Universities with good industrial links engineering

[Mountain9]

DC has started looking at universities for engineering; currently in year 12.

We are wondering what are the universities with good industrial links and employability? Also nice, happy, safe atmosphere?

Thank you all; this has been very helpful. It seems that Bath, Strathclyde, Loughborough and Sheffield get the most votes for happy, safe atmosphere and a good degree with industry links. Will see what DC thinks when we visit.

DC is booking for the November open days at Sheffield and Manchester; the other ones are not until next year.

I like the idea of Bath as everyone seems happy with with, lovely city and closer to home.

I may have to do another thread to understand the application process but hopefully DC will get good advice at school too.

Strathclyde is usually top 10 for engineering. It’s hardly a backwater. However it’s Scotland so is MEng 5 years? They appear to be. Cannot see how this works out better for English students where everywhere else is 4 years. It’s entry grades are not onerous so maybe that leads to competition within Scotland?

There are great engineering unis in England snd Wales. Many with longstanding reputations producing very employable young people. Many of the former polys have great employer links and have well respected courses developed over decades. Plenty are worth consideration and not sure Bath is worth a 200 plus mile journey if you pass Sheffield or Manchester! (And several others!).

Also branch of engineering matters. Students just doing “engineering” are more likely to go into non engineering jobs, eg finance.

One question I do have is how long do they get loan for? If degree is year? Is there a maximun? 5 years means higher debt

I think they can get a max of 5 years undergrad loan. And yes, longer means more debt.

I'm not sure (DD didn't look at Scottish unis - while there are several which are very good for engineering there's more than enough choice south of the border!) - you/your DC would need to check individual course websites but I think some Scottish degrees let english/Welsh students with sufficiently high grades in appropriate subjects start in their 2nd year.

The standard 4 year integrated MEng is classed as one undergraduate degree so its a much better deal than a bachelors followed by a postgrad masters - that's 2 loans which have to be repaid concurrently.

The total amount payable for a four year Bachelor’s degree in Strathclyde will be capped at £27,750, i.e. the fee amount for three years. @Mountain9, if you are in England or Wales, your DC will not have to pay the additional fees for the fourth year in Strathclyde.

Suitably qualified students with the relevant A-levels can also decide to enter year two directly and complete their Honours degree in three years.

@TizerorFizz, you seem to give a lot of factually incorrect advice on this forum. You really should check the information first.

The total amount payable for a four year Bachelor’s degree in Strathclyde will be capped at £27,750, i.e. the fee amount for three years. @Mountain9, if you are in England or Wales, your DC will not have to pay the additional fees for the fourth year in Strathclyde.

Suitably qualified students with the relevant A-levels can also decide to enter year two directly and complete their Honours degree in three years.
I was just coming to say the same thing. The extra year is "free" to English students, though obviously there's living expenses to consider so it is still more costly than a shorter degree in England, but not as much as I thought it would be.
Entry requirements to join in year 2 are higher but it's a possible option for those who don't want/can't afford the extra year.
We were also given a leaflet at the Open Day regarding financial support and there are bursaries etc, not all of which are either grade dependent or means tested. I can't remember the details and don't have the booklet to hand, but I am pretty sure that all 1st years from England are automatically entitled to something towards accomodation fees - don't quote me on that though!

Swansea university with a beach campus.

The total amount payable for a four year Bachelor’s degree in Strathclyde will be capped at £27,750, i.e. the fee amount for three years. @Mountain9, if you are in England or Wales, your DC will not have to pay the additional fees for the fourth year in Strathclyde.

Does the same logic apply to a 5 year integrated masters ie capped at the same fee as for 4 years? Seems like it's really the first year of these longer Scottish degrees which is the 'extra' relative to the rest of the U.K. , not the last iyswim.

Strath offer a Y1 RUK bursary of £1,000 towards accommodation. And then 4 yr course capped at 3 years fees. Year 1 is a nice gentle introduction which suited my DC really well - settling into a new city, life after the madness of A levels - was a good breather.

Entry requirements are quite different for Scottish vs RUK students as fees paid by Scottish government are significantly less than the amount RUK pay, so there is a big cap on Scottish students which means they need top top grades.

Depending on grades RUK students can join in Y2 - but you can miss out on friendship groups forming in Y1.

My friend's son is having a great time at TEDI London. It's new (he's in his 3rd year and was in the first ever cohort) but it's worth looking at.

So exactly what engineering degree is he applying for? It may be worth him looking at courses which overlap electrical engineering with comp sci if his real interest is electronics underlying computing tech.

Agree with PP Surrey has very strong links with industry in this space, Bath also popular (but a long hill to walk up with your shopping) but for unis in the SE I'm astonished nobody has mentioned Brunel - the place was created as an engineering university and also has a strong track record with industrial years with major companies.

IC is a bit marmite - great for post grad employment, strong links with industry but not everyone's cup of tea.

TU Delft again was created as a technical university and English is widely spoken and used as a teaching language.

Those studying an integrated Masters degree programme pay for four years instead of five years.

Who wants to be in Uxbridge!? It’s not in the same league as others mentioned despite its history.

Im happy to row back on anything I’ve said with additional Input from others, as I have. but I’m not wrong about MEng being 5 years at Strathclyde. It could be 4 if first year is waived. Lots of people don’t understand the difference between BEng and MEng. DH, as an engineering employer, does. Don’t spend 4 years on a BEng if 4 years will get you a MEng. The latter is more valuable. Do you agree @JocelynBurnell or do you know more?

Who wants to be in Uxbridge!

People who want an engineering degree with close connections to the big consulting, engineering and tech companies and a strong track record of placing them in those companies (mine is one of them).

You can sneer at the location but lets face it - Warwick (Coventry) and some of the others are no beauty spots and the priority set was a good engineering university with an industrial year in the SE.

Totally agree. Great access to London - how different to Royal Holloway? Oh yeah - it’s on the tube so easier to access!

There’s a huge amount of snobbery around HE, very tiresome.

Do encourage your Dc to look at summer schemes/ study days https://summerschools.suttontrust.com/
https://www.etrust.org.uk/
plus other unis do taster days. They give a great insight into engineering at uni and a taste of uni life. Great for ucas too.
I learnt of these through here many years ago…. My Dc went on several, and now post graduation is working in STEM.

Uxbridge really isn’t Warwick. It’s not sought after and is way down in league tables. It takes forever to get into London. There are many many better choices. As most of MN will attest. DH loved going to Heinz Wolff lectures there. However it’s not a uni most aspire to now and is eclipsed by many. If a student is looking at Sheffield or Bristol, or Strathclyde, Brunel probably isn’t on their radar. Plenty find Royal Holloway quiet too. Empties at weekends. Warwick doesn’t.

And yet, its one of the few non Oxbridge colleges on our milk round and from which we take industrial placements. Its on the milk round for our peer companies as well.

I've no idea what Uxbridge did to offend you but I have the advantage of speaking from my own experience of hiring successful engineering grads, not second hand info from a family member. I want the best (as in will stay and be successful in a challenging environment) grads. A proportion of those each year come from Brunel. The scenery they look at whilst studying is of not a criteria I use to identify the best candidates, nor is the fashion status of the institute.

I agree with @JocelynBurnell comment up thread frankly - you seem to have a bizarre relationship with facts on this thread.

Agree - we reviewed our target universities some years ago based on metrics and update our internal metrics regularly. As a consequence, whilst we still take a lot from Oxbridge, London, Manchester etc we also include far less fashionable universities with a solid track record of providing good graduates.

Strathclyde does pretty well in this space as well as I suspect you know 😁

Hi there. My partner works in the School of Engineering at The University of Sheffield and they have excellent industrial links both in terms of research partnerships (industry partners use the department's research to develop their products) and involvement in the curriculum. These partners include aerospace, civil engineering and energy companies. A large proportion of the students participate in The Year in Industry Programme and the department has had the highest number of graduates moving into engineering specific employment. Having lived in Sheffield for 30 years I can also attest to how safe and friendly the city is

DH, as a freelance engineering consultant has done a fair bit of work for Sheffield University, and would agree with you @lolawasashowgirl.
He is also Sheffield University alumni and has had a solid career.

That's good to hear @RampantIvy! 😊

Following

DH as a founder of a decent sized engineering consultancy (FICE, FIStructE) and would agree @RampantIvy He’s also Sheffield. He was in a fairly decent position to judge Brunel (as a local employer) and Sheffield. Over 40 years he’s done plenty of recruiting. Brunel isn’t favoured by the local grammars much either. We do have many decent unis offering engineering and Brunel has its place but if you know Uxbridge, as I do, I don’t see it as equivalent to Warwick, at all. It’s not Sheffield either. If DC really do want a top 20 uni it’s not Brunel. It’s 47 on the CUG ranking for electronic engineering. So with decent grades, aim higher for top 20. Everyone else will.

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