Engineering

Engineering at Cambridge

The Cambridge Engineering course is unique. 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 outline

Teaching is provided through a mixture of lectures, practicals, projects and supervisions, and in Year 1 you can typically expect around 22 hours of teaching each week. You're assessed each year through coursework and written exams.

A few students graduate after three years with the BA (Honours) degree. However, most continue to the fourth year (Part IIB), successful completion of which leads to the BA and MEng degrees. Progression to Part IIB is dependent on achievement in Parts IB and IIA.

Year 1 (Part IA)

The broad foundation of the first two years (Part I) gives you an understanding of the basic principles of a wide range of subjects, together with an appreciation of the external pressures under which these ideas are likely to be applied.

In Year 1, you take four papers and sit a three-hour written exam in each:

• Mechanical Engineering
• Structures and Materials
• Electrical and Information Engineering
• Mathematical Methods

You also undertake several coursework activities and projects, on topics including structural design, product design, presentation skills, drawing, laboratory experiments and computer programming.

Year 2 (Part IB)

You study seven papers on core subjects at a more advanced level:

• Mechanics
• Structures
• Materials
• Thermofluid Mechanics
• Electrical Engineering
• Information Engineering
• Mathematical Methods

In addition, in the third term, for an eighth component, you select two topics from seven engineering disciplines plus a language option. These topics emphasise engineering design and introduce the more specialised work of the third year.

Coursework includes laboratory experiments and computing exercises. Several experiments are linked around the common theme of earthquake-resistant structures. A highlight of the year is the integrated design project, a design project spanning multiple engineering disciplines, where you work in teams to design and build robot vehicles which are then tested against each other.

Year 3 (Part IIA)

Professional specialisation begins in earnest and you study 10 papers from over 40 choices, from which a core is associated with one of the following disciplines:

• 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

Alternatively, you can choose General Engineering, in which there are fewer restrictions on paper combinations.

In addition, you take an Extension Activity (selected from several topics, including both non-technical options, such as a language course, and technical options designed to introduce you to various measurement and test procedures in your chosen professional area) and, in the final term, choose two from a variety of design and computer-based projects or projects in a foreign language.

Year 4 (Part IIB)

Progression to Part IIB is dependent on achievement in Parts IB and IIA, and successful completion of Part IIB leads to the BA and MEng degrees.

In Part IIB, further specialisation is possible and you select eight papers from around 80 options which vary each year. These papers benefit from the Department's research and are taught by experts in the particular field. As a result, you graduate with a Masters-level appreciation of theory and practice in your chosen area.

A major individual project occupies about half of your time. Many projects are associated with current Department research and have direct industrial input and application. Recent projects have included:

• super-tall timber high-rise design
• nanotubes and graphene for polymer optoelectronics
• a fitness predictor for racing cyclists
• use of thorium in a PRISM reactor
• whole-system design of tidal turbines
• remarkably shaped structures
• preliminary design of a solar electric vehicle
• strategy development for fuel restricted F1 races
• medical imaging and 3D computer graphics
• the aerodynamics of power kites

The application process

The Cambridge application process is slightly different to other universities. You still need to apply through UCAS, however, at Cambridge the process starts earlier to give us time to collect and consider all of the application information. The steps below and the following pages will guide you through the process.

You’re going to be studying to a very high level for several years so make sure you choose a course you’re personally interested in and will really enjoy studying! Check, also, that you meet the entrance requirements of the course you want to study.

Most applicants need to take a written admission assessment as part of the application process. Some applicants will also be asked to submit examples of their written work.

Please check the type of assessment required for your course as early as possible as some assessments require you to be registered before the UCAS application deadline (15 or 30 September).

Where would you like to live when you’re here? In your UCAS application, you can apply directly to one of our 29 Colleges or make an open application. 

You need to submit your UCAS application by 15 October – our institution code is CAM C05. Please note:

• Earlier or later deadlines may apply for Mature Students, Foundation Year and Organ Scholarship applicants.
• There's an additional application form if you're applying for the Graduate Course in Medicine.
• You can’t apply to both the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in the same year.
• Some applicants will be required to submit an academic transcript.

After you’ve submitted your UCAS application, you will need to fill in an additional Cambridge-specific application form, which we’ll send you a link to by email.

Everyone with a good chance of being offered a place is invited to attend an interview. If you decide to apply, you can find videos and full information on what to expect and how to prepare, in our interviews section.

We’ll advise you of our decision before the end of January.