Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering

at Brunel University London United Kingdom

On this Business Computing BSc degree course, you get to specialise in eBusiness, learning about how software and IT systems can support business transactions and drive sales. Through a mixture of theory and real-world practice, you’ll learn how to determine a dynamic mix of processes, which allow information delivery systems and users to carry out business effectively and efficiently. You’ll come to intuitively understand how an organisation’s information systems need to adapt to the changes and developments natural to growth and progress.

In addition to the compulsory business computing content you will learn about the underlying models and latest approaches used by companies in building successful eBusiness platforms.

Our course is designed for flexibility, so if you’re not sure which route you want to go down, you can select modules and specialise gradually during your time with us. You can transfer between Computer Science and Business Computing up to the start of Level 2, then should you wish, you can choose a specialism up to the start of Level 3.

We know that when you graduate, you’ll be working on large projects. That’s why one third of each year of our programmes is project-based. On Levels 1 and 2, you’ll build a software solution in a team, and in your final year you’ll carry out an individual project. You’ll also have the opportunity to showcase your projects at the annual Made in Brunel (Software Innovation) event, with awards presented by the likes of Cisco, Sky and Xerox.

As part of your degree course, you’ll have the chance to take a year-long work placement between your second year and third year. We’ll support you in finding that all-important paid professional experience, in the UK or abroad. The feedback we’ve received is that those who have taken a placement are much more likely to find a job for which their degree was a formal requirement as it gives you a competitive advantage. Recent graduates have gone on to work for well-known names such as Accenture, Toshiba, Microsoft, British Airways, O2, and Barclays.

Our programmes are accredited by the British Computer Society, the Chartered Institute for IT, for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered IT Professional (CITP). The accreditation also allows you to apply for professional membership of the BCS after you have successfully completed your degree. 

The department has been awarded an Athena SWAN Bronze, recognising our dedication to the advancement of gender equality in STEM subjects. We now have an ongoing three-year action plan to further implement strategies and improve our practices. As part of this endeavour, Brunel’s Women in Engineering and Computing mentoring scheme provides our female students with invaluable help and support from the industry.

The Brunel Automotive Engineering BEng gives students with a passion for motor vehicles the specialised expertise they need to become professional engineers in the fast-moving automotive industry.

Along with a solid grounding in the fundamentals of mechanical engineering, including maths, engineering science and design, you’ll gain an in-depth knowledge of the technical workings of current and future automotive systems.  

You’ll study all aspects of automotive development and manufacture from vehicle design and performance to engine and transmission systems to materials, structures and safety.

You’ll also get hands-on practice troubleshooting engineering problems that inevitably arise during the construction and testing processes.

Your education will profit, too, by your access to the work done at our Centre for Advanced Powertrain and Fuels (CAPF). One of the largest and most active engine research groups in the UK, CAPF focuses on minimising pollutant emissions and improving fuel efficiency while maintaining performance levels.

In your final year, along with studying specialist topics taught at master’s degree level, you’ll take part in a major group project to design, manufacture and test an automotive product, typically aimed at low-carbon use. This will give you valuable experience working in a team-based environment and on-the-job opportunities to develop your leadership and management skills, competencies sought by employers.

A current project concerns the use of mechanical kinetic energy recovery to help eliminate the feel of turbocharger lag in future fuel-efficient road vehicles.

Throughout your studies you’ll have use of our modern, state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, which comprise our motorsport workshop, and 24-hour access to industry standard specialist software for engineering design at dedicated computer clusters on campus, so you’ll have the opportunity and equipment to explore ideas and tackle problems.

Our automotive engineering BEng course is accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). We offer two study options. You can choose three years full-time or four years full-time with a one-year professional placement that will allow to put what you’ve learned to use in real-world situations.

If you start on the full-time course, you can transfer to the professional development option, which includes the placement, at any time before the end of Level 2.

In the rapidly evolving automotive industry, demand for engineers with the technical and managerial skills to excel is on the rise. Your Brunel BEng will give you these and equip you to play leading roles in industry and public service.

Do you want to report on news from the most interesting and important parts of the world? Are you committed to a career in journalism but need the professional skills? If so, this one-year journalism postgraduate course provides excellent preparation for working across all platforms.

From the moment you start Brunel’s International Journalism degree, you will learn to deliver high-quality video, audio, online and print journalism geared towards global audiences.

Course content is designed to equip you with digital, multi-platform journalism skills and advanced understanding of the context of journalism in the fast-changing world of news media.

You will study a synthesis of practical and theoretical skills modules contextualising different forms of journalistic practice, within a framework of technological, political and cultural change. This is challenging, employment-orientated study on a leading journalism course at a London university that focusses on international reporting.

You will benefit greatly from our academic’s research strengths and excellent links with the journalism, broadcasting and publishing industries, with the option to seek a work placement during your time on the course.

Additionally, alumni and industry guest speakers will bring further insight and inspiration about what it means to work within global media.  

You will also get plenty of hands-on training and practice in the University’s well-equipped media suite that mimics the recording and broadcast facilities used within the industry.

International Journalism MA will appeal to a broad range of candidates with an interest in journalism across all sectors, including print journalism, online journalism, radio journalism, TV journalism and especially in areas of convergence.

The Education BA at Brunel offers you the opportunity to combine the study of education with professional practice to give you a pathway into a range of education professions and postgraduate professional study including teacher education.

Whether you are looking to explore education related fields – such as counselling, educational psychology, social services, local authority work, social work, administration and education management – or you already know you want to teach, Brunel’s Education BA will give you a strong foundation from which to build.

The course will equip you with a broad and balanced view of educational theory, policy and practice within a range of educational contexts. You will also have numerous opportunities to develop a range of transferable skills such as critical reflection, systematic analysis, communication, collaboration, presentation and writing skills.

When it comes to professional practice, the Education BA includes three integrated work placements to give you the opportunity to explore different educational settings. To help you manage your time, you can do your placement experience weekly or in a block over the holidays.

If it’s teaching experience you’re seeking, Brunel’s network of partner schools is diverse and well-established which means you can gain highly valued teaching experience in vibrant multi-cultural schools where you will be fully supported by a work placement mentor as well as a Brunel tutor.

Working with and for young people in the developing world offers an exciting career full of challenges and rewards. Our Children, Youth and International Development MA is a varied course with a global perspective which will help equip you for roles in international development organisations, government ministries and global agencies.

You will acquire a breadth of knowledge that will enable you to critically evaluate research, policy and practice in the area of children, youth and development. You will also discover the differing disciplinary perspectives on childhood and youth by studying modules from related disciplines.

As you journey through the course, you also will acquire the skills necessary to design and undertake your own research.

Opt for the 'Applied Learning' module and you will have the opportunity of a short placement (one or two days a week for ten weeks) with an organisation that works in the field of children, youth and international development.

Examples of the ‘Applied Learning’ placements previously undertaken include:

• Action Aid – on a campaign targeting exploitation in the garment industry
• Anti-Slavery International – on a project to eradicate caste-based bonded labour
• Basti RAM – planned lessons for a Global Citizenship project
• BookAid International – helped build up an evidence base for Book Aid’s international programmes
• Commonwealth Secretariat – on the CS’s Youth Programme in Uganda
• International Refugee Trust – development of the online classroom about refugees
• National Deaf Children's Society – developed international exchanges for deaf young people
• Oxfam – mobilised UK school children to get involved in Oxfam campaigns
• Project Hope – several placements including designing a survey on youth experiences, and developing leaflets to help South African adults to identify signs of mental illness
• The Mouth That Roars – helped children in London and Saudi Arabia to create videos through which they communicated their everyday lives to each other

Additionally, an Erasmus agreement exists between the Brunel MA and the MPhil in Childhood Studies at the Norwegian Centre for Child Research (NOSEB) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim.

The agreement allows two students from the MA to spend their second term (January to May) at the Trondheim centre. Erasmus students do not pay tuition fees at NOSEB and are entitled to a grant (€375/month) to cover any additional costs.

In today’s business landscape, brand is everything. But what exactly is brand and how do we manage it for the best possible outcome? Brunel’s Corporate Brand Management MSc examines the importance of branding, corporate identity, image and reputation.

You will study a wide-range of brands (e.g. product, service, personal, company) from a variety of cultures and sectors (private, public and not-for-profit) including start-ups, SMEs, and multinationals. You will also study how corporate branding is key to an organisation’s overall marketing strategy.

Brunel Business School was the first school to introduce a specialised MSc in corporate brand management back in 2007. The Corporate Brand Management MSc is taught by an enthusiastic team including Professor John M.T. Balmer, who is highly regarded in the corporate brand domain, as well as renowned brand specialists Dr Sharifah Alwi and Dr Yousra Asaad, amongst others.

You have the option of taking either a year-long or six to twelve week work placement, depending on your needs, to help you enhance your skills and boost your career prospects while you study. We were one of the first business schools to offer postgraduate degrees with placement and the feedback has been that this is incredibly useful as you can put your learning into practice immediately. It’s also a great way to make business contacts with the possibility of a job offer from your placement employer once you’ve graduated. Find out more on our work placements page.

Accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), this course offers the option to study the CIM Certificate in Professional Marketing alongside your degree. Find out more on our accreditations and exemptions page.

Topics covered on the degree include corporate and product brand identity, corporate and product brand image and reputation, corporate marketing, and corporate communications. You will also study marketing communications and strategy from a corporate branding perspective.

Psychology in Sport, Health and Exercise is an area of growing interest, particularly in the world of professional sport. Through studying the link between the mind and the body, we can understand things like motivation and determination, and the effect that physical activity has on the brain.

This course is jointly delivered by the Divisions of Psychology and Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences. It is accredited by the British Psychological Society.

The Division of Psychology offers a firm foundation of learning including cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and biological psychology. Quantitive and qualitative research methods are taught to support experiments you may carry out as research for your dissertation.

The Division of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences will cover the fundamentals of sports psychology, and how to apply research knowledge to real-world situations. You will learn about experiences you may encounter as an applied psychology practitioner in both sport and exercise contexts.

As an accredited course, should you graduate with a 2:2 grade or higher, you will be eligible to apply for graduate membership of the British Psychological Society. Membership will be key if you choose to pursue postgraduate training. It’s also a pre-requisite of entry to all accredited Stage 2 and Doctoral programmes needed to become a chartered psychologist – be it in Sport and Exercise or otherwise.

Take your knowledge of culture and society to the next level and equip yourself with a big range of practical and analytical skills for a changing world with our Anthropology and Sociology BSc.

Anthropology is concerned with contemporary issues such as multiculturalism, identity politics, racism and ethnic nationalism, changing forms of the family, religious conflict, gender, and the political role of culture. It also addresses fundamental questions about human nature, such as: ‘What do we have in common with each other cross-culturally?’ and ‘What makes us different?’

Sociology, its sister subject, looks at the foundations of social life and the big issues in contemporary society such as inequality, racism, globalisation, and migration.

In particular, your sociology studies at Brunel will be closely related to the central and ever-increasing importance of the communications media in our culture, for example, how poverty is portrayed and the powerful influence of celebrity.

Brunel is a great choice for this combined study with lecturers from both subjects producing cutting edge research alongside their teaching, on both global issues and local problems.

This research expertise filters down into what you will learn. In anthropology students have learnt about youth and motorcycles in Rwanda, and in sociology, about cosmetic tourism.

Choose this course and you can do fieldwork on any subject, anywhere in the world, whether it’s learning about refugees in Athens or mother and toddler groups in inner London.

Around half of Brunel anthropology students carry out a placement or fieldwork abroad, in places as wide ranging as India, Nepal, Australia, South Africa, Papua New Guinea and Jamaica.

Recent UK placement destinations include the Royal Anthropological Institute, Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, Amnesty International and the Department of Health.

Our Civil Engineering MEng degree is a highly innovative course that has been developed to equip you with a broad range of knowledge and management skills to meet the real world needs of the civil engineering and construction industry.

You will study the traditional elements of civil engineering including design, structures, materials, fluid mechanics, geotechnics and maths. You’ll be introduced to a range of construction topics and then progress to specialist subjects such as structural analysis and computational mechanics. You will then move on to advanced topics including project management, and structural design and FEA.

Access is available to custom-designed technical facilities to work on your laboratory experiments. These include fluids and hydraulics laboratories, and structures, materials and geotechnics labs. The latest industry standard engineering software packages are available for you to use in dedicated computer clusters.

During your studies, there is a residential field trip with hands-on experience in surveying and geology using industry standard equipment. You will also benefit from guest lectures delivered by industry professionals, as well as visits to construction sites and civil engineering development projects.

Due to recent changes to the engineering curriculum, our accreditation is currently being reconfirmed with the Joint Board of Moderators (JBM). The JBM compromises the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Structural Engineers, the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, and the Institute of Highway Engineers. We have every expectation that our accreditation will be renewed later in the academic year.

This MEng degree in civil engineering can be studied full-time over four years, or five years with a placement year. The MEng degree fully meets the educational requirement to fast track you to Chartered Engineer (CEng) status.  

We encourage the placement year option. This time in industry helps you to further prepare for the world of work and you’ll have a year’s worth of invaluable professional experience when you graduate. If you decide to go on an engineering placement year, you will have the opportunity to work in the civil engineering sector. It could be for a contractor, consultant or government authority.

Brunel Engineers is an annual exhibition that showcases our engineering talent at its finest. It’s a great way for you to network with key civil engineering enterprises and experts and show them the innovative, creative and enterprising work you have produced during your time at Brunel.

Our Music BA degree has been designed to develop your particular interests in music-making. It aims to equip you with a solid grounding in the craft of creativity which reflects the diversity of musical styles and genre in today’s world.

In your first year you will gain a strong understanding of composition, performance and musicology. You will also be introduced to sonic arts and sound recording. Your peer group of musicians will discuss, review and give you constructive feedback on your musical activities.

You can choose from a range of optional modules in your second year and final year. This means you develop your own bespoke pathway during your music course, and this prepares you for your chosen career in the music world. Examples of specialist options you could choose include orchestration and arrangement, and taking sonic art to the stage, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

You will be taught by some of the leading figures in today’s contemporary music comprising composers, performers and musicologists. They are performing, composing and writing books, and have strong connections with the music community in London, the UK and in Europe. This opens up opportunities for you to collaborate with them and work together on installation projects and a huge variety of creative projects.

Our music facilities include a fully sound-proofed recording studio for rehearsals, and performance spaces and practice rooms equipped with grand pianos, drum kits and amps. Access is available to an editing suite with Mac computer workstations where you’ll work on your music using industry standard music making software.

During your time at Brunel, you’ll benefit from guest lectures delivered by leading figures in the music industry who give advice on music promotion and how to get a gig. In addition, you have the advantage of Brunel’s close location to London’s exciting music scene for planned trips to music concerts, festivals, galleries, and museums.

Our music undergraduate degree can be studied full-time over three years, four years with a placement year, or part-time over six years.

We encourage the placement year option. This time in the music industry helps you to further prepare for the world of work and you’ll have a year’s worth of invaluable professional experience when you graduate. If you decide to go on a music work placement year, you could find yourself working at record companies, TV companies, or teaching music in a school.

You’ll have the opportunity to showcase your musical talent before you graduate alongside external musicians. There are a variety of performances hosted by Brunel including concerts, recitals and ensembles where you’ll be able to network and gain feedback on your creativity from the visiting music artists.