Aerospace Technology (with Placement Year)

• Our ‘Mechanical Engineering’ courses are ranked 3rd in the UK (Guardian University Guide, 2020).
• Currently accredited by Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) for the 2021-22 intake, as fully meeting the educational requirements for Incorporated Engineer (IEng) registration and partially satisfying the educational requirements for Chartered Engineer (CEng) registration. If the accreditation of this course changes, we would seek to notify applicants and students as soon as possible.
• Expert free to attend guest lectures (subject to availability), which have previously covered topics such as green landing systems, airship developments, aircraft design and training, and non-destructive testing in aircraft braking systems.
• On and off site access to commercial engineering software, including 3D CAD, Finite Element Analysis, Computational Fluid Dynamics and Multibody Systems for design and simulation, as well as training in industry standard CATIA, HyperWorks, STAR-CCM+, SIMPACK and Matlab/Simulink software.
• A range of facilities including a full-size Harrier Jet (used for teaching), 3 full scale flight simulators, wind tunnel, composites lab, metrology lab, environmental test lab, flow lab, AVL engine test cell, automotive workshop, fatigue and tensile testing (Instron), civil engineering specialist testing equipment, a range of CNC machinery and a laser workshop.

The first year aims to build on your already established skills to provide a foundation of key engineering subjects and an essential grounding in key aeronautical principles, upon successful completion. You will be provided with an introduction to aerospace topics including aerodynamics, power plants, aircraft systems and structures.

This is reinforced with the use of practical laboratory sessions using our full-sized aircraft, wind tunnel and flight simulator hardware. For example, you will have the opportunity to remove, inspect, overhaul and reinstate critical aircraft components like the aircraft braking system, aileron or rudder.

You will also have the chance to perform a series of aircraft manoeuvres in the Merlin flight simulator to collect data in order to explore the flying characteristic of the aircraft and design. You may also develop and manufacture crashworthy landing gears for quadcopters using 3D printers.

Throughout your studies, we aim for you to develop a broad range of transferrable core skills, such as problem-solving, creativity and innovation, leadership, team working, business acumen and ensuring quality.

The second year builds on the foundations of the first year to enhance your specialist knowledge of the analysis and design aspects of individual aerospace systems, along with aircraft maintenance management, aerodynamics and structures. The majority of the modules include teaching of industry standard specialist computer aided analysis tools to support your studies and future employability.

Following your second year, you will have an option to apply for a one-year professional work placement or study abroad in a partner institution.

Past students have undertaken placements working for Aero Engine Controls, GE Aviation, UTC Actuation Systems, HS Marstons, Rolls-Royce, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Airbus Bertrandt, Meggitt, Tata Technologies, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, JCB, BMW, Morgan Materials, GKN Aerospace and Arrowsmith.

If you wish to undertake the optional study abroad/placement year, you will take either the Placement Year module or the Study Abroad Year module which both typically run for a full academic year between levels 5 and 6 of your course.

You are normally able to progress onto the relevant module if you have successfully completed the first two years of the course (i.e. having accumulated 240 credits) and have a confirmed opportunity two weeks prior to the start of the academic year, however we encourage international students to confirm their placements earlier to ensure they are able to meet any applicable visa requirements.

Students opting for either the work placement or study abroad module will be registered on a non-credit bearing module and therefore no additional tuition fees apply. While the modules do not bear credits, they do require completion of marked activities reflecting on your placement/study abroad or work placement experience. Following successful completion of the activities, the module selected will appear on your final academic transcript. Students will thus graduate with 360 credits in total, assuming successful completion of their final year.

The final year covers control theory, helicopter design and supersonic aerodynamics alongside aerospace project management, your individual project and a variety of group design work. In this group work, designed to mimic a real-life industrial project, you will work as a team to design a system (previously this has been a complete landing gear design) and produce a prototype demonstrator using the rapid prototyping facilities.

The course culminates with your individual research project. Past students have worked with our industrial partners to design landing gear for the latest generation of light aircraft and develop low drag wing design using our wind-tunnel.

Previous graduates have gone on to become:

• aircraft engineering officers (both military and civil)
• design engineers
• quality engineers
• engineering managers for a wide variety of companies

Our previous students have also become pilots and worked in the whole spectrum of aerospace careers.