What type of engineering is best for renewable energy?

[nickaldis]

The subject says it all .
A levels are Mathematics, Futher Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.

Really, the aptitudes and interests of the DS should guide the applications process

I have a DC whose thoughts are not that dissimilar. Has chosen Mech Eng as that seemed the one from which it was most likely to spring off in different directions (possibly by doing a masters in something more closely focussed on what they choose to do once they are a couple of years in to undergraduate course)

Just to say I’m not mechanical myself! I was electrical but what isn’t intuitive is that electrical is the minor part of making power. I run projects and engage engineers, probably 2/3 work is mech

If it’s a degree apprenticeship, then of course it can lead to a Masters.
And there are more and more apprenticeships every year. Yes there are fewer than there are spaces at university, but so what?

@Dotcheck That's not true. I quickly check Rolls Royce own page for a degree apprenticeship in Electrical Engineering. It's a BEng. Normally an undergraduate degree in engineering in the UK is 4 years leading to a MEng.

What people are saying is that to be chartered, you'll then need to do a separate masters, in addition to your degree apprenticeship.

If your employer will fund a masters - great. Not all of them will. They are happy to have apprentices as incorporated engineers and recruit MEng grads for fast track to Chartered status. As I said, young people need to know what’s on offer and evaluate all options and final outcomes.

Plus we have around 5000 18 year olds getting degree apprenticeships in total. More adults get them. The best ones are highly competitive. So the “so what?” actually matters. There might be little choice. All our great engineering uni depts offer great courses and engineers are highly employable. Many of the apprenticeships won’t use Sheffield or other top engineering departments. They often link with lower tariff unis. This also needs to be checked. Is this the best degree you can get?

You don’t even have to be an engineer afterwards after uni. Many don’t. (Sadly). With an apprenticeship you are deciding at 18 and your employer probably won’t move you to accountancy or audit. You will follow an engineering path. Degree holders have choices. It all needs weighing up but at the moment far more dc go to uni by many many multiples.

You don’t need a masters to be chartered…first hand experience . Also https://www.engc.org.uk/ceng

Mechanical or Civil Engineering. There are probably specific environmental elements on some courses.

@SMUnz I said fast track. Technically you don’t but it takes much much longer. Older people with BEng got chartered quickly years ago. The fast route is MEng. They just don’t want to exclude others. So @SMUnz How old are you? What degree? How long to get chartered? DH took 3 years after degree. So 24. But that’s last century.

This is the standard route for recent grads. See attached. Older engineers have different routes.

@TizerorFizz 2011 from memory, but it’s really down to how your career goes and what specific jobs you do and what your personal contribution was. There was a whole load of categories you have to write a submission for to prove that you are “expert” level in most of them. It can take ages to become expert across a broad range due to exposure. Some people I know are really good engineers but I don’t see how they will ever get any ticks in the “innovation” box because they just don’t do that sort of work. I think maybe I even had to have supervised others and had management experience. Also have contributed to the engineering community. Then it all had to be signed off by someone who already was chartered and of a standing. Followed by a panel interview with the professional body.

Most Engineering has an Environmental aspect to the discipline. My own sector has “traditional” Environmental Engineering but having worked in the field, at times it can be more about implementing Environmental regulations and laws than truly making an Environmental difference. Renewables have aspects in Mech/Elect/Civil/Chem and probably other sectors too.

Not all apprenticeships are the same?

Also, it looks like Bentley partners with Loughborough and Bath. Both offer BEngg. I’d be shocked if they offered courses which did not offer progression to a Masters

Level 6 degree Apprenticeship leads to a BEng degree and IEng qualification. To enable progress to CEng they can do an MSc or there are now some Level 7 apprenticeships (Masters) in development. There is a convoluted route to progress if you have enough experience too but it's a lot of paperwork.

A person needs to be in the right career , primarily, and an extra 2 or 3 years in their 20s getting the professional qualification isn't the end of the world, because all that time they are working and building up their CV and experience too. Not all apprentices want to progress to higher levels but there is a route for those who do.

And for yet another idea, some of the exciting work in the renewables field will probably be in the domain of materials science.

An approved employer of grad engineers will move them around. From memory dh did design, site setting out and supervision. Plus he chose an employer for quick route qualification. Taking 10 years beyond BEng is normal. Taking 5 years beyond MEng is also normal for CEng. Obviously the latter is more likely to lead to better pay.

@NotMeNoNo Thats what I thought. Most apprenticeships are not MEng. To compare with the best uni MEng degrees, they should be available or young people are comparing apples and pears but don’t realise it.

I happen to have MEng/CEng in civil engineering, but if I had my time again I'd choose mechanical. I know many more successful mechanical engineers than any other engineering discipline, but maybe that's just because there are more mech eng around?

I recognise there is a problem with student loans, but one advantage of a stand alone Masters is surely that you can choose your choice and institution. So if an apprentice develops an interest in a specific area, they can look around for the most appropriate course. Students on four year degrees are largely tied in.

That's what my DC is doing.

I was somewhat miffed that they didn't apply for the integrated masters from the off. But (assuming satisfactory performance) students can switch to it certainly up to the end of the second year and maybe beyond. Or they can apply for a different masters, maybe elsewhere.

You've got to remember that apprenticeships and standard degrees are totally different in pace, even if they eventually cover the same technical content. The apprentice is studying in day release or block release alongside their job in about 20%-80% ratio, with a lot of evening/weekend work. They will take typically 5 years to get the Level/6 BEng Degree and I think 2.5 years for a Level 7/Masters, plus time for the End Point Assessments. So they may be 26/28 when they get to the same educational point as a 22 year old MEng graduate - but will also have much more work experience. They will also have recorded many of the attributes for becoming professionally qualified along the way. All this is a bit theoretical as L7 Apprenticeships are very rare and most people just do a part time MSc after their L6, if they want to.

We are now getting apprentices coming through who have excellent GCSE's/A levels but actively choose the apprenticeship route over fulltime uni. I expect that by the time they are into their 30s it should not be obvious which route a person started out on, they should have the same opportunity to progress in technical or leadership roles.

Going back to the OP, an apprenticeship locks you into a company and sector a lot more, so they would be looking for a renewables specialist e.g wind turbines, solar, power company etc, or a support industry in that field. Otherwise you can get on with an engineering degree and choose where you want to use it later.

Thanks all for Ur advice. DC is keenly set to do an integrated stem master's at uni. DC is just wondering what degree at what uni will be the best to acquire knowledge about renewable energy technologies. DC would love to learn about renewables in their degree.

The thing is renewables is a bit like railways, its a wide sector with many disciplines. It might actually be helpful to work backwards - look at some employers grad schemes and what they ask for. Electrical engineering probably a safe bet. Here for example: https://www.edfenergy.com/careers/graduates/renewable-energy-engineering

DC can investigate the Y3/Y4 modules in whichever fields of Engineering interest them for an idea of this (at various unis). They can also join the online forum The Student Room and pose this and other questions to current Engineering Students throughout the UK