
Manufacturing Engineering with a Foundation Year - BEng (Hons)
Currently viewing course to start in 2023/24 Entry. Switch to 2024/25 Entry
Manufacturing engineering is an essential feature in the vast arena that is manufacturing – an area that makes large contributions to the wealth of many countries throughout Europe and the rest of the world. It is a fast-changing scene where the competition between industrial organisations is keen and lean: only those companies prepared to apply modern philosophies and technologies will survive....
- Level Foundation
- Study mode Full Time
- Location City Centre
- Award BEng (Hons)
- Start date September 2023
- Fees View course fees
- School School of Engineering and the Built Environment
- Faculty Faculty of Computing, Engineering and The Built Environment
Overview
Manufacturing engineering is an essential feature in the vast arena that is manufacturing – an area that makes large contributions to the wealth of many countries throughout Europe and the rest of the world.
It is a fast-changing scene where the competition between industrial organisations is keen and lean: only those companies prepared to apply modern philosophies and technologies will survive. BEng (Hons) Manufacturing Engineering has been developed to provide you with a good knowledge of a range of manufacturing principles.
This course offers an exciting course of study that will prepare you for the rapidly developing field of manufacturing engineering and its supporting operational systems. Upon your graduation you will have the intellectual, creative and personal qualities necessary for undertaking a leadership role and a depth of knowledge that will enable the application of new and emerging technologies to the solution of manufacturing problems.
About the Foundation Year
The Foundation Year course option enables you to study for our BEng (Hons) degree over an extended full-time duration of four years by including a Foundation Certificate (year one of four). The Foundation Certificate provides a broad study course that underpins the follow-on degree. In order to progress to the next year of your degree, it is necessary to achieve a pass in all of the modules of the Foundation Certificate.
This degree aims to develop engineers who can apply the principles of systems management, engineering and information technology to the solution of operational problems in industry and commerce. Manufacturing engineers are employed in a wide range of engineering, educational and commercial organisations. Graduates from the course are equipped to progress into positions of responsibility in relevant industry, or further programmes of specialised study or research.
There are many challenges facing manufacturing industry. Companies now strive for competitive advantage and have to evaluate their performance more effectively in order to make best possible use of all resources: Talented, innovative, ambitious engineers are needed to give manufacturing organisations a competitive edge.
Why Choose Us?
- State-of-the-art facilities - You will be based at our Millennium Point campus in City Centre, where our facilities have undergone a £6.5 million investment with a new maker area, engineering labs/equipment and IT equipment to provide you with the very best learning experience.
- £1.1 million investment in new facilities from the IoT – The Institute of Technology (IoT) has invested in brand-new equipment and facilities, including an Electric Vehicle (EV) Test Rig, an Additive Manufacturing Machine (3D printer) and a material testing-split zone furnace - all industry grade technology that will advance your skills, making you more employable.
- Industry sponsored events - Get involved with opportunities to showcase your work at our industry sponsored events such as InnovationFest.
- Travel scholarships - Opportunities to secure funding to gain experience overseas. Read about our travel scholarships here.
- Conceive Design Implement Operate (CDIO) Initiative – You’ll be provided with an education stressing engineering fundamentals in the context of real-world systems and products, to develop your practical and professional skills.
Open Days
Join us for an on-campus Open Day where you'll be able to explore our campus and facilities in person. Booking for the next event isn’t open yet. Register your interest below and we’ll email you as soon as booking goes live.
Next Open Day: March 2023
Entry Requirements
These entry requirements apply for entry in 2023/24.
All required qualifications/grades must have been achieved and evidenced at the earliest opportunity after accepting an offer to help confirm admission and allow for on-time enrolment. This can also include other requirements, like a fee status form and relevant documents. Applicants can track their application and outstanding information requests through their BCU mySRS account.
We accept a range of qualifications, the most popular of which are detailed below.
Essential | ||
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BB or 80 UCAS tariff points A maximum of 3 subjects are considered. These can be other A-levels or level 3 equivalents. |
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Level 2 qualifications | ||
GCSE |
GCSE English Language or English Literature and GCSE Maths at grade C/4 or above. If you do not have these or are not undertaking them, we accept other Level 2 equivalents, or we may ask you to pass BCU's GCSE equivalency tests. |
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Irish Leaving Certificate (Ordinary Level) |
See level 3 entry under Irish Leaving Certificate for full details. |
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Scottish National 5 |
English Language or English Literature and Maths at grade C or above. If you do not have these or are not undertaking them, we accept other Level 2 equivalents, or we may ask you to pass BCU's GCSE equivalency tests. |
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Plus one of the following Level 3 (and above) qualifications | ||
A level and Advanced VCE |
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T Level |
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Access to HE Diploma |
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Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate - Skills Challenge Certificate (first teaching September 2015) |
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Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma – Core (awarded until 2016) ESW/KS Combined component |
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International Baccalaureate Diploma |
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Irish Leaving Certificate (Highers) |
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Other qualifications | ||
If you have a qualification that is not listed in the table please refer to our full entry requirements on UCAS. |
Additional information for EU/International students | ||
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Please see your country page for further details on the equivalent qualifications we accept. In additional to the academic entry requirements listed above, international and EU students will also require the qualifications detailed in this table. |
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IELTS |
6.0 overall with 5.5 minimum in all bands If you do not meet the required IELTS score, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English courses. Please note that you must have a Secure English Language Test (SELT) to study on the pre-sessional English course. More information. |
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International Baccalaureate Diploma (or equivalent, including internationally accredited Foundation courses). |
1. For students who complete the full IB Diploma: a total of 14 points or above from three Higher Level Subjects. 2. Students who do not complete the IB Diploma will be considered on the basis of their IB Certificates. Students must have grade 5 in Maths (Standard Level) |
International students who cannot meet the direct entry requirements can begin their degree studies at Birmingham City University International College (BCUIC).
Additional Requirements
As part of the application process you will be invited to attend an applicant visit day where you will undertake a short one-to-one interview with an academic member of staff. This is your chance to show us how passionate you are about the subject and it will help us make a decision on your application.
This will provide you with more information about the School and your course. In addition, it will give you a chance to meet and our staff and students to gain a better understanding of what it is like to be a student here.
Fees & How to Apply
UK students
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
Award: BEng (Hons)
Starting: Sep 2023
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 4 Years
- £9,250 in 2023/24
- Apply via UCAS
International students
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
Award: BEng (Hons)
Starting: Sep 2023
- Mode
- Duration
- Fees
- Full Time
- 4 years
- £13,980 in 2023/24
Course in Depth
Foundation Year
In order to complete this course you must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits):
Mathematics plays a key role in establishing and grounding the professional skills of an engineer. Communicating the ideas of engineering is made both easier and harder by the use of mathematical language.
This module aims to help you become proficient at developing engineering models and arguments, and following them through to their logical conclusions, since application of these arguments has to include their interpretation both to and from the mathematical language.
The module aims to provide you with the knowledge and problem-solving skills in physical science to enable you to progress to the next module in the science theme, Engineering Science 2, and then on to the first year of an engineering degree.
This module aims to provide you with the practical and professional skills to enable you to progress to the next module in the practical theme, Practical Skills II, and then on to the first year of an engineering degree.
The theoretical aspects of physical science and maths are delivered in another theme of the foundation year. The Practical Skills modules sit alongside these and concentrate on the practical aspects to support your learning.
Mathematics plays a key role in establishing and grounding the professional skills of an engineer. Communicating the ideas of engineering is made both easier and harder by the use of mathematical language.
This module aims to help you become proficient at further developing engineering models and arguments, and following them through to their logical conclusions, since application of these arguments has to include their interpretation both to and from the mathematical language.
The module aims to provide you with the knowledge and problem-solving skills in physical science to enable you to progress to the first year of an engineering degree. The science theme contains the material normally encountered in an A level physics course which is relevant to entry to an engineering degree.
This module aims to provide the practical and professional skills to enable you to progress to the first year of an engineering degree. As the theoretical aspects of physical science and maths are delivered in another theme of the foundation year, the Practical Skills modules concentrate on the practical aspects.
First Year
In order to complete this programme you must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits):
The module aims to provide the underpinning knowledge and problem solving skills in engineering science to enable you to progress to the next module in the theme, Engineering Principles II, and then on to the second year of a range of engineering degrees.
As the practical aspects of engineering science are delivered in another theme of the common first year, the Engineering Principles modules concentrate on the theoretical aspects. The subject material will be delivered in two coherent streams one of which contains predominantly mechanical science and the other contains predominantly electrical science.
Mathematics plays a key role in establishing and grounding the skills of an engineer, and the ability to communicate the ideas of engineering that are expected of an engineering graduates.
The primary aim of this module is to provide the fundamental mathematical knowledge and techniques needed in order to enable you to use and apply such mathematical techniques for the evaluation, analysis, modelling and solution of realistic engineering problems. Application of these data sets has to include their interpretation both to and from the mathematical language. In addition, this module will introduce students to mathematical modelling software package. This will be used to plot, annotate basic signals and write simple programs to compute mathematical problems.
This module will develop your ability to both work on and communicate engineering realities to a wider audience, at a professional standard.
The module aims to provide the professional skills needed to enable you to progress to the next stage of the practical theme, onto your next module: Integrated Engineering Project, and then into the second year of an engineering degree.
The subject material will be delivered in two core streams: a PC-based stream, which will include the use of software to support project planning, communication and analysis, and a project-space stream, where you have the opportunity to integrate learning from across all elements of the semester.
You will develop practical professional engineering skills; including skills required for conceiving, designing, implementing and operating (CDIO) engineering solutions.
This module will interact with modules in the other two themes in the first year, relying on the knowledge of mathematical techniques, and the theoretical underpinning of the engineering principles, design and professional skills.
The module aims to provide the underpinning knowledge and problem solving skills in engineering science to enable you to progress to the second year of a wide range of engineering degrees.
As the practical aspects of engineering science are delivered in another theme of the common first year, the Engineering Principles modules concentrate on the theoretical aspects. The subject material will be delivered in two coherent streams one of which contains predominantly mechanical science and the other contains predominantly electrical science. Each stream will be delivered as a 1 hour lecture followed by a 1 hour small group tutorial giving 4 hours contact.
This module will interact with modules in the other two themes in the common first year in that it will rely on knowledge of mathematical techniques developed in the maths/professional skills theme and will provide theoretical underpinning for the experimental activities in the practical theme.
This module will focus on introducing and building on well-established techniques for mathematically modelling dynamic systems (systems of interest for engineering) for contextualised engineering applications. The module will include an introduction to sophisticated signal analysis technique, Fourier series which is used to transform time-domain signals into their frequency spectra. The module is structured to include a mixture of lectures, tutorials and PC-based laboratories. The lectures will formally introduce material, in tutorials students will work through questions with tutor. The PC laboratories will involve using mathematical modelling software packages to implement mathematical operations.
The module aims to provide the practical and professional skills to enable you to progress on to the second year of an engineering degree. As the theoretical aspects of physical science and maths are delivered in other themes of the first year, the Practical Skills modules concentrate on the practical aspects.
The subject material will be delivered in three coherent streams one of which contains predominantly mechanical and electrical laboratory exercises, a second PC-based stream will include use of software to support project planning, design, communication and analysis and the third, a project space where you have the opportunity to integrate learning from across all elements of the semester
Second Year
In order to complete this programme you must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits):
This module provides you with an understanding of the analysis, design and planning of manufacturing and other operating systems, and also an opportunity to investigate and select alternative strategies for the planning, scheduling and control of manufacturing and other operating systems.
The module also covers the quality systems, tools and techniques available to an organisation.
This module aims to provide you with an understanding of the tools and techniques used in quality systems. Topics include Process Improvement, Process Capability, Improvement Techniques, Quality by Design, Mapping Techniques, Quality Costs, TQM and Standards (ISO 9000 etc).
The module provides you with the opportunity to learn about design, sustainable development, teamwork and communication whilst contributing towards real international development projects.
You will also gain the ability to communicate design ideas and practical details, to evaluate and apply both tangible and subjective feedback, and to conceive, design, implement and operate practical solutions to design opportunities.
It is anticipated that the project vehicle for this module will be the Engineers without Borders Design for People Challenge.
An interdisciplinary module, you will work with students from all fields of engineering to develop skills in engineering leadership and experience creating a purposeful vision and delivering on that vision. This will set the professional skills for business in context by combining your technical course-specific knowledge with professional skills. It is proposed that the vehicle to deliver this will be the biomimicry global design challenge.
This module develops your research skills, idea generation techniques, and ability to create CAD models and manufactured components.
You will also gain the ability to communicate design ideas and practical details, to evaluate and apply both tangible and subjective feedback, and to conceive, design, implement and operate practical solutions to design opportunities.
This module aims to provide you with an understanding of and practical experience in the techniques used in controlling manufacturing applications. Topics include inspection, machine tool control, flexible and dedicated automation, and work holding systems, supply of power and services and health and safety issues.
Final Year
In order to complete this programme you must successfully complete all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits):
If you are intending to work in a manufacturing environment you will need to develop an understanding of the techniques used in Computer Aided Manufacture of components and products. You will also require a working knowledge of the application of CAM and simulation technologies to form complete integrated systems for product manufacture. Topics include CAD, CAM and CNC data forms, simulation of machining operations, manufacturing cells, calibration, measurement and testing, 3-D System simulation; assembly systems; post processor configuration and application; advanced process simulation and product development.
This module provides an opportunity for you to investigate the world of new materials and their industrial application through a combination of taught content and both practical and theoretical research project work. It is anticipated that guest lectures will provide industrial focus to this wide-ranging subject. It is proposed that a mini-conference will be held at the end of the module, offering opportunities for you to present your findings to academics, your peers, and industrial contacts.
The module provides you with an understanding of the factors which control and constrain the performance of manufacturing and other operational systems including topics such as Risk Analysis and Decision Making Process, Material Flow Analysis, Maintenance and Replacement, Development of a Manufacturing Strategy.
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) considers products and associated systems from concept to reuse, including design, manufacturing processes and routes, and production management, and places them in a global context which includes sustainability and climate change. This form of systems engineering is focused on meeting all requirements, primarily meeting customer needs, and coordinating the systems design process by involving all relevant disciplines. The core of PLM is in the creation and central management of all product data and the technology used to access this information and knowledge, and this module will help you become proficient in the philosophies, tools and techniques you will need to achieve this coherence. PLM as a discipline emerged from tools such as CAD, CAM and PDM, but can be viewed as the integration of these tools with methods, people and the processes through all stages of a product’s life. It is not just about equipment, material processing and software technology but is also a business strategy. This module has a strong emphasis on the environment and on sustainability of business.
The purpose of the module is to enable you to undertake a sustained, in-depth and research-informed project exploring an area that is of personal interest to you. In agreement with your supervisor, you will decide upon your topic which will take the form of a practical outcome (artefact) with accompanying contextual material. The main consideration when choosing your topic is that it must be aligned to the programme you are studying, and you should consider the relevance of this topic to your future academic or professional development.
At this level, you will be expected to work independently but you will receive additional one-to-one support from your supervisor, who will be familiar with your chosen topic area. As you progress on the module, extra support will be available and this may take the form of group seminars, workshops and online materials that will help to develop your project.
Download course specification
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Employment Opportunities
We will prepare you for employment by providing you with the skills, experience and industry links you’ll need to thrive upon graduating.
The University also has its Graduate+ scheme, an extracurricular programme which is designed to augment and enhance the subject-based skills you will develop through the programme. These additional skills and attributes will further enhance your employment options and prospects once you leave the University.
The programme will help you develop your skills in CV writing, presentations, covering letters and creating winning portfolios.
Career paths include opportunities in the following areas:
- Manufacturing Engineering
- Project Engineering
- Process Engineering
- Process Planning
- Scheduling and Control
- Logistics
- Supply Chain Management
- Jobs outside of manufacturing and engineering requiring analytical and problem-solving skills
International
Birmingham City University is a vibrant and multicultural university in the heart of a modern and diverse city. We welcome many international students every year – there are currently students from more than 80 countries among our student community.
The University is conveniently placed, with Birmingham International Airport nearby and first-rate transport connections to London and the rest of the UK.
Our international pages contain a wealth of information for international students who are considering applying to study here, including:
- Explore some of the good reasons why you should study here.
- Find out how to improve your language skills before starting your studies.
- Find all the information relevant to applicants from your country.
- Learn where to find financial support for your studies.
Facilities & Staff




Our Facilities
The Department of Engineering provides the perfect setting for practical work with modern day teaching and learning facilities. We pride ourselves on equipping our students with the skill set that they need not only working on industry standard equipment, but having industrial links, which set them up perfectly for a career in engineering.
We are currently undertaking a £340 million investment programme in our facilities, including a major expansion of our City Centre Campus. As part of this, our facilities in Millennium Point have undergone a £6.5 million investment to include a new maker area, engineering labs and equipment.
We have invested in industry-standard facilities to support the practice-based elements of our Engineering courses and give students as much practical learning as possible, to prepare for industry placements and job opportunities after graduation. Students have access to our facilities during classes, and can book out of class sessions with our specialist technicians.
We are a partner of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Institute of Technology (GBSIoT) and have secured £1.1 million of government funding for investment in brand-new equipment and facilities. Funding of £808,000 from the Department for Education has supported our development of an Electric Vehicle (EV) Test Rig, an Additive Manufacturing Machine (3D printer) and a material testing-split zone furnace.
The IoT has enabled procurement of new technologies for material testing, electronics prototyping and production and 3D scanning to compliment computer aided design for manufacture
Our staff
Dr Adnan Fazal
Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering
Dr Adnan Fazal is a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering and Automotive Engineering. His current research interests include pre-stressed fibre reinforced polymers for improved strength, stiffness, impact protection, resistance to crack propagation and protection against abnormal loads. Potential applications of these smart fibre reinforced polymers...
More about AdnanLaura Leyland
Associate Professor and Acting Head Centre of Engineering
Laura Leyland is an Associate Professor and Acting Head of Centre and has been innovating in engineering education for over 10 years, teaching materials based modules and practical project focussed delivery with a specific interest in developing humanitarian engineering. This module delivery incorporates the Engineering for People...
More about Laura