The average starting salary for engineering and technology graduates is around £26,000, which is approximately 20% higher than the average starting salary for all graduates.
Tomorrow's Engineers
The average starting salary for engineering and technology graduates is around £26,000, which is approximately 20% higher than the average starting salary for all graduates.
Tomorrow's Engineers
How do you want to study?
I would like to start
I would like to study
UCAS code:
H141Location(s):
Canterbury
Overview
A foundation year helps you develop the study skills and self-confidence needed for higher education when you don’t reach the entry requirements for your subject.
On this course you can unlock your creative potential and build technical expertise to help you become a highly skilled, work-ready graduate.
If you want to work at the cutting-edge of engineering, developing and designing the components and machinery used in manufacturing, construction and other industries, then this is the course for you.
It offers you real-world application of science, technology and maths where you'll take genuine problems proposed by the industry and apply your practical skills and technical knowledge to solve them, working with engineering experts along the way.
On completion of the course you'll be skilled in professional engineering practice and prepared to work as an effective, industry-ready engineer who is on track to become an Incorporated Engineer.
Why Study Mechanical Engineering with Foundation Year?
Mechanical engineers make a vital contribution to a variety of industries by developing, implementing and maintaining engineering solutions that ensure products are manufactured efficiently and to customer’s quality requirements.
Our hands-on course will prepare you to enter an engineering career with varied and exciting prospects. You could be involved in finding solutions to automate packaging processes for your favourite biscuits or using energy as efficiently as possible throughout a building. Wherever the course leads you, you'll be equipped with the skills you need to work as a mechanical engineer ensuring systems meet demand, are reliable, integrated and operate smoothly.
During the foundation year, you'll develop your computing discipline knowledge, including programming, and you'll gain skills to prepare you to study at degree level.
There is a strong practical element to this course and you'll spend a significant amount of time in workshops and laboratories using your enquiring mind and demonstrating your technical skills and creativity.
You can start your journey with a foundation year
Get a glimpse inside our new facility
Entry requirements
Entry requirements are typically 32-112 UCAS points including minimum 5 GCSEs (including maths, English language and science). However, students who have typically:
- 32-88 UCAS points at Level 3 and studied at least one of the following: A level maths, A level physics, A level applied science, A level engineering, BTEC Engineering Diploma.
- 88-112 UCAS points at Level 3 and who have not studied: A level maths, A level physics, A level applied science, A level engineering, BTEC Engineering Diploma.
- 32-112 UCAS points at Level 3 in maths, science or engineering and who have not been in full-time/part-time education for many years.
Further entry requirements
- 5 GCSEs grade C/4 or above (including maths, English, science)
- Science can be physics, chemistry, biology or computer science
The course will provide you with further science and maths knowledge and understanding that underpins Biomedical Engineering and support developing your higher education learning skills in Science and Maths to support your further pursuit of studying a BEng/MEng in Mechanical Engineering.
This course is also available without a Foundation Year for those who meet the entry requirements.
32-122
UCAS Points
All about the course
The foundation year will give you study skills and foundations of engineering that you need to start Year 1 of the degree. You'll learn about general engineering science, physics, chemistry, computer programming and maths.
As you progress through the degree, you'll learn about professional practical engineering and you'll study engineering design and engineering science. You'll then go on to explore mechanical engineering in more depth, studying modules such as dynamics of solid materials and mechanics, and material and mechanical methods of test analysis.
All through the degree, you'll experience plenty of hands-on learning through active learning laboratories, engineering laboratories and the use of engineering workshops and makerspace. You will undertake small group projects, typically sourced from industry. You'll also develop skills enabling you to:
- work effectively and supportively in diverse and inclusive groups
- communicate effectively in groups and one to one
- apply project management to group-work
- apply principles of commercial management and consideration of wider issues.
Each year you'll undertake a large group project. These projects, which are typically sourced from industry, will help you to develop your learning in engineering business, practice and project management.
In year 1, you'll have the opportunity to develop your knowledge and understanding and some application. As you progress to year 2, you'll apply your knowledge and understanding to conceive, design, build and operate a solution to a problem. In your third year, you will undertake an individual research and development project that will inform the group project and help you to develop and illustrate the ability to critically analyse the application of your knowledge and understanding to solve an engineering problem.
You'll also have the opportunity to undertake a work placement and gain valuable experience working alongside industry experts.
Module information
Please note that the list of optional modules and their availability may be subject to change. We continually review and where appropriate, revise the range of modules on offer to reflect changes in the subject and ensure the best student experience. Modules will vary when studied in combination with another subject.
Core/optional modules
How you’ll learn
You will be taught through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials, laboratory work and workshops.
Seminars and tutorials in smaller groups will enable you to discuss and develop your understanding of topics covered in lectures. In addition, you will meet with your academic personal tutor and will spend a significant amount of time gaining hands-on experience in the computing and engineering laboratories.
In each academic year you will complete a team CDIO project (typically sourced from industry) in a 40 credit module. These large group projects provide you with the opportunity to reflect on your knowledge and understanding in context to a real-world scenario and develop your confidence in your mechanical and product engineering understanding and knowledge.
Additional drop-in academic and peer learning mentoring sessions will be typically timetabled and you will be encouraged to make use of and support these sessions to develop your learning.
We will also nurture your transferable skills so you can:
• work effectively in diverse and inclusive groups
• communicate effectively in groups and one-to-one
• apply project management to group-work
• apply principles of commercial management and solutions considerations
• develop effective communication with professionals from other disciplines, especially clinicians
• contribute to industry through your solutions
• provide tangible results for your portfolio of evidence for future employment.
All courses are informed by the University’s Learning and Teaching Strategy 2015-2022.
Each 20 credit module requires 200 hours of input over the academic year. This includes class contact time in lectures, tutorials, workshops, laboratory work, module preparation, module learning contextualisation, assessment research, development and submission, and examination revision.
The contact time per module is typically a blend of lectures, laboratories and tutorials and equates to:
• Foundation year 60 hours
• Year 1 60 hours
• Year 2 50 hours
• Year 3 40 hours
Typical contact time per week:
• Foundation year 15 hours
• Year 1 15 hours
• Year 2 12.5 hours
• Year 3 10 hours
When not attending lectures, seminars, tutorials, workshops or other timetabled sessions you will continue learning through self-study. Typically, this involves reading books and articles from academic journals, undertaking research in the library, and preparing for coursework assignments/examinations and seminars.
Your module tutor will direct you towards specific readings and/or activities to complete before class.
The modules are led by our engineering academic team consisting of lecturers, senior lecturers and principal lecturers. Laboratory learning is further supported by senior and junior technicians and postgraduate demonstrators.
Mechanical Engineering is the broadest engineering discipline and while there are many engineers who work in a purely mechanical environment there is also a broad spectrum of engineers who work in multi-disciplinary environments.
IMechE (2016)
How you’ll be assessed
All academic years consist of a mix of modules that are assessed by coursework only, to modules that are assessed by examination and coursework. Examinations may be open-book or closed book exams. Coursework may include, Engineering log book, Technical drawings, Wiki pages, blogs, pitches to industry, posters, leaflets, engineering manual, etc.
The Foundation Year (Year 0) consists of 6 non-credit bearing modules.
Years 1-3 (Levels 4-6) consist of 4 modules that are 20 credits each and 1 module that is 40 credits.
In the modules and module assessment you will need to demonstrate:
- Knowledge and understanding of engineering science and principles engineering at Level 4;
- Application of knowledge and understanding of Mechanical Engineering at Level 5;
- Critical analysis of application of knowledge and understanding of Mechanical Engineering at Level 6.
The 40 credit modules will provide you with the opportunity to work on a substantial group CDIO (Create, Design, Implement and Operate) project typically sourced from industry. These projects will provide you with the opportunity to build your technical skills, as well as your professional practice skills. The pioneering CDIO approach is being designed to enable you to develop your creative skills to find solutions based on engineering science, principles and provide practical benefits to end users, and manufacturers.
The Level 6 Professional Mechanical Engineering Project 40 credits module will entail group and individual project. The overall group project will be typically sourced from industry, and will require several individual projects to support a solution to the overall group project. Each individual project will entail dissertation assessment. Each group will be led and managed by a Level 7 MEng student studying the Professional Engineering Project and Management module. Each Level 7 student will research, develop, apply and test through the development of their own evaluation methods to critically analyse a more complex problem that contributes to the Level 6 Professional Engineering group. Each Level 6 and 7 individual projects within the group project will entail a dissertation.
Level 7 students will be responsible to lead and manage integration of all the project solutions to provide an integrated system, and verifying and validation that the solutions are timely, cost effective and are the desired quality, in addition to meeting IS standards, current and anticipated future regulations and public policy, ethical considerations, patents, health and safety.
Fees
The 2020/21 annual tuition fees for this course are:
| UK / EU | Overseas | |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time - Foundation Year 0 | £7,050 | £9,910 |
| Full-time - years 1-3 * | £9,250 | £13,000 |
| Full-time - placement year * | £1,850 | N/A |
Tuition fees for all courses are payable on an annual basis, except where stated.
* The tuition fees of £9,250 / £13,000 / £1,850 relate to 2020/21 only. Please read the 2020/21 Tuition Fee Statement for further information regarding 2020/21 tuition fees and year on year fee increases.
- Read advice about funding your degree
- See information about the financial support available for undergraduate studies
- If you would like information about paying your fees, please contact accounts.receivable@canterbury.ac.uk
- For specific fee queries, please contact fees@canterbury.ac.uk
Professional Accreditation
The courses have been developed and designed to meet the professional accreditation requirements. At present these courses do not have professional accreditation. We are working towards professional accreditation of our engineering courses. Accredited courses are delivered to a UK recognised standard. We are consulting the accrediting bodies, such as IChemE, BCS, IMechE, in designing our courses. This is to keep us on track for accreditation. We hope to receive accreditation by 2022. If we receive accreditation, it will apply to these courses.
Industry Links
This degree has been co-designed with engineering professionals and input from manufacturing, small and medium Enterprise (SME) employers of engineers, power generation, and building services/construction industries, who recruit and employ mechanical engineers. This helps to ensure that our mechanical engineering graduates meet employer needs and expectations in terms of the technical and employability skills relevant for these industries.
Progression to Integrated Masters
The difference in learning between MEng and BEng degrees in accordance to the accrediting engineering council, AHEP 3.0, is that:
- On an MEng degree you will need to demonstrate leadership, management, tackling complex problems, innovation and critical analysis in the application of your knowledge and understanding of engineering.
- On a BEng degree you will need to demonstrate critical analysis in the application of your knowledge and understanding of engineering.
Please note: progression from BEng to the MEng is an optional possibility at the end of Year 2 (Level 5) if you meet the Integrated Master’s Framework criteria for progression to the Integrated Masters programme.
In addition, MEng Mechanical Engineering students, need to meet Integrated Master’s Framework criteria for continued progression on an Integrated Masters in order to remain on the MEng after Level 5 (Year 2).
Specialist Facilities
In 2020, we will open a major new facility for science, engineering, health and medicine, part of our £150m vision to transform our Canterbury Campus. The new building will be the main base for our Kent and Medway Engineering, Design, Growth and Enterprise (EDGE) Hub, with specialist centres across the region located alongside Engineering and Technology businesses.
Our main campus in Canterbury has city centre facilities on its doorstep and, of course, you will benefit from all the new building has to offer.