Engineering at Cambridge
The Cambridge Engineering course is distinctive. It allows you to keep your options open while equipping you with all the analytical, design and computing skills that underpin modern engineering practice.
Part I (Years 1 and 2) provides a broad education in engineering fundamentals, enabling you to make a genuinely informed choice about the area in which to specialise from your third year (many students change direction as a result). Part II (Years 3 and 4) then provides in-depth training in your chosen professional discipline.
The following specialisations are available within our Engineering course:
- Aerospace and Aerothermal Engineering
- Bioengineering
- Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Electrical and Information Sciences
- Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Information and Computer Engineering
- Instrumentation and Control
- Mechanical Engineering
See the Course outline tab and the Department website for further details.
Department and facilities
The Department is a leading international centre for research, consistently ranked the highest achieving amongst British universities. We also have strong links with industry, with many research projects funded by industrial companies.
Our facilities are excellent: the Dyson Centre for Engineering Design provides access to traditional hand and machine tools, as well as modern computer-controlled machinery and rapid prototyping; the Design and Project Office is equipped with more than 80 workstations; and the library has 30,000 books and takes about 350 journals. The Department’s Language Programme for Engineers offers specialised courses at all levels in French, German, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese.
Industrial experience
You’re required to complete six weeks of industrial experience by the end of the third year, obtained by deferring entry or during vacations. Our full-time Industrial Placement Co-ordinator helps deferred entrants and undergraduates to find suitable placements (in the UK and abroad) and sponsorship.
Exchange programmes
A small number of students spend their third year studying abroad through our exchange schemes with Ecole Centrale Paris and the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Accreditation
The course is accredited by the Engineering Council and by all the major institutions, including the Institutions of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), Engineering and Technology (IET), Civil Engineers (ICE), and Structural Engineers (IStructE), the Institute of Measurement and Control (InstMC), the Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE), the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), and the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS). An appropriate combination of Part II papers is required in each case.
Course costs
Tuition fees
Information on tuition fee rates for Engineering is available on the tuition fees page.
Additional course costs
All years
- Students pay for photocopying and printing if they exceed their free quota (Yr 1 - £2, Yr 2 - £3, Yr3 - £7, Yr4 - £9), which is designed to accommodate the majority of the requirements of the course. (extra printing is charged at £1 per 40 sheets)
Year 1
- Required: a University approved scientific calculator (CASIO fx 991 (any version), CASIO fx 115 (any version), CASIO fx 570 (any version)), this may be purchased from the department or other suppliers - Estimated cost £25
- Required: drawing instruments (HB Pencil, Shine Plastic Eraser – part E210A or 760402, 300mm acrylic ruler with metric and imperial scales, Ecobra Compass – part 3754, Rumold Circle template – part 2812, Rumold Protractor – part 1026 or equivalents), these may be purchased as a pack from the Department or other suppliers - Estimated cost £25
- Optional: trips for those taking language courses - Estimated cost £350
Year 2
- Optional: trips for those taking language courses - Estimated cost £350
Year 3
- Optional: trips for those taking language courses - Estimated cost £350
Year 4
- Optional: trips for those taking language courses - Estimated cost £350
Further details of additional costs can be found on the Department website.
Changing course
Students may transfer to Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology after the first year, or to Management Studies or Manufacturing Engineering after completing Engineering Part I. Students may change into the Engineering third-year course, typically from Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Students from Medicine and Veterinary Medicine may take Engineering as their third year specialisation.
To be able to change course, you need the agreement of your College that any change is in your educational interests, and you must have the necessary background in the subject to which you wish to change – in some cases you may be required to undertake some catch-up work or take up the new course from the start/an earlier year. If you think you may wish to change course, we encourage you to contact a College admissions office for advice. You should also consider if/how changing course may affect any financial support arrangements.
Careers
When you graduate, you’re fully qualified in your chosen area, knowledgeable across the range of engineering disciplines, and able to apply new technologies in novel situations, giving you an advantage over engineering graduates from other more narrowly focused courses. Prospects are typically excellent, with 99% of respondents to the Graduate Outcomes survey reporting that they are in employment or further study 15 months after graduation.¹
Our students are in great demand and they go on to careers in all the major industrial and commercial sectors. Positions currently held by some of our graduates include Graduate Engineer, Atkins; Graduate RF Systems Engineer, Airbus Defence and Space; Consultant, TTP plc; Analyst, Goldman Sachs; Real-Time Control and Software Engineer, UK Atomic Energy Authority; Business Analyst, McKinsey & Company; and Manufacturing Engineer, Rolls-Royce plc..
¹ Based on responses to the Graduate Outcomes survey. This records the outcomes of students who completed their studies between August 2019 and July 2020. 58% of Engineering graduates responded to the survey.
