You will study the same courses in the first three years whether you are on the BEng or MEng degree programme.

Years 1 and 2

In first and second years you will take core subjects in mathematics, applied mechanics, dynamics, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics and electronics. These are applied to introductory studies in aeronautics including aerodynamics and propulsion. You will also take courses in drawing and workshop skills.

Year 3

In third year the basic subjects are expanded so that you will learn about detailed aircraft design. You can begin to analyse and understand the aircraft behaviour, predict its performance, understand its propulsion systems and begin to perform detailed designs of aircraft structural components.

Years 4 and 5

The main route to becoming a fully chartered engineer is through the MEng degree, which usually takes five years. The BEng degree remains popular and can normally be completed in four years. To become a fully chartered engineer with a BEng degree requires further study after graduation, which can be done part-time from work.

Your selection for BEng or MEng depends on your progress record in your first three years.

As a BEng student you will begin to deal with some of the advanced concepts that make aeronautics so fascinating and challenging.
These include the study of composite materials, aeroelasticity, high-speed aerodynamics, fluid dynamics, flight dynamics and control theory to a high level. Your individual project work gives you the opportunity to apply the knowledge you have gained during your studies to a problem in aerospace engineering.

In fourth year MEng students conduct a week- long experimental programme in a specially instrumented test aircraft and the scope of their project work is different to BEng students. Fifth-year study will widen your knowledge at the same time as providing you with more in-depth study of aircraft and their systems. You will learn about aircraft handling qualities, aircraft operations, and advanced structural analysis techniques, in addition to extending the subjects you studied in your fourth year. Half of your fifth year is devoted to project work.

A range of optional courses is available in fourth and fifth years to allow you to develop and follow your own interests. These courses include helicopter theory, advanced turbomachinery, computational fluid dynamics, experimental aerodynamics, space flight dynamics, electro-optics and aerospace systems.

Laboratories are present in each year of study. These may involve running computer simulations or require measurements in an experimental test. You will run a jet engine, weigh and balance an aircraft, test structural components and perform wind tunnel tests.

A feature of the fourth year of the MEng programme is a flight-testing course in a Jetstream Aircraft.

Industry involvement comes both from contributions to aircraft design classes by engineers from the industrial sector and, whenever possible, from visits to industrial sites.

The MEng degree programme allows you to take your fifth-year project in one of our partner universities and organisations in continental Europe. In addition to this, we have partner universities in the USA and Australia, and some students have taken their third year of study in these institutions.

The School of Engineering is one of three in the UK selected by BAE Systems for 'preferred' status, which has favourable implications for industrial involvement in the programme and for jobs with the company.

Our recent aeronautical engineering graduates have been employed by

• Prospect, engineer
• Williams F1, junior aerodynamicist
• Insyen, junior engineer
• Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, mechanical engineer
• RAF, pilot
• RES Ltd, wind analyst
• Fluid Gravity Engineer, aerospace engineer
• Rolls Royce plc, graduate trainee engineer
• Rolls Royce Derby, professional excellence engineer graduate
• Thales, electronic engineer.