Welcome to your Aeronautical Engineering course

Teaching will be through a mixture of workshops, lectures, tutorials, labs and seminars. Most modules have three hours of contact a week and class sizes will be bigger in lectures and smaller in workshops, tutorials and labs. Most classes are face to face on campus, and we use a range of assessments including technical reports, lab reports, group assignments and online and traditional exams.  

Welcome Week is your first opportunity to meet your fellow students and the staff you’ll be working with, in one place. We’ll be getting involved in activities and making sure you know more about how the University works and how the next few weeks and months are going to look. We’re hoping that you’ll get to know us and your course mates and be ready to start with the next stage of your journey. 

A live streamed flight from a commercial Boeing 737 simulator will take place in Welcome week, with an explanation of setting the aircraft up for flight, taxi, takeoff, an in flight emergency or two, and a landing.

You will be studying a range of subjects including mechanics, thermodynamics, fluids, engineering design, aeronautical engineering principles and mathematics. These initial modules will help to build your skills and confidence.

In Welcome Week, you’ll be introduced to the IMechE and IET professional bodies who accredit the course so you can learn more about becoming a member and the benefits linking in to a local and global network of professional engineers can bring to your future career.

Before you arrive, it would be useful to look at some online resources related to flight.

For discussion in class during welcome week, please have a think about your favourite aircraft of all time, what is special about it from the technical and engineering perspective, and why you like it so much.  

https://www.aerosociety.com/ - You’ll be able to become a student member of the Royal Aeronautical Society while studying – this is great for networking and research.

https://www.theengineer.co.uk/aerospace/ - The Engineer is a great place to keep up with news in the Aerospace and Aviation industries

In preparation for your Engineering course at Staffordshire University, please take a look at the following resources:

https://www.instructables.com/

https://www.thigiverse.com/

https://hackaday.io/discover

https://www.instituteofmaking.org.uk/materials-library

https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/

https://www.imeche.org/Home

General materials engineering websites:

Ceramic Knowledge Centre: Contains information about the history of ceramics, manufacturing processes, and their impact on modern society

MatWeb: Online Materials Information Resource including physical, mechanical and chemical properties

How products are made: Explains and details the manufacturing processes used to make a wide variety of products. The list of biographies of a range of inventors is also included

ANSYS Workbench: One of the most popular software that offers a broad range of technology for doing Finite Element Analyses (FEA) in Fluid Mechanics, Structural Mechanics, Electromagnetics, Control Systems

In 2005, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Engineering Council jointly created a statement of ethical principles to guide engineering practice and behaviour.

“The Engineering Council and the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) believe that all persons engaged in engineering at any level, from the youngest apprentice and student, should be educated and encouraged to think and work in accordance with these ethical principles”.

The aim is for engineering to be seen and recognised by the public as a trusted and ethical profession. The Engineering Council and Engineering Accreditation websites below detail the engineering professional standards that need to be understood and adhered too by all engineers.

https://www.engc.org.uk

https://www.theiet.org/ 

https://www.imeche.org/Home  

Welcome Week is your first opportunity to meet your fellow students and the staff you’ll be working with, in one place. We’ll be getting involved in activities and making sure you know more about how the University works and how the next few weeks and months are going to look. We’re hoping that you’ll get to know us and your course mates and be ready to start with the next stage of your journey.

One of the things we are planning is an exciting GPS Challenge - watch this space for further details !! This will provide you with the opportunity to engage, collaborate, communicate and be creative as you start your journey with us.

Before you arrive here, think about the range of aircraft that have flown in the last 115 years. Which is your favourite aircraft, and why?

For the first sessions in Welcome Week – as always it would be useful to bring a notepad and pen – while we’ll make sure you have access to any information you need – you might want to note a few things down. As you start your lectures and learning then you’ll want to make sure you always bring a few things to your sessions. Pens and a notebook are a must, while you’ll find that always carrying a scientific calculator will mean that you’re always prepared. It is useful to have a smartphone for logging into the attendance system too. We have PCs available on campus that have the simulation and design software on that we use, but some of these packages can be downloaded onto your own laptop if it is powerful enough. Most don’t work quite as well on Apple Macs. 

Once enrolled, you will be able to download a range of software free of charge from the University. 

Download software

Students have had industrial placements recently at a range of companies including Boeing, Airbus, Marshall Aerospace amongst others, and we continually update the course to reflect the latest changes in aeronautical engineering.

We are preparing a series of trips for you during the year, in the past these have included a visit to RAF Cosford, to RAF and industry sites, to national aerospace museums, and to a commercial flight simulator. Welcome week activities have included a hands-on aeroplane competition as well as use of the university flight simulator, a visit to the local gliding club and RAF museum or a live-streamed flight from a commercial 737 simulator. The activities are weather dependent and will be announced in your welcome week programme.

Last year our final year students visited Cranfield University and did a test flight in their Saab turboprop aircraft where they collected data on the engine performance and aerodynamics.

There is an Engineering Society and also a Gliding Society which are run by the Students’ Union, and a Formula Student project which all engineering students are encouraged to get involved in. We also hold social activities for staff and students to meet socially.