MSc Advanced Mechanical Engineering
Cardiff, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
GBP 28,200 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for overseas | for home: £11,700
Introduction
As a graduate mechanical engineer, this MSc course will provide you with an advanced qualification which will enhance your career prospects and extend and update your skills and knowledge. The course actively encourages the understanding and practice of interdisciplinary systems engineering thinking that brings together mechanical engineering subjects in a way that reflects the needs of industrial and academic problem-solving.
More specifically, the programme aims to:
- Provide you with an advanced knowledge of topics in mechanical engineering, and in associated engineering and scientific disciplines over a broad range of specialist subjects
- Provide an awareness of the safety, environmental, social and economic context in which mechanical engineers need to operate
- Offer you the opportunity to develop a wide range of intellectual, practical and transferable skills that will allow you to follow a career in research, industry and other professional areas of the economy
- Help you to gain a systematic understanding and a critical awareness of current problems and new insights which are at the forefront of mechanical engineering
The close integration of the case study and project will allow you to explore, in-depth, a chosen topic related to the course. This provides you with an individually tailored programme to meet your needs in a flexible yet focused manner, with the project seen as being the key opportunity to acquire and exercise leading-edge mechanical engineering knowledge. You will be allowed to show originality in applying the knowledge you acquire and will develop an appreciation of how the boundaries of knowledge are advanced through research. You will be trained to deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively and will be given the opportunity and encouragement to demonstrate initiative and innovation in solving challenging problems and designing new components and systems.
The close involvement with industry, particularly at the project stage, ensures that the experience the course provides has both relevance and meaning. Lecturers delivering the modules are working with some of the world's most renowned engineering companies. Partners include Airbus, BAe Systems, Bosch, Tata Steel, Daimler, EADS, Fiat, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Messier-Dowty, Network Rail, TWI, Parametric Technology, Physical Acoustics Ltd, Renault, Renishaw, Rolls-Royce, SAP, Siemens, Silicon Graphics, Stile Bertone, The Highways Agency, TRL, Microchip, and WS Atkins.
This degree course will prepare you for entry into careers in research or industry. In addition to technical skills, you will acquire professional skills such as effective communication with technical, management and non-technical audiences, project planning, evaluation and prioritisation.
Why Study this Course
This degree programme aims to provide advanced knowledge of mechanical engineering over a range of specialist subjects, with an advanced research-led project in an area of your choice.
Renishaw Metrology Lab
Our collaboration with the world-leading metrology company Renishaw and our Renishaw Advanced Metrology Laboratory provides immediate access to state-of-the-art measurement equipment to underpin the teaching and projects offered in this course.
Industry Links and Projects
This course includes industrial input through invited lecturers, and you will have the opportunity to complete a research-led project.
Engaging Culture
There is an open and engaging culture between our students and our research-active staff, who are actively involved in the design and delivery of this course.
Strong Research Focus
You will learn in a research-led teaching institution, with the opportunity to undertake your project in a successful, research-based environment with access to high-quality facilities to support your work.
Professionally Accredited Course
Accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers on behalf of the Engineering Council as meeting the requirements for Further Learning for registration as a Chartered Engineer. Candidates must hold a CEng-accredited undergraduate first degree to comply with full CEng registration requirements.
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
We are committed to investing up to a total of £500,000 in this high-value competitive scholarship scheme to support UK students who are planning to start an eligible Master’s programme in 2024/25.
The Scholarships are each worth £3,000 and will be awarded in the form of a tuition fee discount.
Eligibility
UK students are eligible to apply for the Scholarship. You normally need to have achieved at least a 2.1 or equivalent in your first degree to be eligible. You need to apply to study at Cardiff University and be made an offer to study before your fee status can be confirmed.
Curriculum
This is a one-year full-time MSc course beginning with a taught section worth 120 credits. The Autumn and Spring semesters utilise taught and research project-based material to enable you to progress from a typical bachelor graduate standard at entry to the master’s level. The eight taught optional modules are split between these semesters to provide eighty credits of master's level study. Two twenty-credit Case Study modules form both group (semester 1) and individual (semester 2) activities. This prepares you for the third section of the course where you will use your advanced skills to complete an in-depth project and prepare a dissertation in the field of Advanced Mechanical Engineering. The project and dissertation stage of your course are worth a further 60 credits.
A 10-credit module typically represents 100 hours of study in total. This may involve 24–36 hours of contact time with teaching staff. The remaining hours are intended to be for private study, coursework, revision and assessment: all students are expected to spend a significant amount of time (typically 20 hours each week) studying independently. You must keep your personal tutor, project supervisor and the Teaching Office informed of any circumstances or illnesses that might affect your capacity to attend teaching or undertake assessment.
Core Modules for Year One
- Advanced Mechanical Engineering Group Research Study
- Advanced Mechanical Engineering Case Study
- Advanced Mechanical Engineering Project
Optional Modules for Year One
- Measurement Systems
- Manufacturing Informatics
- Tribology
- Artificial Intelligence
- Control
- Quality and Reliability
- Theory and Applications of the Finite Element Method
- Risk and Hazard Management in the Energy Sector
- Condition Monitoring, Systems Modelling and Forecasting
- Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer 2
- Energy Management
- Advanced Robotics
How will I be assessed?
Achievement of learning outcomes in the classroom-based modules is assessed by University examinations set in January and May/June. Predominantly examination-based assessment will be deployed in eight modules (80 credits) taken in Stage 1 of the programme. The balance between examination and coursework depends upon the modules selected, with the equivalent of up to six credits being available in coursework elements in individual modules, in addition to two double modules (40 credits) case studies.
Award of an MSc requires successful completion of Stage 2, the Dissertation, with a mark of 50% or higher. Candidates achieving a 70% average may be awarded a Distinction. Candidates achieving a 60% average may be awarded a Merit. Candidates failing to qualify for an MSc may be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma of Higher Education for 120 credits in Stage 1. Candidates failing to complete the 120 credits required for Stage 1 may still be eligible for the award of a Postgraduate Certificate of Higher Education for the achievement of at least 60 credits.
Program Outcome
What Skills Will I Practise and Develop?
Knowledge and Understanding
Upon completion of the Programme you will be expected to be able to:
- Understand theories, scientific principles and concepts in the context of advanced mechanical engineering, thus supporting the effective application of engineering science, mathematics and other disciplines needed for advanced engineering problem-solving
- Understand the limitations of current knowledge and technologies and the need to gain new knowledge through further study in response to new and emerging technologies and the needs of society
- Understand the role of individual and team-based project work in the context of professional mechanical engineering.
- Develop project management skills appropriate for a career in engineering and an understanding of the application of these skills in a commercial and/or research environment
- Enable the critical analysis of information including current literature in support of the identification of gaps in information that may lead to innovations and developments in advanced mechanical engineering
- Be aware of and be able to respond to the responsibilities that professional engineers have to society
Intellectual Skills
Upon completion of the Programme you will be expected to be able to:
- Use knowledge and scientific, evidence-based methods in the assessment and solution of mechanical engineering challenges, often based on limited and possibly contradictory information
- Deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively
- Show originality in tackling both familiar and unfamiliar problems using appropriate innovation and adaptation of methods
- Systematically undertake a significant research project in an area of advanced mechanical engineering which includes originality in the application of knowledge
- Collect, evaluate, synthesise and interpret qualitative and quantitative data in a variety of ways, and identify means to gain new data where needed
- Conceive, plan, execute and communicate the results of an extended in-depth piece of group project work
- Sustain a critical argument, both in writing and through presentations
Practical Skills
Upon completion of the Programme you will be expected to be able to:
- Use appropriate mathematical and experimental methods for the modelling and analysis of mechanical engineering problems
- Exercise initiative and personal responsibility within the completion of a group project, taking account of constraints such as time, cost, health and safety as well as specific mechanical engineering issues
- Successfully undertake a major project, taking account of constraints such as time, cost, health and safety as well as specific mechanical engineering issues
Transferable Skills
Upon completion of the Programme you will be expected to be able to:
- Manipulate, present and report data in a variety of ways
- Manage resources and time
- Communicate ideas, principles and theories effectively through oral, written, and physical or practical means
- Generate a concise literature review
- Make effective use of information technology and communications (ITC) tools
- Work effectively in a group context towards achieving specific goals and targets
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
The course provides master’s level training to the standard necessary to practice as a chartered professional mechanical engineer. When you graduate you will be equipped to apply for management-level roles across a broad spectrum of mechanical and related engineering fields. The material presented during the course will provide an excellent foundation for any career in mechanical engineering or related discipline.
Program delivery
How will I be Taught?
A wide range of teaching styles and mechanisms will be used to deliver the diverse material forming the curriculum of the programme. You will be expected to attend lectures and participate in tutorial classes. All students must complete 120 credits in Stage 1 to progress to the dissertation, for which they are allocated a supervisor from among the teaching staff. Dissertation topics are normally chosen from a range of project titles proposed by academic staff, usually in areas of current research interest, although you are encouraged to put forward your project ideas.