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Technical and Exciting Career Engineer Programs

Engineering covers a multitude of career options and skill levels. If you've chosen to explore training in Automotive and/or Aeronautical Engineering, it's likely you're looking for a technical challenge and an exciting career. In the UK, the aerospace industry competes on the world stage, and is a front runner in scientific and technological developments. When it comes to the automotive industry, over 300,000 people in the UK are employed in design, development and manufacturing.

Highly Regarded Training

Many UK universities offering aero and auto engineering degrees are globally distinguished - you will find more than 30 with BEng and MEng syllabuses listed. In addition, some offer post-grad courses for Engineering and Physical Sciences graduates.

Diplomas and other vocational certifications are also available from some colleges. University students can choose from full-time three, four or five year courses, some with a year out in industry or at an alternative overseas university or learning establishment.

Sandwich courses can also be available on certain training programmes. Equally, it's also possible for some students to arrange sponsorship (for example from the Army) if they're prepared to commit to them after training. It's important to take your time and really explore all the different training possibilities that are available.

Automotive-Engineering

Auto engineering concerns all aspects of motor vehicles, from conception to assembly. Today, it incorporates elements not only of mechanical and electrical engineering, but also electronic, safety and software engineering. With new technologies such as ultra low emissions, active suspensions, composite material structures and electric vehicles, there is much to challenge the thought processes of the student.

In the life cycle of a vehicle, design engineering comes first, followed by development engineering and then manufacturing engineering. The designers have to create the parts on a vehicle and ensure that they meet all of the stated requirements.

Next come the development engineers. They are concerned with the interactions of all the systems. Designers sometimes need developers to specify criteria for their designs. Working out how to actually assemble and produce the vehicle is the manufacturing engineers' job. Students will find their training is both extensive and intense.

Modules will cover all aspects of design, development and manufacture - and use examples to illustrate principles such as fluid mechanics. Safety is a top priority, and so all elements of a design will be tested via crash simulations and test dummies etc.

All the components of a vehicle have to do the job they're individually designed for, but also be brought together and function harmoniously. For that reason, students must understand something about systems engineering. Development engineers have to look at tradeoffs to gain an acceptable level of performance in all areas. Finally the development engineer has to conduct tests on the full vehicle, such as level testing, validation and certification.

The process is ready for the manufacturing engineers once all the product design and development work has been done. Parts have to be assembled, (usually in separate plants) and vehicles built to the exacting standards of the manufacturing engineers. Safety procedures have to be applied to every stage of manufacture - from design of equipment and layout of people, to machine and line rates and all automated tasks.

Aeronautical-Engineering

Man's desire for flight has led to momentous developments in aircraft technology. If you qualify at degree level or above in Aeronautical Engineering, you will have proved yourself worthy to enter the fascinating business of aerospace. You could also choose a career in motor racing, as aircraft engineering is the basis for Formula One design.

Contemporary flight vehicles must endure very severe conditions such as differences in temperature and atmospheric pressure. Due to the complexity of flight vehicle development and design, it would be impossible to learn enough about all the technologies involved, so teams of engineers deal in their own specialisations.

Training courses will go into depth on aircraft design and flight mechanics, and feature a strong emphasis on analysis. Examples of analytical subjects are Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics and Dynamics. Much of what you will learn is based on theoretical mathematics, but empirical testing also comes into it - admittedly largely in the form of simulations. All the same, students shouldn't miss out on aeronautical projects that carry out tests in wind tunnels.

When training to be an engineer you need a lot of practical design experience. Both BEng and MEng degree courses will incorporate practical project work to be carried out in teams. Aeronautical and Automotive Student Engineers are often also taught a variety of soft skills that will be useful for their career. Subjects to choose from might include European languages, presentation skills and teamwork.

The UK aerospace industry attracts the very best graduates, and the work is both compelling and highly remunerated. Refer to the Engineering Council for details on becoming a Chartered Engineer (CEng) or an Incorporated Engineer (IEng).