Overview
Duration: 1 year full-time (taught)
Application deadline: 30 June 2013 (international) / 31 August 2013 (home/EU)
Entry requirements: First degree (UK 1st or 2:1 or international equivalent ) in Mechanical Engineering, Physics or Maths
Language requirements: IELTS 6.5 (at least 6.0 in each of the four components) OR TOEFL (internet): 92 overall, Writing 21, Listening 21, Reading 22, Speaking 23.
MSc Aerospace Engineering
This programme is is based on research expertise within the Department of Mechanical Engineering and is aimed at engineering graduates who wish to work in the aerospace industry.
As a student you will develop technical expertise in aerospace engineering and also learn how to harness that knowledge in a business environment.
You will gain analytical and team working skills to enable you to deal with the open-ended problems typical of aerospace engineering practice.
Learning outcomes
By studying for our MSc in Aerospace Engineering you will:
- Learn how aerodynamics, control systems, structural limits, thermodynamic efficiency, and performance parameters affect the design of aircraft and aero-propulsive engines
- Develop a range of conceptual designs that satisfy aircraft design specifications within the European Airworthiness regulations
- Gain an appreciation of the present state of research collaboration between the universities, government and the aerospace industry.
Collaborative working
The programme includes traditionally taught subject-specific units and business and group-orientated modular work. These offer you the chance to gain experience in design, project management and creativity, while working with students from other subjects.
— Jack Nicholas
Further details
Group project work
In semester 2 you undertake a cross-disciplinary group activity for your professional development, simulating a typical industrial work situation.
Individual project work
In the final semester, you undertake an individual research project directly related to key current research at the University, often commissioned by industry.
See programme catalogue for more detail on individual units.
Semester 1 (October-January)
The first semester of the programme allows students to choose from a range of fundamental and more advanced lecture courses covering the analysis methods and modelling techniques that are used in the simulation, design and manufacture of modern aircraft and their propulsion systems.
- Five taught units (three compulsory and two options)
- Includes coursework involving laboratory or small project sessions
- Typically each unit consists of 22 hours of lectures, may involve a number of hours of tutorials/exercises and laboratory activity and approximately 70 hours of private study (report writing, laboratory results processing and revision for examinations)
Semester 2 (February-May)
The second semester offers a distinctive project-based learning environment, focusing on your development as an engineering professional in a research and design context. You will gain analytical and team working skills to enable you to deal with the open-ended tasks that typically arise in practice in present-day engineering.
- The semester aims to develop your professional understanding of engineering in a business environment and is taught by academic staff with extensive experience in industry
- Engineering Project Management and Research Methods modules
- Group projects in which students work in a multi-disciplinary team to solve a conceptual structural engineering design problem, just as an industrial design team would operate
- Individual project preliminary work
Summer/Dissertation Period (June-September)
The full-time summer project gives students the opportunity to develop their understanding of aspects of the aerospace material covered in the first semester, through a detailed study related to the research interests and specialisations of a member of the academic staff.
- Individual project leading to MSc dissertation
- Depending on the chosen area of interest, the individual project may involve theoretical and/or experimental activities; for both such activities students can use the department computer suites and well-equipped and newly refurbished laboratories for experimental work. The individual projects are generally carried out under the supervision of a member of academic staff. A number of industrially-based projects are available to students
- Aerodynamics
- Aerospace structures
- Aircraft performance
- Aircraft propulsion
- Aircraft stability and control
- Composite materials
- Experimental techniques in aerodynamics
Our MSc graduates work all over the world in areas such as civil aircraft flight planning and gas turbine manufacture. Recent graduates have secured jobs as:
- Flight Operations Engineer, Monarch Airlines, UK
- Project Leader, Eaton Aerospace, India
- Carbon originator, Ecosecurities, Dubai
- Stress engineer, GKN Aerospace UK
- Propulsion engineer, Aero Nimbus Airc, Royal Air Force, Malaysia
- Graduate engineer, Messier-Dowty, UK
We also encourage the best of our MSc students to continue their studies with us to PhD level.
