Advanced Lightweight and Composite Structures MSc

Why this course?

Understanding how advanced lightweight metallic and composite materials and structures perform over their life cycles under static and dynamic loading, including crash and bird strike, requires expertise in a range of areas. As new simulation and material technologies emerge, there is a strong demand for talented employees with a sound understanding in structural analysis, together with competent technical skills in numerical simulation.

Combined with Cranfield University’s long-standing track record for delivering high-quality Masters' programmes in both advanced materials and structures, this course equips students with the knowledge and skills in the design and analysis of advanced lightweight metallic and composite materials and structures to solve a wide range of industrial challenges for weight saving, sustainability and carbon reduction without compromising structural reliability and safety.

Our course receives strong support from the aerospace and automotive industries including Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Safran, Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin, and McLaren. There is a strong emphasis on applying knowledge in the industrial environment with the group and individual projects commonly sponsored by industry, which gives you highly relevant context to your studies and practical work and prepares you to successfully launch your career.

To study for a formal award at Cranfield you will need to demonstrate that you can communicate effectively in English in an academic environment. You can meet this requirement in the following ways:

• If you have previously obtained a higher education level qualification from a UK university and have been taught and assessed in English (note that international applicants applying for Master’s courses in Cranfield’s School of Management are required to have studied in the UK for the full duration of the course).
• If you are a national of or have a obtained a higher education level qualification from a country on the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) list of majority English speaking countries:
  
  

  Antigua and Barbuda	Ireland
  Australia	Jamaica
  The Bahamas	Malta
  Barbados	New Zealand
  Belize	St Kitts and Nevis
  Canada*	St Lucia
  Dominica	St Vincent and the Grenadines
  Grenada	Trinidad and Tobago
  Guyana	United States of America

  
  
  *You will usually be required take an English test if your studies were not taught and assessed in English.
• If you have been continuously employed in the UK for a minimum of five years immediately prior to the start of the course, providing you are able to supply a reference from your current employer which explicitly confirms you are able to communicate effectively in English.
• By providing a satisfactory English test certificate that meets the requirement of the course you have applied for.

Your career

Industry-driven research makes our graduates some of the most desirable in the world for recruitment by companies competing in the structural engineering sector, which forms a large worldwide industry.

Students who enrol come from a variety of different backgrounds. Many have specific careers in mind, such as working in automotive or aerospace disciplines (structural design or crash protection), materials development for defence applications, or working in the field of numerical code developments/consultancy. Others decide to continue their education through PhD studies available within the University.

This course provides graduates with the necessary skills to pursue a successful career in automotive, aerospace, maritime and defence sectors. This approach offers you a wide range of career choices as a structural engineer at graduation and in the future.

Companies that have recruited graduates of this course include:

• Airbus,
• Rolls-Royce,
• Jaguar Land Rover,
• Aston Martin.