Jason Foster

Mechanical Engineering

"Studying Mechanical Engineering opens lots of doors. It shows potential employers you know how to work hard and apply your knowledge to practical situation. It's a good subject if you enjoy designing things and seeing the end results. Last summer I was lucky enough to work on the Willis building, which is the fourth highest in the City of London."

"The facilities are really good, and getting even better."

"I’d definitely recommend studying any kind of engineering at Brookes. The facilities are really good, and getting even better."

Mechanical, Automotive and Motorsports Engineering

Do you think that Formula One motor-racing is more about the car than the driver?

Are you always keen to understand how machines work, no matter how complex they are? Are you keen to work on sustainable technologies and help shape the future? Do you dream of creating solutions that don’t just do the job, but are the best in their field?

An engineering degree will teach you the fundamentals of how things work and give you a chance to get hands-on with some cutting-edge technology issues. If you choose mechanical engineering you'll study the fundamentals on which all other branches of engineering are based, or you can opt to specialise in automotive engineering or motorsport engineering.

Why choose Oxford Brookes?

One of the main reasons that Brookes has such a strong engineering department is our close relationship with industry. Read more…

We have an excellent placements programme – Oxford Brookes places more students with Formula One companies than any other university and our location is also hard to beat, as Oxfordshire is a major centre for the automotive sector and high-tech engineering companies.

Around three-quarters of our students decide to work in industry for a year, many of them in high-profile companies such as Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, BMW, Williams, and Honda F1. Most placements are paid, but the real benefit is the practical experience you will gain, developing not only your technical abilities but also team-working and communication skills. Around one-third of our students are offered a job by their placement company.

Our engineering department is based in a new £8 million centre which provides state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities on our Wheatley Campus. The environmentally innovative building provides a complex of laboratories, lecture theatres and workshops centred around a huge space dedicated to motorsport engineering, including an F1-specification four poster test rig for suspension optimisation, and engine test cells.

At Brookes you'll also have the chance to enter the Formula Student Competition, in which teams compete to design, build, test and then actually race a small high-performance racing car. Brookes has dominated the event in recent years, with twice as many top prizes as our next nearest competitor.

We also have an extensive fuel testing and analysis laboratory which can characterise all types of vegetable oils and other alternatives for fuel uses.

How we teach and how you'll learn

One of our real strengths is the fact that our academics - some of the best in the country - have strong and current industrial experience. Read more…

They are not just lecturers but many are qualified engineers themselves, with close ties to the engineering industry. Not only that, but the industry helps us design our degree courses, making sure that they're relevant and current.

Since engineering is such a multi-faceted discipline, you'll need a wide range of skills – analytical, practical, and business skills – so we use a wide range of teaching methods. As well as lectures and seminars, you will do practical work, lab work, group assignments, guided reading and research, industrial visits, and much more.

Our assessment is just as diverse, including project work, presentations and peer assessment as well as coursework and exams. Our teaching staff operate an 'open door' policy, so that you have access to additional one-to-one support outside the classroom.

Your career prospects

The engineering industry takes on thousands of graduates every year and a degree from Brookes will give you the ideal start to an engineering career. Read more…

With many of our engineering degrees, you will have met the academic requirements for Incorporated Engineer status and have a well-defined path to Chartered Engineer status with the Institute for Mechanical Engineering and the Engineering Council. If you opt for automotive or motorsport engineering you'll be choosing a profession which has a constant demand for talented graduates. A Brookes degree will equip you with the all-round skills and experience you need and 70% of our motorsports engineering graduates enter the industry.

Which courses can I study to start in 2012?

Learn more about the courses you can study to start in September 2012. Read more…

Which courses can I study to start in 2013?

Learn more about the courses you can study to start in September 2013. Read more…