Marine Technology
Published: 13 August 2004
What do you come out with? BEng or MEng.
Why do it? Because designing a ship is rather thrilling, and because most graduates are looking at two job offers.
What's it about? Learning to design anything from a surfboard to a supertanker. Catamarans, America's Cup yachts, aircraft carriers?they're all created by marine technologists. What exactly will you study? Well, the focus of UCL's course, for example, shifts from mostly general engineering in the first year to specialist stuff - naval architecture (overall design of a vessel) and marine engineering (concerned with internal ship systems) - in the third and fourth years. Core subjects include fluids and structures, and students can specialise in marine engineering, with thermodynamics and control, or in naval architecture, with hydrodynamics and marine vehicles. Marine technology also encompasses offshore engineering (ie oil rigs and underwater vehicles) and small craft technology.
How long is a degree? Three (BEng) or four years (MEng) in England and Wales and four or five in Scotland for applicants with highers (those with good A-Levels don't do the extra year).
What are the students like? There are very few women: ten per cent at Newcastle, Strathclyde and Glasgow (which operate a joint department) and University College London, and five per cent at Plymouth. Liverpool John Moores offers a BEng, and it's almost 100 per cent male. Marine technology attracts quite a number of foreign students; particularly from Europe (especially Greeks and Turks) and South East Asia.
How is it packaged? At UCL, exams count for two thirds of both the BEng and the MEng; at Strathclyde/Glasgow and Plymouth the average amount of coursework is 40 per cent; at Newcastle coursework is 20% of taught modules and there's a final design project. At Liverpool John Moores (which doesn't offer an MEng) coursework makes up 25 per cent of the course. Marine technology offers industrial projects and opportunities to spend time at sea.
How cool is it? That's hard to answer as the subject doesn't currently have much of a profile. It tends to get lumped together in people's perceptions with general engineering, so may be less cool than it deserves to be.
What A-Levels do you need? Ideally, maths and physics.
What grades? Plymouth's preferred point score is 240. UCL asks for ABB-BBB for the MEng and BBC-BCC for the BEng. Newcastle's requires BBB for its MEng and BCC for its BEng. Strathclyde want BCC for its BSc and ABC/BBB for its MEng. There are increasingly popular foundation courses available for those with non-science qualifications or disappointing results.
Will you be interviewed? For most courses, yes. Although probably not for Plymouth, and Strathclyde recognises that it may be too far away for certain applicants to come to interview. Newcastle doesn't require an interview but encourages prospective students to visit.
Will it keep you off the dole? Absolutely. There is an international shortage of naval architects. In the UK, graduates can go into ship building or conversion, the navy, ship design and consultancy, classification societies (eg Lloyd's Register), the design and skippering of yachts, ship brokerage?
What do students say? Matt Williamson, Newcastle. "I am a keen sailor, and I like taking things apart and putting them back together. When I wanted a degree course, I talked to some North Sea divers, and Lloyd's Register. I was thoroughly taken with the idea of working on ships in exotic ports, specifically when I was given an idea of how much I could earn."
Nigel Koh Leong, Newcastle. "I chose the UK as the education system is similar to Singapore and it is renowned for marine technology. The people here are friendly and the atmosphere is carefree and easy."
Where's best for teaching? Liverpool John Moores scored 18 out of 24 in 2000; Newcastle scored 20; UCL was rated satisfactory in 1993; Plymouth satisfactory. There are no published points for Strathclyde/Glasgow.
Where's the cutting edge? Strathclyde for ship safety; an internationally recognised ship stability centre, set up in response to the loss of the Herald of Free Enterprise and the Estonia which sank in the Baltic, is associated with the department. UCL for the development of the speedy trimaran ships, and war ships; Newcastle for ship propulsion, structures, project management and alternative energy. Plymouth for the design of fast craft, and off-shore use of composite materials.
Who are the stars? At Strathclyde, Professor Dracos Vassalos, director of the stability research centre, and Professor Chengi Kuo on ship safety and innovation for naval architects; at UCL, Professor van Griethuysen on naval architecture and Dr Richard Bucknall on electrical engineering for ships; at Newcastle, Tony Roskilly, a Cornish professor of marine engineering, Professor Atilla Incecik, on offshore engineering, Professor Mehmet Atlar on hydrodynamics, Richard Birmingham, the UK's first Professor of small craft design and Professor Pratyush Sen on advanced computing. And at Plymouth, Professor Neil James' expertise is the fatigue and fracture of structures including welded aluminium ones, Dr John Summerscales looks at composite materials, while Professor Robert Sutton specialises in the control of underwater vehicles.
Related courses: For all related courses, check out the marine, maritime and shipping categories on the UCAS website (www.ucas.ac.uk).
Added value: Strathclyde is proud of its two towing tanks, which simulate waves for testing model ships. One is industrial standard and a hundred metres long. Plymouth says its composite materials lab is a great facility for students. Newcastle has a towing tank, a large engine laboratory and the only civil cavitation tunnel for propeller research in the UK.
