Scientific Careers At Engineering Colleges

There are a great number of areas to consider in the field of engineering. 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 Great Britain we have a distinguished history in aeronautical engineering, with around six hundred companies working in the aerospace industry. Automotive design, development and production are significant employers, and the UK motorsport industry is recognised globally.

Courses Of Repute

You'll find a very high concentration of aero and auto engineering based undergraduate degree courses in the UK - many with international reputations. Graduates can also follow on and take a PhD or MSc if they wish. 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.

Those who need the facility to work alongside their study programme may find they can do a sandwich course. There are opportunities for some students to get sponsored whilst at university. This also usually means a work placement afterwards. As you do your research into the different training options, look for details of graduate sponsorship programmes.

The Automotive Industry

Every facet of a motorised machine has been developed because of automotive engineering. Today's auto engineers need to understand electronic and software engineering as well as mechanical and electrical. There's a lot to take on board, and new technologies are being developed all the time - often to deal with government environmental standards.

We can split auto engineering into product or design engineering, development engineering and 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. Developers supply designers with various specs they have to comply with. Working out how to actually assemble and produce the vehicle is the manufacturing engineers' job.

Auto engineering courses are very in-depth, and mastering the detail will take time and experience. In addition to gaining comprehensive knowledge of automotive engineering and design, students should also learn transferable skills on a graduate programme. As safety is vital, designs have to go through various crash scenarios to test their impact on the vehicle occupants.

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 next stage of course is to work on the manufacture of the vehicle. Automotive manufacturing engineers plan both the building of the component parts and the entire vehicle. Tasks include equipment design and machine specifications as well as people layout and management.

Aeronautical-Engineering

Aeronautical engineering covers all things to do with flight technology - the design, construction and science of aircraft. Studying for an aeronautical engineering degree will prepare you for a successful and highly respected career within the aerospace industry. As an aside - Formula One racing cars share a common technological base with modern airliners.

All aircraft have to endure severe conditions and stresses, such as changes in atmospheric pressure and temperature, and structural loading on the components. An understanding of technologies such as aerodynamics, materials science, avionics and propulsion is needed, and each are very specialist subjects in their own right.

Training courses will go into depth on aircraft design and flight mechanics, and feature a strong emphasis on analysis. Analytics is essentially problem-solving, and deals with things like dynamics and fluid mechanics. 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. Nonetheless, university students will still benefit from wind-tunnel experiments and other physical testing methods.

Practical application is an important element of training to be an engineer. Degree course students will have a practical group assignment at some stage to design their own functional vehicle. Engineering degrees will also allow students to learn various other subjects and skills. They could include things like communication skills and time management.

Well paid, rewarding and financially attractive careers are available for qualified Automotive and Aeronautical Engineers. Graduate engineers can apply to Professional Institutions to become certified with the Engineering Council - an organisation that works to ensure the UK is well served by its engineering resources.