Engineering is a subject area with great career prospects, and we link our course tightly to the needs of the automotive, aerospace, medical and power generation industries. As a result, 95% of our engineering and technology graduates enter employment or further study within six months of graduating. Sunderland has been an excellent place to study engineering and technical subjects for over 100 years. We’ve built up strong links with industry, including regional manufacturing giants such as Nissan, and teaching at Sunderland reflects their requirements. Teaching is also enriched by our leading-edge research into areas such as automotive mechatronics, manufacturing systems and advanced maintenance. This course will provide you with a good range of engineering skills and knowledge in manufacturing engineering and management as well as both the mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines. As a professional manufacturing engineer you will need to be able to apply management techniques to ensure satisfactory and timely completion of projects, and plan for these appropriately. You may also be required to implement and manage the maintenance procedures that are required to make sure the machines running within the company are running reliably and productively. The specialist knowledge and skills required to do this effectively are provided across a number of modules. Employability in manufacturing is the key feature of this course and the development of transferable skills including teamwork, problem solving, IT skills, oral and written communication, analytical and critical thinking as well as the essential engineering skills form a fundamental part of the course. We encourage our students to apply to undertake a year-long placement between the second and final years, although it is not compulsory. In the past our students have secured paid placement with companies such as Jaguar, Nissan, GlaxoSmithKline, Assystem, Cummins Engines, Delphi Powertrain Systems and Tata Steel.

Starting salaries for engineering graduates are attractive and you could soon be earning between £20,000 and £30,000. Graduates from this course can go on to jobs in the automotive, materials, food, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, among many others. More generally, you will be equipped to take up a wide range of roles throughout the engineering and manufacturing sectors. It is striking that 95% of our graduates who are in employment within six months are in graduate level roles (source: Unistats 2015). This shows that there is considerable demand among employers for engineering graduates with the right mix of skills and experience. Placements: To further enhance employability we encourage you to apply for a 48-week placement where available between your second and final year. Placements are subject to availability and interviews are required. They are usually paid, with past students having earned an average salary of £14,000-£18,000 a year depending on location. Placements are an excellent opportunity to put your learning into practice and understand the context for your new knowledge. The contacts made during placements can also be valuable for future job offers. Examples of companies that have offered placements to our students include: Jaguar Vauxhall Nissan GlaxoSmithKline Assystem Cummins Engines Delphi Powertrain Systems Tata Steel.