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Engineering Science and Petroleum Engineering Technology

The term 'engineering' is used in many different ways. Those looking for a career in aeronautical engineering or automotive engineering are likely to be seeking work with challenge and innovation. The United Kingdom boasts a very technically advanced aerospace sector comprising of over six hundred companies turning over more than seventeen billion between them, according to Loughborough University. Well over a quarter of a million people work in the automotive industry, and the UK motorsport industry is acknowledged around the world.

Getting The Right Qualifications

There are many internationally recognised British university degree courses that train students to a very high level in both auto and aero engineering. Plus some go on to provide postgraduate-level study as well. (Other colleges and institutions offer training in the subjects as well). Undergraduates can take the opportunity to put the knowledge and experience they've gained in the first two years of their degree programme into practice by taking a one year industrial placement in year three.

Some universities will also offer a more formal split between training and working time. If you're prepared to agree to work for a particular organisation following graduation, you may be able to negotiate a sponsorship deal. Whatever your circumstances and ambitions, look into as many training alternatives as possible.

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. Things are changing all the time and modern engineers need to lead those changes, for example to produce greater efficiencies in materials and emissions.

In the life cycle of a vehicle, design engineering comes first, followed by development engineering and then manufacturing engineering. Design engineers obviously come up with the vehicle's design, but they also have to check each component part. Next come the development engineers. They are concerned with the interactions of all the systems. These people often provide information to design engineers to regulate performance etc. Last of all come the manufacturers, who determine how to put the vehicle together.

An automotive engineering student will be taught many product disciplines. Modules will cover all aspects of design, development and manufacture - and use examples to illustrate principles such as fluid mechanics. There are also very strict regulations to be learned and adhered to in safety engineering.

Whilst each individual system has to perform its job properly, it also has to complement the rest of the vehicle. Thus students will be taken through aspects of development or systems engineering. Sometimes opposing requirements have to be taken through a trade-off process, to ensure each system doesn't compromise another. Development engineering is also concerned with testing and ensuring the finished vehicle will comply with legal requirements.

Following on from the product and development stages, comes the processes needed for manufacturing. Automotive manufacturing engineers plan both the building of the component parts and the entire vehicle. Safety procedures have to be applied to every stage of manufacture - from design of equipment and layout of people, to machine and line rates and all automated tasks.

Aeronautical Engineers

Aeronautical engineers are involved in the research, design, manufacture and maintenance of all forms of aircraft. Students who train as aeronautical engineers would be preparing themselves for a career in the aerospace industry -a most interesting industry at the forefront of science and technological developments. (Formula One design engineers use aerospace technology as well, if that appeals to you).

Flight vehicles are faced with huge stresses on take-off, flight and landing. As such, aircraft vehicles are usually the product of many aerospace engineering technologies, for example avionics, propulsion and aerodynamics. The aeronautical engineer will choose his or her speciality.

Degree courses willcover design, systems (such as landing gear), flight mechanics, forces, materials, performance and stability. A thorough treatment of analytical subjects will be included. Modules that deal with solving problems, like thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, are what we mean by analytical subjects. In recent years advances in computing mean that simulations can be used to test the behaviour of fluid, which lessens the need for expensive wind tunnel research. Even so, huge structural testing machines and indeed wind tunnels are actually important teaching aids for student engineers.

Group ventures are important when learning engineering skills. Both BEng and MEng degree courses will incorporate practical project work to be carried out in teams. Other more broad based vocational skills may be incorporated into an engineering degree programme. They could include things like communication skills and time management. Aeronautical and automotive engineers are at the forefront of technological advances, and can make a valuable contribution to society. Graduate engineers can apply to Professional Institutions to become certified with the Engineering Council - an organisation that works to ensure the UK is well served by its engineering resources.