StudyQA — Master: Engineering — University of Cambridge

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The Cambridge Engineering course is unique. It allows you to keep your options open while equipping you with all the analytical, design and computing skills that underpin modern engineering practice. Part I (Years 1 and 2) provides a broad education in engineering fundamentals, enabling you to make a genuinely informed choice about the area in which to specialise from your third year (many students change direction as a result). Part II (Years 3 and 4) then provides in-depth training in your chosen professional discipline.

The following specialisations are available within our Engineering course:

Aerospace and Aerothermal Engineering
Bioengineering
Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Electrical and Information Sciences
Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Information and Computer Engineering
Instrumentation and Control
Mechanical Engineering

Department and facilities

The Department is a leading international centre for research, consistently ranked the highest amongst British universities. We also have strong links with industry, with many research projects funded by industrial companies.

Our facilities are excellent: the new Dyson Centre for Engineering Design provides access to traditional hand and machine tools, as well as modern computer-controlled machinery and rapid prototyping; the Design and Project Office is equipped with more than 80 workstations; the library has 30,000 books and takes about 350 journals; and extensive mechanical and electrical workshops are available. The Department’s Language Programme for Engineers offers specialised courses at all levels in French, German, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese.

Industrial experience

You’re required to complete six weeks of industrial experience by the end of the third year, obtained by deferring entry or during vacations. Our full-time Industrial Placement Co-ordinator helps deferred entrants and undergraduates to find suitable placements (in the UK and abroad) and sponsorship.

Exchange programmes

A small number of students spend their third year studying abroad through our exchange schemes with École Centrale Paris and the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Accreditation

The course is accredited by the Engineering Council and by all other major institutions, including the Institutions of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), Engineering and Technology (IET), Civil Engineers (ICE) Structural Engineers (IStructE), the Institute of Measurement and Control (InstMC), the Insitute of Highway Engineers (IHE), the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) and the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS). An appropriate combination of Part II papers is required in each case.

Additional course costs

Year 1

Required: a University approved scientific calculator - Estimated cost £17
Required: drawing instruments - Estimated cost £17
Required: set of data books - Estimated cost £10
Optional: trips for those taking language courses - Estimated cost £200

Year 2

Optional: trips for those taking language courses - Estimated cost £200

Year 3

Constructionarium project: students taking this option are required to buy safety boots (£20) and contribute to the cost of the course - Estimated cost £270
Optional: trips for those taking language courses - Estimated cost £200

Year 4

Surveying field course: students taking this option are required to pay for two weeks' accommodation - Estimated cost £170
Optional: trips for those taking language courses - Estimated cost £200

Careers

When you graduate, you’re fully qualified in your chosen area, knowledgeable across the range of engineering disciplines, and able to apply new technologies in novel situations, giving you an advantage over engineering graduates from other more narrowly focused courses. Prospects are typically excellent, for example, 91% of our students who graduated in 2015 were in employment or further study within six months.

The average starting salary of Cambridge Engineering graduates in 2015 was £31,400.

Our students are in great demand and they go on to careers in all the major industrial and commercial sectors. Positions currently held by some of our graduates include graduate engineer at Mott MacDonald, program manager in emerging markets operations at Google, project engineer at Atelier One, heat management engineer at McLaren Automotive, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, and environmental engineer at Water Environment Ltd.

Teaching is provided through a mixture of lectures, practicals, projects and supervisions, and in Year 1 you can typically expect around 22 hours of teaching each week. You’re assessed each year through coursework and written exams.

A few students graduate after three years with the BA (Honours) degree. However, most continue to the fourth year (Part IIB), successful completion of which leads to the BA and MEng degrees. Progression to Part IIB is dependent on achievement in Parts IB and IIA.

Year 1 (Part IA)

The broad foundation of the first two years (Part I) gives you 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.

In Year 1, 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 undertake several coursework activities and projects, on topics including structural design, product design, presentation skills, drawing, laboratory experiments and computer programming.

Year 2 (Part IB)

You study eight papers on core subjects at a more advanced level:

Mechanics
Structures
Materials
Thermofluid Mechanics
Electrical Engineering
Information Engineering
Mathematical Methods
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. 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 (Part 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
Bioengineering
Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Electrical and Information Sciences
Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Information and Computer Engineering
Instrumentation and Control
Mechanical Engineering

Alternatively, you can choose (General) Engineering, in which there are fewer restrictions on paper combinations.

In addition, you take an Extension Activity (selected from several topics, usually relevant to your professional discipline) and, in the final term, choose two from a variety of design and computer-based projects or projects in a foreign language.

Year 4 (Part IIB)

Progression to Part IIB is dependent on achievement in Parts IB and IIA, and successful completion of Part IIB leads to the BA and MEng degrees.

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:

super-tall timber high-rise design
nanotubes and graphene for polymer optoelectronics
a fitness predictor for racing cyclists
use of thorium in a PRISM reactor
whole-system design of tidal turbines
remarkably shaped structures
preliminary design of a solar electric vehicle
strategy development for fuel restricted F1 races
medical imaging and 3D computer graphics
the aerodynamics of power kites

All applicants to the University of Cambridge must submit an application to UCAS (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) by the relevant deadline.
The Attestat o (polnom) Srednem Obshchem Obrazovanii (Certificate of Secondary Education) is not considered to be suitable preparation for a competitive application to the University of Cambridge. We strongly recommend that you undertake further study if you wish to apply for an undergraduate degree. Examples of the qualifications that would be considered suitable for admission to Cambridge are A Levels, the International Baccalaureate (IB), five or more Advanced Placement (AP) courses, or possibly the first year of an undergraduate degree at a university outside the UK. We recommend that you contact the College that you wish to apply to directly for further advice and guidance.
IELTS – normally a minimum overall grade of 7.5, usually with 7.0 or above in each element.
Cambridge English: Advanced – grade A or B.
Cambridge English: Proficiency – grade A, B or C.
The pre-interview written assessment for Engineering will be taken on 2 November 2017.