Engineering

UCC is in the top 2% of Universities worldwide and provides a world-class engineering education. We have strong relationships with major employers and offer our students the opportunity of placement, including our MEngSc programme which has an 8-month placement.

At UCC, you will have access to the excellent facilities at the School of Engineering, as well as world-class research centres. State-of-the-art research in engineering is particularly strong in the Tyndall National Institute, the Environmental Research Institute (ERI), including the Marine and Renewable Energy Institute, and the INFANT Centre (Irish Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research).

On completion of this course you will receive a professional qualification that is officially recognised the world over, through international agreements under the European arm of the federation of professional engineers (FEANI) and the Washington Accord (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, USA and some others). All our degrees are also accredited by Engineers Ireland. Our Process and Chemical Engineering degree is also accredited by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and the Engineering Council of the UK.

Engineers play a key role in seeking to resolve complex issues through technical and non-technical innovations. Engineers are at the forefront in the provision of basic necessities such as food, water and energy, in the design of infrastructure, in health, transportation and communications and in the face of the challenge of climate change. The challenges that engineers meet revolve around creating a sustainable society whereby humans can flourish within natural resource limits.

Non-EU applicants are expected to have educational qualifications of a standard equivalent to the Irish Leaving Certificate. In addition, where such applicants are non-native speakers of the English language they must satisfy the university of their competency in the English language.

To verify if you meet the minimum academic and language requirements visit our qualification comparison page and refer to our International Office page for more information.

Graduate Study Options

All graduates of our undergraduate (BE) or postgraduate (ME) degree can undertake research degrees in any of five disciplines, including the four of the BE/ME programmes plus Mechanical Engineering. This includes Masters by Research (MEngSc) or PhD options.

We also offer a taught Masters programme, including:

Career Opportunities

According to UCC’s Destination Survey, almost all our graduates were employed after six months of graduating. Current demand for engineers in the Irish economy and abroad continues to be very strong.

Depending on which discipline a student takes, careers are available in a variety of sectors including but not limited to:

Job paths of recent graduates are varied according to programme type and include: automation engineer; business consultant; civil and structural engineer; data analyst; design manager; electrical and electronic engineer; energy engineer; process and chemical engineer; project leader; quality director; and validation engineer.

Recent employers of our graduates include: Accenture, Analog, Apple, Arup, BAM Ireland, Cork City Council, Dell EMC, Diageo, Eli Lilly, ESB International, First Derivatives, GlaxoSmithKline, Intel, Jacobs Engineering, Janssen, MSD, Pernod Ricard (Irish Distillers), Pfizer, PM Group, and Zenith Technologies.