Is this the future or a hotch potch degree? AI engineering

[GreenSalon2]

https://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/2025/artificial-intelligence/beng-artificial-intelligence/

DC has an offer for this brand new course. He’s interested in it and went to the offers holders day recently but had more questions than answers after like why would a graduate of this degree be more employable than a computer science engineer. No real answers forthcoming and I work in a creative field and know nothing about stem. He wanted to go on his own so we have zero information though DH did go to initial open day.

His other options are mechanical engineering with Sheffield the front runner but the degree above was a curve ball. Any thoughts from anyone with knowledge in either field would be very welcome!

@GreenSalon2 A lot of the top engineering universities have this course including Imperial. DS must have liked the idea of it! Bristol are great at all engineering and definitely Mechanical Engineering. I’m surprised he didn’t apply for that as well as Sheffield. Both are great unis for engineering. To be fair, Bristol gives loads of info on this AI course with the programme catalogue available. I would have thought that answers most questions. He could have applied for Comp Sci with AI MEng. Did he look at this? He could compare the catalogues. However many courses have first two years the same anyway and modules might overlap too.

I meant to add: lots of degrees are knitted together from other degrees! However in engineering there are common core modules.

@GreenSalon2 Bristol Uni is part of a consortium that have recently benefitted from massive Government investment in a new supercomputer for AI research called Isambard AI (see www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2023/november/supercomputer-announcement.html) so I expect this course has been launched on the back of that and will become extremely competitive in future.

Was your son offered this instead of a Computer Science place at Bristol? If so, and if he wants to go to Bristol, then it sounds like a great opportunity.

p.s. My son has an offer for an engineering discipline at Bristol so I can confirm that all the engineering students have a common first year. (At the offer holder day your son could ask whether it is possible to switch discipline at the end of year 1).

It's also worth mentioning that the Government have been investing heavily in AI conversion courses for graduates in recent years because there are not enough home-grown grads to fill the roles being created that sector of the economy.

More recent info on Isambard-AI:
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2025/january/isambard-ai-govt-action-plan.html

Thanks for responding. I think I read this. No - he applied for this course. He is actually interested in it but isn’t quite clear on future employability. I know many undergraduates aren’t, speaking as someone who did a non vocational degree and ended up with a career in a non related field.

He’s not particularly interested in computer science though understands that will be part of what he’s studying. He’s just thinking about firstly careers in AI engineering which we’ve struggled to find anything about other than knowing a lot of organisations have moved, will move to AI enabled systems. And secondly whether the degree itself just has too much of a little of everything thrown in. Jack of all trades etc ….

Thanks. He did ask this and was told it wouldn’t be possible as there wouldn’t be sufficient engineering content and the degree doesn’t sit within engineering department.

That’s really interesting and helpful to know.

See here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-providers/student-choice-and-flexible-learning/postgraduate-conversion-courses-in-data-science-and-artificial-intelligence/

He only applied to this as a last minute decision- the rest of his offers are all mechanical engineering. I think one issue (which I’m having lots of conversations with him about) is whether or not he is passionate enough about mechanical engineering or drifted into it.

He was lucky enough to do an intensive week at Cambridge last year which made him more interested in engineering but not in applying there. So I wouldn’t describe it as drifted but think he’s just unsure about life generally as he’s 18 and can’t imagine too far into the future.

DH saw this new course last minute and they went to open day. Both were interested in the fact that Bristol have said they are keeping the numbers capped at 35 as it’s a new course and each student will have access to an industry mentor but now we were wondering if it was too much of a hard sell.

I’m very grateful for all the responses though know ultimately it is over to DS. Just interested about employability in both fields too from anyone with any knowledge or similar degrees. Or just opinions!

@GreenSalon2 This course is in the School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology at Bristol. However its structure is different from other engineering degrees. It doesn’t have a common first year, so I was wrong.

It’s unclear how you would progress in the engineering profession though. DH is a chartered engineer. This route isn’t open to BEng holders. You need MEng. Also which Engineering Institution? Is the course an approved one for membership of an Institution?

I would say it’s a bit of a one trick pony. It’s deliberately narrow and it is aimed at a mathematical student who wants to apply that directly to AI so it’s vocational but isn’t anywhere near as broad as Mech E. Is his Sheffield offer MEng?

Regarding work. There’s undoubtedly work. As there is for most engineers.

Ai and mech eng are totally different career pathways. Both with good employability at the end. Ai eng will be computer science with lots of AI in. He should do the one he will enjoy the most.

The Bristol course is not in the Comp Sci faculty. It’s separate.

The fact it has Engineering in the name is a complete red herring. It’s a Computer Science course. (I say this as someone who employs AI “engineers”, and also has an engineering degree that is completely unrelated to my job.)

It looks like a great course that will be heavily invested in and would lead to him being extremely employable. However it’s a complete departure from Mech Eng so he needs to decide where his passions lie.

The School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology provides the "Engineering Mathematics" units to the Engineering faculty's common first year and is located in the same building, so there is a close relationship. When my son went to his Civil Engineering offer holder day they said the Civil Eng department are hoping to run projects using Isambard-AI in future.

AI is probably too young a discipline, and evolving too quickly to have accreditation schemes like Mech Eng, but it is certainly the future.

@GreenSalon2 Is your son very good at further maths? He may need to be.

@windiwetha The faculty might do that for engineering courses elsewhere but this course doesn’t have the common first year that civil and mechanical does. All the course is in the faculty I mentioned and I think that’s why swapping out of it won’t work. Too much core engineering not studied because for AI it’s not relevant. The CS/AI course is in the CS faculty. I would suggest pure AI is engineering “lite” but maths heavy. That is not to say it’s not worthy or useful.

Yes, op said that her son already asked about swapping out and was told no, so that is clear.

Jeez - only to very stupid employers. It is a very specialised degree, so the complete opposite of "hotch-potch" (which means a confused mixture).

Thanks.

Yes, he’s very good at Maths and is taking FM and Physics. He’s already sat his A Level Maths.

I think you’ve pinpointed the issue. It is a very specialised degree. Obviously others are but we know people who’ve done MEng and gone into finance. Not that DS wants to but is worried it’s too specialised to pivot and too generalist too if that makes sense.

Yes agreed.

Yep, he needs to decide. It’s just hard to find much about AI engineering careers.

We have relatives in both tech and engineering who are giving us conflicting views about employability in the future. A hold on investment in tech sector for example until it becomes clearer how much AI can drive efficiency now. In fact, all said the sectors are changing so rapidly they’d encourage their own children to choose pathways not immediately replaceable by AI systems. Like physio!

Yes @TizerorFizz it is for MEng