Durham or Sheffield Uni for Engineering?

[TwinMummie]

DS has offers from Durham and Sheffield universities to study MEng in General Engineering. Struggling to decide which one to choose. Likes Durham as a place to live and keen on the college system, but Sheffield would appear to have much better engineering facilities and a larger engineering department. Does anyone have any insight into how engineering graduates from these universities are perceived by employers? Or any advice? Thank you

There is a very recent thread on Sheffield for Engineering.
I think that time it was Bath versus Sheffield.

Sheffield. It produces engineers who are respected. Durham - more likely to go for city jobs and higher level of privately educated DC. Very different unis. So he should analyse what he really wants. Sheffield is an engineering powerhouse, Durham isn’t really. So is his heart truly in engineering? Lots of general engineers cannot make up their minds! It’s why they haven’t chosen a discipline in the first place but engineering at Sheffield gives wider options I think.

So what if Durham has a higher level of privately educated DC! Depends what they want to do with their degree. Engineering at Sheffield will probably give wider options in Engineering but Durham will give them an overall higher ranking name on their CV should they choose to go on to do something else rather than engineering.

@StarlingsForever Well that’s what I’m saying. I frankly don’t care who is privately educated - my DDs boarded. However in engineering terms overall, Sheffield is better. Difficult to know if Durham opens doors for MEng above Sheffield MEng if sc want to do something else. Cannot really see why it should but there might be more dc not going into engineering. However uni blind and grad testing won’t make Durham grads better. They might have different ambitions though.

Engineering at Sheffield will probably give wider options in Engineering but Durham will give them an overall higher ranking name on their CV should they choose to go on to do something else rather than engineering.

Durham isn't well rated for engineering. When dd was looking at unis, she was mostly looking at EEE but did look into a few general engineering courses because she liked the idea of getting a broader base and then specialising in electronics - get to learn more engineering for the same tuition fee! She was distinctly unimpressed by Durham.

Perhaps it's worth asking, OP, why your DS had chosen Gen Eng rather than a specific field?

durham may have the same but having lived with a house share of engineering students back in the day, there were lots of placements available, there’s a lot of manufacturing around which I assume take on placements and grads. They all ended up working in the end at various departments at Rolls Royce (subs/aero) and now all senior management level and got to experience working in other countries etc. personally I would be encouraging him to look at what opportunities there are for placements and post grad. Sheffield is also a great student city and had really high retention rates for students staying on…I’m still here over 10 years after graduating

MEng doesn’t need post grad. That’s the point of the 4 year degrees. Some do more because they like the idea of being an academic engineer and a specialist, but many don’t because it’s not necessary. Many engineering grads try and get work experience or placements but it’s not vital. There are jobs for switched on people. Placements can narrow horizons.