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Advanced Careers via Structural Engineering Courses

When we talk about Engineers, we can mean many things. Should you fancy yourself as an aeronautical or automotive engineer, you're probably hoping to stretch yourself technically and logically. In Britain we have a distinguished history in aeronautical engineering, with around six hundred companies working in the aerospace industry. Well over a quarter of a million people work in the automotive industry, and the UK motorsport industry is acknowledged around the world.

Finding The Right Training Courses

There are a good number of universities in the UK offering BEng and MEng Degrees in Automotive Engineering and Aeronautical Engineering, several with international reputations.

Engineering graduates can also choose to take post-graduate qualifications. Diplomas and other vocational certifications are also available from some colleges. Degree courses can be studied with or without an industrial placement year. Engineering departments often have good links with industry for gaining work experience.

Some universities will also offer a more formal split between training and working time. Students on engineering courses can sometimes arrange sponsorship in exchange for a certain time working for the sponsor after graduating. It's important to take your time and really explore all the different training possibilities that are available.

Auto Engineering

Auto engineering concerns all aspects of motor vehicles, from conception to assembly. Today's auto engineers need to understand electronic and software engineering as well as mechanical and electrical. Modern vehicle engineers can utilise the latest technologies - for example in relation to electric cars or active suspensions.

From initial concepts to manufacture, automotive engineering can be divided into three main streams. The first stage involves the design or product engineers. They are the people who design and test the components and systems on a vehicle. The engineering attributes of an automobile are the responsibility of development engineers. These engineers often have to liaise with designers on certain specs. Working out how to actually assemble and produce the vehicle is the manufacturing engineers' job.

Students will find their training is both extensive and intense. Amongst other subjects, you will be taught about aerodynamics, performance, emissions and vehicle dynamics. There are also very strict regulations to be learned and adhered to in safety engineering.

It's one thing for a component or system to work in isolation, but quite another for it to work in harmony with everything else on the vehicle. Therefore students need to learn about systems, or development engineering. Sometimes opposing requirements have to be taken through a trade-off process, to ensure each system doesn't compromise another. Finally the development engineer has to conduct tests on the full vehicle, such as level testing, validation and certification.

The process is ready for the manufacturing engineers once all the product design and development work has been done. Automotive manufacturing engineers plan both the building of the component parts and the entire vehicle. Tasks include equipment design and machine specifications as well as people layout and management.

Aeronautical-Engineering

Man's desire for flight has led to momentous developments in aircraft technology. If you qualify at degree level or above in Aeronautical Engineering, you will have proved yourself worthy to enter the fascinating business of aerospace. You could also choose a career in motor racing, as aircraft engineering is the basis for Formula One design.

All aircraft have to endure severe conditions and stresses, such as changes in atmospheric pressure and temperature, and structural loading on the components.

Therefore aerospace engineering divides into very specialist areas, such as materials science and aerodynamics, which all come together to form the whole.

Training courses will go into depth on aircraft design and flight mechanics, and feature a strong emphasis on analysis. Analytics is essentially problem-solving, and deals with things like dynamics and fluid mechanics. Much of what you will learn is based on theoretical mathematics, but empirical testing also comes into it - admittedly largely in the form of simulations. Even so, huge structural testing machines and indeed wind tunnels are actually important teaching aids for student engineers.

Both Auto and Aero engineering students will benefit from a good deal of practical application. You can expect a group project that requires students to design a complete vehicle or aircraft, along with significant individual projects. Automotive and Aeronautical Engineering training courses may also cover more broad-based subjects and transferable skills. They could include things like communication skills and time management.

Aero and auto engineering degrees not only provide the opportunity to develop technical expertise, they also put graduates into the top sector for employment opportunities. Graduates and Post-graduates can gain professional recognition as Incorporated Engineers or Chartered Engineers.