BEng (Hons) Aeronautical Engineering

Top in Wales for Aerospace Engineering _{Guardian University Guide 2023}

Aeronautical engineers apply their knowledge and skills to every aspect of air vehicles; from design, development, manufacture, flight testing and certification, to preserving airworthiness and sustainable aircraft operations.

This BEng (Hons) Aeronautical Engineering degree was developed in close consultation with industry professional bodies, including the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) to boost your employability.

You'll study the engineering principles needed for a career in the aerospace industry, and you'll gain practical experience on campus in our state-of-the-art facilities. Weather permitting and subject to visa requirements, you'll also take to the skies with flight test lessons in your final year.

All aeronautical engineering students are encouraged to complete a work placement and experience to complement your studies. UK students have previously visited sites such as GE Aviation Wales, Airbus Filton, and British Airways Maintenance Cardiﬀ (BAMC).

Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering students rated USW top 10 in the UK for academic support, and assessment and feedback (National Student Survey 2022)

Click to discover engineering placement opportunities at USW

Click to discover placement opportunities at USW

Accredited by

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2023
2024

UCAS Code	Study Mode 2023	Duration	Start Date	Campus	Campus Code
H410	Full-time	3 Years	September	Treforest	A
HK10	Sandwich	4 Years	September	Treforest	A

UCAS Code	Study Mode 2024	Duration	Start Date	Campus	Campus Code
H410	Full-time	3 Years	September	Treforest	A
HK10	Sandwich	4 Years	September	Treforest	A

Year One: Aeronautical Engineering degree

Year one of this engineering programme provides essential scientific principles and practices associated with aeronautical engineering. This includes an introduction to using design tools and general manufacturing/workshop techniques. You will also learn how to use industry-standard CAD packages and programming language

Mathematics for Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineers - 20 credits
Design and Manufacture - 20 credits
Engineering Computing Applications - 20 credits
Engineering Mechanics 1 - 20 credits
Electrical Science - 20 credits
Thermofluids 1 - 20 credits

Year Two: Aeronautical Engineering degree

In your second year, you'll explore key areas such as thermofluids, basic aerodynamics, aircraft performance and aircraft systems engineering. Year two culminates with the development of a conceptual aircraft design in a team environment, which is tested on our engineering flight simulator.

Further Engineering Mathematics - 20 credits
Control and Instrumentation - 20 credits
Thermofluids 2 - 20 credits
Engineering Materials - 20 credits
Aircraft Systems Integration and Performance - 20 credits
Aeronautical Design - 20 credits

Year Three: Aeronautical Engineering degree

Year three modules include aerodynamics, propulsion and aircraft structures. You'll learn about advanced computational tools and modelling techniques, and produce a dissertation. You'll also have the opportunity to participate in real aircraft flight testing as part of our Flight Dynamics and Control module.

Individual Project (BEng) - 40 credits
Engineering Computational Analysis - 20 credits
Aircraft Structure - 20 credits
Aerodynamics and Propulsion - 20 credits
Flight Dynamics and Control - 20 credits
Supervised Work Experience (SWE) - 120 credits (optional)

Teaching

The BEng Aeronautical Engineering course is taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, practical laboratory sessions and seminars. You will also need to devote time to self-study, such as conducting research and preparing for your assessments and lectures.

Students also have the opportunity to visit sites such as Rolls Royce, GE Aviation, British Airways Maintenance Cardiff (BAMC) and Airbus, and learn from guest lectures delivered by senior industrialists and academics from the Ministry of Defence, BAMC, the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) and various aerospace industry companies, on current technological advancements in the field.

In the final year, subject to weather conditions and visa requirements, you will fly inside a real aircraft to consolidate your understanding of aircraft static and dynamic behaviour and control principles.

Assessment

Modules are assessed through a mixture of exams, coursework, simulation and problem-based exercises. Speaking in front of your colleagues also forms part of your assessment in group design and project modules, which will develop your presentation and communication skills.

In the final year, you will fly a real aircraft to consolidate your understanding of aircraft behaviour and control principles.

Accreditations

The BEng (Hons) Aeronautical Engineering degree is fully accredited to Incorporated Engineer status by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), which is the fastest growing professional engineering institution in the UK, and the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS). This Aeronautical Engineering programme allows you to progress to Chartered Engineer status with a period of further learning.

Placements

We also encourage all students on the Aeronautical Engineering programme to complete a placement as part of their course.

On a sandwich placement, you can spend up to a year working in the industry to apply your new knowledge and learn new skills – it’s a great boost to your CV and can lead directly to employment when you graduate. This is available to students who study at our UK campuses only.

Find out more about Engineering Placements at USW

Field Trips

On this BEng Aeronautical Engineering course, UK-based students will have the opportunity to visit sites such as GE Aviation, British Airways Maintenance Cardiff (BAMC), Airbus and SAFRAN Landing Systems, and learn from guest lectures delivered by senior industrialists and academics from the Ministry of Defence, the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) and various aerospace industry companies, on current technological advancements in the field.

In the final year, subject to weather conditions and visa restrictions, you will fly inside a real aircraft performing a flight test exercise to consolidate your understanding of aircraft static and dynamic behaviour and control principles. UK-based students have previously visited Egnatia Aviation Approved Training Organization at Kavala International Airport, Greece to complete the flight test exercise.

There may be additional costs associated with this course

Facilities

The aerospace industry has become increasingly competitive and in recognising this, the University has recently invested another £3.3m into its existing aerospace facilities. A two-storey Aerospace Centre extension adds 1,000m2 of practical workshop and laboratory space for engineering students. This includes two aircraft hangars with civil and military aircraft, and a MP521 engineering flight simulator.

The Aerospace Centre is home to a Jetstream 31 Twin Turboprop aircraft, assembled with Honeywell TPE331 Engines and Rockwell-Collins Proline II Avionics, alongside a Jet Provost T-Mk 3 military training jet.

The Centre also includes a gas turbine maintenance workshop, simulated aircraft shell riveting area, hand tools workshops and welding bay, plus clean and dirty composite workshops for specimens and repairs. Dedicated laboratory space for electronic practical tasks, avionics systems, hydraulics and pneumatics also feature providing you with hands-on practical experience.

Our sub-sonic wind tunnels are used for basic aerodynamic instruction, testing and demonstrations on various aerofoil shapes and configurations. Whilst our single-seater, full motion, three axes Merlin MP521 engineering flight simulator can be programmed and simulate any existing aircraft type. It is used extensively in many different aspects of the course, with a particular focus on testing proposed aircraft designs and preparing you for the real flight test exercise.

Lecturers

Ilias Lappas CEng FRAeS, course leader
Dr Shee-Meng Thai
Dr Joao Ramos
Dr Meinwen Taylor
Dr Rae Gordon
Dr CK Tan
Dr Colin Morgan
Ewen Constant CEng
Dr Talal Maksoud
Matthew Jones CEng
Dr Mohamed Mohamed
Dr Vishagen Ramasamy
Dr Zahid Baig

See our engineering research

We regularly revalidate courses for quality assurance and enhancement

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

The entry criteria below reflect our standard entry requirements for the course for September 2023. However, all applications received by the University are reviewed holistically and individually. Entry criteria for September 2024 is changing and will be published on ucas.com from 8th May 2023. Entry criteria for September 2024 will be updated on our website from the end of October 2023.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions. USW prides itself on it’s a student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university. Here is a link to our Contextual Admissions Policy.

Other qualifications and experience

We can also consider combinations of qualifications and other qualifications not listed here may also be acceptable. We can sometimes consider credits achieved at other universities and your work/life experience through an assessment of prior learning. This may be for year one entry, or advanced entry to year two or three of a course where this is possible.

To find out which qualifications have tariff points, please refer to the UCAS tariff calculator.

If you need more help or information or would like to speak to our friendly admissions team, please contact us here

Typical A-Level Offer

BCC - CDD to include Mathematics and one other Science subject (this is equivalent to 104-80 UCAS tariff points).

Typical Welsh BACC Offer

Pass the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Diploma with Grade C/D in the Skills Challenge Certificate and BC - CD at A Level to include Mathematics and one other Science subject (this is equivalent to 104-80 UCAS tariff points).

Typical BTEC Offer

BTEC Extended Diploma Distinction Merit Merit - Merit Merit Pass in a relevant Maths, Science or Engineering subject which must include Maths modules (this is equivalent to 112-80 UCAS tariff points).

Typical Access to HE Offer

Pass an Access to HE Diploma in Maths, Science or Engineering and obtain a minimum of 80 UCAS tariff points

Additional Requirements

GCSEs: The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances.

International Entry Requirements

We also welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications. Please visit the country-specific pages on our international website for exact details.

English Requirements

In general, international applicants will need to have achieved an overall IELTS grade of 6.0 with a minimum score of 5.5 in each component.

However, if you have previously studied through the medium of English IELTS might not be required, but please visit the country-specific page on our international website for exact details. If your country is not featured please contact us.

Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee will remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course

August 2023 - July 2024 Fees

Full-time UK: £9000
Full-time International: £14400

August 2024 - July 2025 Fees

Full-time UK: TBC
Full-time International: TBC

Student Perks

At the University of South Wales, you’re investing in so much more than a degree. We strive to provide our students with the best possible experience, no matter what you chose to study. Whether it’s access to top of the range mac books and PCs, state-of-the-art facilities packed with industry-leading equipment and software, masterclasses and events led by industry experts, or a wide range of clubs and societies to meet likeminded people, better tomorrows start with extra perks.

Each course also has their own unique student benefits to prepare you for the real word, and details of these can be found on our course pages. From global field trips, integrated work experience and free course-related resources, to funded initiatives, projects working with real employers, and opportunities for extra qualifications and accreditations - at USW your future, is future-proofed.

Click here to learn more about student perks at USW.

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

Funding

Funding to help pay for (or cover) course tuition fees and living costs

Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

To learn about course fees, funding options, and to see if you are eligible for financial support, visit our Fees and Funding pages.

Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science Travel Bursary

The Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science offers a travel bursary of £500 which is available to all students undertaking an undergraduate sandwich degree. Find out more.

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BEng or MEng?

UK students

Apply via UCAS if you are a UK residing applicant, applying for year one of a full-time undergraduate degree, Foundation Year, Foundation Degree or HND and you have not applied through UCAS before. If you are applying to study part-time, to top up your Foundation Degree or HND, or to transfer to USW from another institution, please apply directly.

International and EU students

Apply directly to the University if you live outside the UK.

Admissions statement

We have links with the regional aviation industry, which includes GE Aviation, BAMC, Nordam Europe, TES Aviation Group, and other members within the Aerospace Wales Forum. Graduates of our Aeronautical Engineering degree are in demand in the UK, and in the civil and defence sectors worldwide. Some of the companies with which our UK graduates work include Rolls Royce, GE Aviation, MBDA, Airbus, Jaguar Land Rover, BAMC, EasyJet, Emirates, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and the UK Ministry of Defence.

Typical job profiles of our graduates are design engineers, certification and airworthiness engineers, project engineers and researchers.

Graduates can also progress to a PhD or research degree. See our engineering research.