Materials lie at the heart of engineering design and increasingly they control its advancement. There is a continuous demand for new and improved engineering materials and in an increasingly technological world, there are endless opportunities to refine and improve materials for the manufacturing industry.

Sheffield Hallam University is now offering a full-time undergraduate BEng (Hons) in Materials Engineering. The course is running in its first year and has proved very popular with ten students currently enrolled and more interested for next academic year. Despite being in its first year of running it was the popularity of the part-time Materials Engineering course that led the course leader, Dr Paul Bingham to consider designing a full time course.

The course itself is providing students with the sound knowledge of metallic, ceramic, polymeric and composite materials as well as focusing on understanding the structure properties, processing and performance of materials, including the development of new or improved materials and advanced processing methods.

Currently there are 45 students enrolled on the two part time courses, (one a BEng(Hons) and the other a foundation course). Most part time students have come from external organisations whereby they continue to work around their studies. This offers the students an opportunity to use the knowledge they learn in the classroom to apply it within their industry.

The full time course is able to utilise the machinery and facilities at the Materials and Engineering Research Institute (MERI) as well as strong customer relations that MERI and the university hold with companies such as TATA Steel, Rolls-Royce, Network Rail, Kimberley Clark and many other companies which are always keen to take students on placement or provide expertise elsewhere.

Upon graduation each and every graduate will possess the necessary skills to deliver excellent materials engineering work and will be fully equipped to join any engineering organisation. Not only do they have the skills but they will have gained vital experience from their placement year which puts them a step above other graduates.

The Materials and Engineering Research Institute is proud to collaborate with undergraduate students as much as possible and is looking to get more involved with undergraduate engineers through student days and various open days. Many of our research staff are also teaching staff and are involved in the teaching of modules within this course. This is a great link between MERI and the students, and often leads to more undergraduate students staying in the university after their studies to work on postgraduate programs such as Masters or PhDs.

Click here to find out more about the BEng (Hons) Materials Engineering course.