Engineering Design graduate destinations

Due to the strong links with industry throughout the course, Engineering Design graduates have exceptional employment prospects, with well-developed skills in areas such as numeracy, team working, report writing and creativity. Spending a year gaining industrial experience in year 3 is a particular advantage when applying for jobs, and this can count towards becoming a Chartered Engineer with one of the course's 5 accrediting bodies, which helps to fast-track career progression.

Data obtained from

  • Engineering Design courses (BEng and MEng), including those with study in industry
  • Graduates from the UK 

Responses were received from 12 graduates from 2019/20; this is a response rate of 75%

Destinations

Most important activityPercentage of graduates
Paid work for an employer 50%
Self-employment/freelancing 0%
Running my own business 8.3%
Developing a creative, artistic or professional portfolio 0%
Voluntary/unpaid work for an employer 0%
Engaged in a course of study, training or research 8.3%
Taking time out to travel 16.7%
Caring for someone 0%
Retired 0%
Unemployed and looking for work 16.7%
Doing something else 0%

Sector information

Those entering engineering will find possibilities in a range of different functions. These include research and development, design, consultancy, production, contracting and commercial work such as sales and marketing. Your career need not be confined by your original choice of function - indeed some mobility is built into many training schemes.

Employment sectorNumber of graduates

Defence activities

1
Information technology consultancy activities 1
Manufacture of motor vehicles 1

Employers and occupations

As the degree programme has formal links with a range of industrial partners, who support the course by providing placements and design projects, employment with one of these companies is particularly common; around 40% of our students join a partner company immediately after they graduate. Most other graduates also remain in engineering, but the diverse range of skills gained on the course makes our graduates highly qualified for a huge range of opportunities (around 70% of jobs are open to graduates of any discipline). These can include working in high profile areas such as IT, finance, law and the Civil Service, as well as those which might seem more unrelated such as advertising, journalism and social work.

Examples of employers

  • Accenture plc
  • Arup
  • Hydrock Consultants Ltd
  • Newton Europe Ltd
  • Royal Navy

Examples of occupations

  • Graduate Structural Engineer
  • Management Consultant
  • Operations Consultant

For examples of the types of careers our graduates have undertaken since leaving the course, please view our range of graduate profiles. From here, you can also gain information on the different opportunities available through the course's year three industrial placement and the benefits this has in enhancing career prospects.

Further study

Anyone wishing to continue on to postgraduate study will find exciting opportunities at both Master's and PhD level, with funding more readily available than in most disciplines.

Qualification typePercentage of graduates

Higher degree, mainly by research (e.g. PhD, DPhil, MPhil, MRes)

100%

Higher degree, mainly by taught course (e.g. MA, MSc, MBA)

0%

Postgraduate diploma or certificate (including PGCE/PGDE)

0%

Professional qualification

0%

Undergraduate degree (including integrated master’s degrees) (e.g. BA, BSc, MBChB, MEng)

0%
Other undergraduate diploma or certificate not specified above 0%
Other qualification 0%
Not aiming for a formal qualification 0%

An Engineering or technical degree was a prerequisite of my job in order to have the right transferable skills. Although the technical content has not been directly relevant, my course did have links with employers which made me aware of Rolls-Royce as a potential employer and inspired me to apply for an internship.

Jon, Service Engineer, Rolls-Royce (MEng Engineering Design, 2011)

Connect with alumni

Use Bristol Connects and LinkedIn to find out what others from your course are doing now and how they can help you.

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