Aerospace Engineering including Foundation Year
Prepare yourself for a career in the aerospace industry. Gain relevant expertise and get hands-on with state-of-the-art facilities at USW.
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Key Course Details
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UCAS Code
H501
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Start Date
September
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Location
Pontypridd
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Campus Code
A
Fees
Home students
£9,535*
International students
£16,200*
- Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
This degree aims to provide you with the knowledge and skills to progress on to the BEng (Hons) Aerospace Engineering course. The full course includes a live flight experience, which is reinforced with SIM work in Flight Simulator. We have strong links with industry, encouraging industrial placements as part of a sandwich-year option.
DESIGNED FOR
Aerospace engineers have an inquiring mind, wanting to understand how things work and how to apply knowledge to solving industry problems. Whilst many of our students pursue careers in the aerospace sectors, the course also provides the academic base for those interested in a career as a Mechanical Engineer.
Industry Ready
The course is designed to meet accreditation requirements of the RAeS and IMechE for Incorporated Engineer status.
Career Paths
- Certification and Airworthiness Engineer
- Design Engineer
- Mechanical Engineer
- Project Management
- Research Engineer
Skills taught
- Problem-solving through analysis using scientific and engineering theory
- Developed knowledge of cutting-edge technology
- Teamworking, management, and leadership.
- Communication skills
- Understanding professional responsibilities
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Course Highlights
Module Overview
This degree blends mathematical analysis with hands-on design, allowing first-year students flexibility to switch courses. From the second year, unique aerospace modules are introduced. Designed considering industry needs, USW excels in placing graduates in key roles. The course enhances soft skills, management, and research capabilities for modern engineering leadership.
The Foundation Year will give you a good understanding of our engineering courses and provide you with a good numerical background to support you throughout the remainder of the degree. Following your initial foundation year, you will progress onto the modules studied as part of your award.
Foundations of Mathematics - 20 credits
Further Foundation Maths for Engineers - 20 credits
Essential Engineering Skills - 20 credits
Engineering Project - 20 credits
Foundation Engineering Principles - 20 credits
English for Engineering (optional) - 20 credits
Fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering (optional) - 20 credits
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 of this engineering programme contains modules unique to the aerospace engineering course. Within this year of the course you'll explore key areas within aerospace engineering alongside rocket and space technology and aerospace design that are unique to the aerospace engineering course.
Control and Instrumentation - 20 credits
Thermofluids 2 - 20 credits
Engineering Materials - 20 credits
Further Engineering Mathematics - 20 credits
Rocket and Space Technology - 20 credits
Aerospace Design - 20 credits.
This year builds upon the previous years within the aerospace engineering course and offers further modules that are unique to this course including aerospace propulsion, which considers flight at speeds greater than Mach 1, and aerospace structures and materials which considers the unique challenges that arise when dealing with structures that are designed for use outside of the atmosphere and are subject to forces that arise from typical launch velocities.
Engineering Computational Analysis - 20 credits
Aircraft Flight Dynamics - 20 credits
Individual Project - 20 credits
Aerospace Propulsion - 20 credits
Aerospace Structures and Materials - 20 credits
Project Management and the Engineering Society - 20 credits
Supervised Work Experience (Optional) -120 credits
Course Highlights
How you’ll learn
You can study this degree on a full time basis and it also offers a sandwich work placement should you decide this is an appropriate pathway for you.
This aerospace programme is taught through lectures, which are supported by tutorials, practical sessions and seminar groups. Wherever possible, your work will be based on live projects and case studies, with contributions from industry professionals.
There is a range of assessment methods, such as formal closed book exams, group work, individual projects, oral assessments and laboratory experiments, exams contribute approximately 30% of all assessments on the course.
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Teaching staff
The staff that deliver the modules have a breadth of expertise in their subject areas.
Some have developed this expertise through high quality research. The research areas are international in their scope whilst also having a relevance locally, often working with international companies that operate locally.
Others have developed their expertise through successful careers in industry and are now using that knowledge to teach and prepare the students for their own careers.
This blend of backgrounds represented in the academic staff give a breadth to the student experience and develops them technically and professionally.
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Placements
We know the value of placement and work experience and are passionate about seeing our students take up these opportunities. We work with several local and national companies in order to assist students to take up these opportunities
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Facilities
The University has invested £3.3m in its aerospace facilities, including a two-storey Aerospace Centre extension, offering engineering students 1,000m2 of workshop and lab space, two aircraft hangars, and a MP521 flight simulator.
The Centre houses a Jetstream 31 aircraft, gas turbine maintenance, riveting, hand tool, and welding workshops. Additionally, it features clean and dirty composite workshops, labs for electronic tasks, avionics, hydraulics, and pneumatics. Sub-sonic wind tunnels facilitate aerodynamic instruction.
The Merlin MP521 simulator, programmable for any aircraft type, is pivotal in design testing and flight test preparation.
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Innovation Hub at USW
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ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Typical qualification requirements:
- A Level: DD
- BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Pass Pass Pass or BTEC Diploma Pass Pass
- Access to HE: Pass Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 48 UCAS Tariff points
- T Level: Pass (D or E)
Additional requirements include:
The University normally requires a minimum 3 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 applications welcomed:
We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.
English language requirements
International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.
Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.
If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.
If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.
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 its 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.
We're here to help
Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.
Fees and Funding
£9,535
per year*£16,200
per year*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.
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Investing in your future
We are investing in the future of STEM at USW with an exciting new Computing, Engineering and Technology building at our Pontypridd Campus.
University Quality Assurance
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.
How to apply
All applications for full-time undergraduate courses or foundation degrees should be made via UCAS. Take the next step: Apply through UCAS. You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time.)
Advanced entry
If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.
International admissions
International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.
