You will benefit greatly from ongoing and substantial investment in new teaching spaces. Labs are kitted out with brand new, hi-tech equipment and extensive key software through our partnership agreement with Microsoft.
Resources and facilities
Your learning is based around dedicated teaching and research facilities, with Laboratories for teaching and project work. We strive to be as flexible as possible, giving you the opportunity to specialise within your undergraduate study throughout your time at Birmingham.
We continue to review our facilities and have exciting new projects to enhance your time spent at the University of Birmingham:
New building and facilities for the School Of Engineering
The University has begun work on a new School of Engineering building which is due for completion in 2020. It will bring together many engineering disciplines into one state-of-the-art building.
Collaborative Teaching Laboratory
The Collaborative Teaching Laboratory (CTL) is a hub for science and engineering teaching, with multi-functional labs suitable for subject-specific and cross-disciplinary teaching and team working.
How you will learn
We are a department within a large engineering school – so you get the best of both worlds. You will be taught from a combination of large-scale lecture tuition, small-group teaching, and lab and other practical classes. We make extensive use of online learning tools, too, so you can study even when you’re not on campus.
Laboratory-based work is an integral part of your course, this is vital not only to develop your experimental practical skills, but also to reinforce concepts introduced in lectures. Practical sessions typically last two to three hours, although more advanced experiments and activities may span over several sessions.
All of our undergraduate programmes feature a significant level of project working in each year of study, with individual and group projects designed to prepare our graduates for teamworking, problem solving and project management.
How you will be assessed
Each module is assessed independently and methods may include end-of-year exams, written assignments, oral and poster presentations, computer-based tests, class tests, and laboratory and project reports.
The early years of your course are assessed mostly by examination, whereas in later years this emphasis will shift to continuous assessment in project work. This model reflects your ability to specialise in Years 3 and 4, after undertaking thorough grounding of engineering principles at the start of your studies.
Feedback is an essential part of learning and we use a wide range of methods, such as written feedback on your assessments, class feedback sessions and discussions with your tutor. You'll receive feedback on each assessment, highlighting the positives of your work as well as any areas that need more attention.
Your personal tutor
At the start of your degree, you'll be assigned a personal tutor who will remain with you throughout your studies to help you in three important areas: supporting your academic progress, developing transferable skills and dealing with any welfare issues.
We also have our own Welfare Tutor/Wellbeing Officer who is able to provide practical and emotional support for you if you are experiencing personal problems that interfere with your academic work.
Seminars and tutorials
Small-group tutorials/personal tutorials run alongside our lectures, addressing any individual problems you may have and allowing you to consolidate lecture material, as well as testing your understanding through problem-solving exercises.
Self study is an essential part of the programme and requires self motivation and enthusiasm for your subject. It also allows you to pursue your own lines of enquiry and become an independent thinker.
Lecturers and world leading researchers
You will be
taught by staff who are experts in their research fields: staff with extensive industrial connections, research staff and staff with teaching qualifications. They will provide you with tools to gain the creative, problem-solving and technical skills needed to undertake your final-year individual project.
As well as specialised labs with state-of-the-art facilities, you may also get to work with
internationally leading research groups. There are also opportunities to work in industry which will provide real-world experience.
Contact Hours
Throughout your degree, depending on module choice, you can expect about 20 hours of contact time per week on average. This consits of approximately 14 hours of lectures and 6 hours of tutorials/labs.