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

Year 1

In your first year you will take courses in mathematics and study engineering fundamentals including computing, analogue and digital electronics and electrical engineering. These courses will form a solid foundation for development later in the degree programme and are supported by individual and group project and laboratory work.

Years 2 and 3

The following two years will contain a core of compulsory and optional subjects such as management and languages. The core courses will give you a firm grounding in the knowledge and skills required of any professional electronics or electrical engineer, whether your career takes you to work with hydroelectric projects or wind farms, designing high-tech gadgets and communications devices or creating new electronic components at the nano-scale. These courses are augmented with practical construction and project work in each year: working both alone and in teams.

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.

Both BEng and MEng students have a wide choice of technical options in fourth year, and you can specialise in selected topics from power engineering through applied neural networks and signal processing to micro-, opto- and bio-electronics. You will also gain expertise in professional aspects including economics, project organisation, environmental issues, and safety.

BEng students complete their studies with a substantial individual project, under the one-to-one supervision of academic staff.

If you are admitted into the MEng route you will have the opportunity to take part in a multidisciplinary integrated system design project instead of the fourth-year individual project. You will learn the skills of project management and work alongside students of other engineering disciplines. In fifth year you will complete a six-month project abroad and then take further technical and/or management subjects.

In third year you will undertake a team design project in which the complete design process of an item of electronic equipment is carried out, from the initial specification to the completed product.

There is a final-year MEng degree option to concentrate on a comprehensive management course supported by many manufacturing companies in Scotland.

As an MEng student you will complete a six-month research and development project in an international company or research lab, in fifth year. If you have chosen to study a European language you may be assigned to a host organisation in Europe – students choosing this option are considerably prized by future employers.

Our recent Electronics and Electrical Engineering graduates have been employed by

• Atkins, graduate engineer
• QinetiQ, communications engineer
• BAE Systems Surface Ships, electronic engineer
• BAE Systems, engineer
• Ventus green energy, project manager
• RAF, officer.