What you’ll learn
Aerospace engineering explores the design, analysis and testing of aeronautical and aerospace vehicles. You will study aircraft design, flight mechanics and fluid dynamics, as well as reliability, safety and airworthiness. It will also include aviation studies, covering topics such as the environmental impact of airlines, operational efficiency and time-keeping in the industry.
How you’ll learn
Typically, you would have a lot of traditional lectures, supported by tutorial work to applied learning. Group assignments also encourage team work, problem-solving and organisational issues. Universities are increasingly using interactive sessions, such as flipping the classroom, where students ask what they need rather than the old style one-way delivery. Institutions such as City University bring in guest lecturers to provide industry experience.
Contact hours are likely to be high, around 25 hours with your tutors a week. You will be expected to spend an equivalent amount of time doing self-study. Many universities also offer sandwich courses, where students can spend a year working in the industry with companies like British Airways, Formula One and Airbus.
Entry requirements
People are typically expected to have three A-Levels, with science, maths or physics. Other helpful subjects are IT, computing, design technology and further maths. Some universities provide a foundation year with lower entry requirements, so if an applicant hasn’t met the requirements, this acts as a bridge and they get automatic entry on passing it.
What job can you get?
The majority stick within the engineering world, for instance, working for construction companies as an engineer. Some graduates work in management, or for companies such as Airbus or Rolls-Royce from the aircraft engine side. Working in finance or for start-ups is another option, because graduates have good analytical skills. You will be highly skilled and these are all well-paid careers.
