't a 'general' course – ultimately you specialise – but studying Engineering at Cambridge keeps your options open. When you graduate, you're fully qualified in your chosen area as well as equipped across the range of engineering disciplines, and able to apply new technologies in novel situations.

The Department

The Department has around 1,200 undergraduate and 600 graduate students from all over the country, Europe and beyond, and from every background. They participate in the running of the Department through the Faculty Board (concerned with policy) and the Staff–Student Joint Committee.

We’re a leading international centre for research and are consistently ranked the highest amongst British universities. We also have strong links with industry – more than a third of our 300 largest research projects are funded by industrial companies.

Facilities within the Department are excellent: there’s a large Design and Project Office equipped with more than 80 powerful workstations; the library has some 30,000 books and about 350 current journals are taken; and extensive mechanical and electrical workshops are available for teaching, projects, research and recreational engineering.

The advantages of our course

Part I provides you with a broad education in the fundamentals of engineering. This enables you to make a genuinely informed choice about the area in which to specialise in your third and fourth years (many of our students change direction as a result) and makes you uniquely well suited to working in and leading multidisciplinary teams. Part II then provides in–depth training in your chosen professional discipline.

You can add to your specialisation with additional topics, including foreign languages and management, and acquire other practical skills, eg the 'Engine Strip and Rebuild' sessions and building robots to compete in international competitions. Engineering Applications Lectures also keep you in touch with the latest developments in industry and research.

Accreditation

The MEng course is accredited as fully satisfying the educational base for a Chartered Engineer (CEng) by the Institutions of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), Engineering and Technology (IET), Civil Engineers (ICE), Highways and Transportation (CIHT), and Structural Engineers (IStructE), the Institute of Measurement and Control (InstMC), the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), the Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE), and the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS). An appropriate combination of Part II papers is required in each case. The Joint Board of Moderators of the Civil Engineering Institutions categorise the course as "MEng Accredited CEng (Full)".

Industrial experience

You're required to complete four weeks of industrial experience by the end of the second year, and a further four weeks by the end of the third year. This may be obtained by deferring entry or during vacations. Our fulltime Industrial Placement Co–ordinator helps deferred entrants and undergraduates to find suitable placements (in the UK and abroad) and sponsorship.

Exchange programmes

About 10 per cent of our students spend their third year studying abroad through our exchange schemes with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), École Centrale Paris and the National University of Singapore(NUS).

Foreign languages

The Department's Language Programme for Engineers aims to equip students with the necessary language skills and cultural awareness to excel in the worldwide marketplace. Specialised courses at all levels are offered in French, German, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese.

What are we looking for?

We're looking for students with excellent analytical skills, a strong understanding of Physics and Maths and the links between them (with an emphasis on Mechanics), and a wider engagement with Engineering and extra–curricular applications of Maths and Physics. Such experiences should increase your appreciation of why Engineering, Maths and Physics are so important in the modern world.

Changing course

Students may transfer to Chemical Engineering after the first year, or to Management Studies or Manufacturing Engineering after completing Engineering Part I.

Excellent career prospects

A few students leave the course after three years and graduate with the BA Hons degree which is not designed to meet the requirements of professional accreditation. Progression to the fourth year (Part IIB) is dependent on examination achievement in Parts IB and IIA, and those who successfully complete Part IIB graduate with the BA and MEng degrees.

The style and structure of our course give you a unique head start over other graduates. Employment prospects are typically excellent, with 98 per cent of our students finding a job within six months of graduating. The average starting salary of Cambridge Engineering graduates in 2009 was £27,600.

Course outline

Part I An unrivalled breadth of knowledge The broad foundation of the first two years ensures that you develop an understanding of the basic principles of a wide range of subjects, together with an appreciation of the external pressures under which these ideas are likely to be applied. You can expect around 22 hours of teaching each week, in a mixture of lectures, classes, practicals and supervisions. Year 1 Part IA In Part IA, you take four papers and sit a three-hour written exam in each: Mechanical Engineering Structures and Materials Electrical and Information Engineering Mathematical Methods You also carry out a number of coursework exercises and projects, on topics including structural design, product design, presentation skills, drawing, laboratory experiments and computer programming. Year 2 Part IB In Part IB, you study eight compulsory papers on core subjects at a more advanced level: Mechanics, Structures, Materials, Thermofluid Mechanics, Electrical Engineering, Information Engineering, Mathematical Methods, and Business Economics. In the third term you select two topics from seven engineering disciplines plus a language option. These topics emphasise engineering design and introduce the more specialised work of the third year. Coursework includes laboratory experiments and computing exercises. Several experiments are linked around the common theme of earthquake–resistant structures in an interdisciplinary activity. A highlight of the year is the compulsory Integrated Design Project where you work in teams to design and build robot vehicles which are then tested against each other.

Year 3 Parts IIA Professional specialisation begins in earnest and you study 10 papers from an extensive portfolio, from which a core is associated with one of the following disciplines: Aerospace and Aerothermal Engineering Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Electrical and Electronic Engineering Electrical and Information Sciences Energy and the Environment Engineering for the Life Sciences Information and Computer Engineering Instrumentation and Control Mechanical Engineering The final term is devoted to project work where you choose two from a variety of design and computer–based projects, projects in a foreign language or a surveying project. Year 4 Parts IIB In Part IIB, further specialisation is possible and you select eight papers from nearly 100 options which vary each year. These papers benefit from the Department's research and are taught by experts in the particular field. As a result you graduate with a masters level appreciation of theory and practice in your chosen area. A major project occupies about half of your time throughout the final year. Many projects are associated with current Department research and have direct industrial input and application. Recent projects include: remarkably shaped structures; preliminary design of a solar electric vehicle; strategy development for fuel restricted F1 races; using high–performance graphics cards to improve medical image resolution; and the aerodynamics of power kites.