Course summary

This course is accredited by the Institution of Engineering Designers (IED) and is seeking accreditation from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), which can only be completed when the first intake admitted in 2015 reach their fourth of study in 2018/19. As well as your main Imperial degree, you will also receive the award of the Associateship of the City and Guilds of London Institute (ACGI) on completion of this course. Design engineers are problem solvers who bridge the gap between traditional engineering and design. It's a discipline which draws on knowledge of manufacturing techniques, product development, technical design and rapid prototyping to bring new innovations to market. It also focuses on improving existing products and the processes used for making them. This course aims to develop a range of fundamental design and engineering skills, with a particular emphasis on creativity, computer-aided engineering tools, optimisation, human factors, design process, and the enterprise skills and industrial experience necessary to launch brand new products to market. During the first two years you will study a series of compulsory modules focusing on foundational engineering, computing, mathematics and human factors to give you a solid scientific and design basis to build on. These cover subjects such as mechanics, electronics for product and system design, and mechatronics and robotics. The third and fourth years include a greater emphasis on advanced modules in design and engineering, as well as enterprise and entrepreneurship skills. You will have a choice of optional modules in areas such as design rationale, human factors and advanced engineering tools, allowing you to specialise in the areas you are most interested in. A six-month paid placement in industry from April in your third year will enable you to gain valuable practical experience. In your fourth year you will undertake Master’s level modules, and complete an extensive individual project. This course contains a substantial number of project and coursework modules of increasing scale throughout the programme. You will incrementally combine your engineering and design skills with business knowledge in successive projects, working both in groups and independently. This will culminate in an Enterprise Roll Out module in your final year, in which you will expose one of the products you have made to market reaction. You will benefit from access to extensive hackspaces and workshops throughout the degree to support the development of your ideas. All students will undertake a six-month industrial placement from April until September between their third and fourth year of study. The placement will be on-site with an industrial partner and supervised jointly by the partner and Imperial. In the past, students have worked at a diverse range of companies including Dyson, Brompton Bicycles, Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls Royce, ABB Robotics, Microsoft Lift, Fitch, Monokoto, Random International, Better Future Factory and Cambridge Consultants.