Medical Engineering Degrees 2013
Medical engineering is a major growth area in the world healthcare market. It is an interdisciplinary subject that will require you to have a thorough grounding in engineering and technology, and an understanding and empathy for key clinical concepts. The Medical Engineering degree programmes at Surrey are designed for clinical and industrial relevance. They will provide you with the necessary technical competence and industrial awareness, alongside the necessary personal and clinical skills, for this rewarding career path.
Degree programmes
Entry requirements
Minimum entry requirements
- MEng: A level grades AAA
- BEng: A level grades AAB
We do not include General Studies or Critical Thinking in our offers.
Conditional offers from Surrey will be made in grades or marks, and not listed in points from the UCAS tariff.
Required subjects
GCSE English Language and Mathematics at grade C or above (or equivalent) .
Mathematics to full A-level (or equivalent) is required for all programmes. Physics to full A-level (or equivalent) is also normally required for all programmes. Where an applicant does not have Physics A-level, two other science/ technology A-levels can be considered instead.
English language requirements
Non-native speakers of English will normally be required to have IELTS 6.5 or above, with a minimum of 6.0 in each component (or equivalent).
Please note that the University of Surrey offers English language programmes and is also an IELTS Test Centre.
Other suitable qualifications
Higher grades refer to MEng programmes.
Cambridge Pre-U
D3, D3, M1; M1, M1, M1
European Baccalaureate
76 – 75%
International Baccalaureate
37 – 35 points
BTEC (QCF Level 3) Extended Diploma
DDD (in an appropriate subject, with a supporting A-level in Mathematics)
In addition, we accept a wide range of qualifications, including other Level 3 QCF Level 3 qualifications, Scottish qualifications, the Irish Leaving Certificate, Access Diplomas and foundation courses. Other qualifications will be considered on an individual basis.
It is important to check whether the qualifications you are taking are suitable for your chosen degree. If you are uncertain whether your qualification meets our entry requirements, please contact us.
If you are an international student and you don’t meet the entry requirements to this degree, we offer the International Foundation Year.
Selection process
Offers are normally made in terms of grades. Suitable candidates will be invited to an Open Day. During the visit to the University, the candidate can find out more about the programme and meet staff and students. Candidates unable to visit the University will be considered based on their UCAS application.
Tuition fees
UK/EU students
Tuition fees are currently set at £9,000 per year for UK/EU undergraduates starting in 2012.
The tuition charge will be accompanied by a generous financial support package, underlining our continued commitment to widening access for those students who come from low income households.
Overseas students
The fee for students classed as overseas for fees purposes is £15,160.
The University will assess your fee status. If you are unsure whether you are likely to be considered a home, EU or overseas student for fees purposes, the UKCISA website offers more information.
Professional Training Year Fees
Programmes marked with an asterisk (*) in the table above include a professional training year.
Currently fees of £1,050 (based on an inflation assumption of 2.5%) are charged for the Professional Training Year. Fees will not have to be paid up front for those students who decide to take up the Government’s loan for higher education fees. The Professional Training year is a key factor in the high employability rates achieved by students with Surrey degrees.
Our degrees
In joining our Medical Engineering programmes you will place yourself in the front line of delivering society’s future healthcare needs and aspirations – an exciting and challenging prospect!
You will study through our internationally renowned Centre for Biomedical Engineering, a key teaching and research area. As one of the longest-established medical engineering activities in the UK, you will benefit from nearly 50 years’ experience of teaching and research. Our cutting-edge expertise will ensure that you gain the latest techniques and knowledge.
Our medical engineering activities feature analysis of human movement; electrical stimulation for limb movement following spinal cord injury, stroke or cerebral palsy; osseointegrated implants for above-knee amputees; design of artificial (prosthetic) limbs; sensory feedback; and dielectrophoresis in disease detection. Our activities also benefit from strong collaborative links with both the UK health services and the national and international medical engineering industry.
Our degrees provide you with a firm foundation in medical engineering through accredited programmes that can lead to Chartered Engineer status. Close interaction with practising clinical and healthcare engineering professionals provides you with expert guidance as you progress through your degree.
Your lectures, tutorials and laboratory sessions will be supplemented by visits to clinical and industrial centres, particularly in your final year. These degrees share a common first year with our Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering programmes. This ensures that you can communicate with engineers of different specialisations and allows you to confirm or change your degree choice.
MEng and BEng transfer
Direct entry to the MEng programme normally requires higher qualifications, but transfer from the BEng to the MEng is possible during the degree programme, depending on academic performance. This would normally happen after year 2.
Transfer is also possible from the MEng and BEng programmes without a Professional Training year to ones with (and vice versa). This transfer can be made after year 1, giving students who were initially undecided time to consider the benefits of the Professional Training year.
Programme content
Programme overview
In year 1 you will study a wide range of general engineering science topics, including engineering materials, design and component production, experimental methods, laboratories and electronics. This will be rounded off by an extensive engineering group ‘design-make-evaluate’ project, pulling together knowledge from across the programme.
During year 2, the programme becomes distinct and allows you to specialise, with topics including Human Biology, Biomechanics and Healthcare Practice alongside core mechanical engineering modules.
In year 3 your studies will cover a range of applied medical engineering areas plus a group design project, individual research project and management studies. Recent examples of projects include ‘Tissue engineering for bone grafts’, ‘Designing a syringe pump’ and ‘Assessment of the effects of electric fields on human bone cell growth’.
Year 4 (MEng) includes a multidisciplinary project, an extensive individual research project (in collaboration with a medical engineering organisation) and a choice of optional advanced modules. The MEng degree has been developed in conjunction with the medical engineering profession specifically for undergraduates of high academic and practical calibre who will achieve leading roles as Chartered Engineers.
Programme structure
Year 1 (FHEQ Level 4)
Modules include:
- Design-Make-Evaluate Project
- Electronics
- Statics and Dynamics
- Introduction to Engineering Materials
- Experimental Methods
- Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics
- Mathematics
Year 2 (FHEQ Level 5)
Modules include:
- Biomechanics
- Healthcare Practice
- Human Biology
- Instrumentation
- Mechanics of Solids
- Transferable Skills (also in year 1)
- Mathematics
- Design
- Control
- Engineering Experiments
Professional Training year
- Optional professional training year
Year 3 (FHEQ Level 6)
Modules include:
- Prosthetics and Orthotics
- Gait Analysis and Human Movement
- Biomedical Microengineering
- Individual Medical Engineering Project
- Design
- Advanced Stress Analysis
Year 4 (FHEQ Level 7) (MEng only)
Modules include:
- Multidisciplinary Design Project
- Computational Fluid Dynamics
- Extensive Research Project (in collaboration with an external partner)
- Professional and Research Skills
- Implant Technology
- Rehabilitation Engineering
Professional training
A salaried Professional Training year provides a valuable opportunity to gain a real taste of medical engineering, whilst enhancing study outcomes and future career prospects. We have strong and long-established links with major medical engineering-related organisations such as GlaxoSmithKline, QinetiQ/DSTL, Smith and Nephew, the Transport Research Laboratory and the National Health Service. Our success rate in placing students is excellent.
While on your Professional Training year, you are paid by your employer (students typically earning around £14,900 per year) but are nevertheless still members of the University.
Our students tell us that the time spent in a real engineering context quite simply transforms them – into the professional engineers they want to be.
The year allows you to gain practical experience that cannot be achieved in a lecture theatre or laboratory class, and you will find that the year enhances your understanding of studies in the later stages of your degree. It also allows you to try out a specialised engineering sector, enhance your CV and build up a network of contacts, all of which stand you in good stead for your future career.
The experience gained is the underlying reason why our graduates are so employable. As one company put it, ‘University of Surrey engineers come with batteries included!’
Career opportunities
Graduate prospects
Recent graduates from our Medical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes have gone on to postgraduate studies in medicine and PhD, or have entered employment in roles such as:
- NHS – Clinical Scientists and Engineers
- Ford – Car Safety Engineer
- Jaguar – Graduate Engineer
- Medical Research Council
- TRL (Transport Research Laboratory) – Research Engineers
- UK/USA universities – Medical Engineering Research
- Stanmore Implants – Graduate Medical Engineer
Career opportunities
The University of Surrey has consistently been at or very close to the top of the league table for graduate employment. This is due to the professional focus of our degrees, with accreditation by professional institutions, and the quality of our industrial placements.
Most graduates from these programmes proceed directly to employment in the medical engineering profession. Medical engineers can work in a number of areas, for example, as clinical scientists in the NHS, in rehabilitation or as designers of medical equipment, or even in the areas of sports science or biomechanics. A significant number of our students go on to further their studies with postgraduate qualifications in medical engineering and related disciplines.
Additional information
Teaching
We recognise that each student is an individual with a unique academic background and we attempt to meet these differences with a blend of teaching methods. These range from lectures, through group tutorials, to working in small groups in laboratories.
You will be allocated a personal tutor who will guide you through the programme, advising you on option and career choices, and helping make sure you get the most from your time at Surrey.
Your communication skills, vital to professional medical engineers, will be developed in communications and information technology modules, with the whole spectrum of communication media being explored, from chalk-and-talk to state-of-the-art computer software presentation packages.
Facilities
Specialised facilities include:
- A microengineering laboratory for tissue integration studies
- A gait (human movement) laboratory
- Clinical Biomedical Engineering Centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton
Assessment
Our degrees are awarded on a combination of examinations and continuous assessment, in the form of laboratory experiments, essays, projects or presentations. First-year marks do not count towards your degree but ensure that you are making good progress.
In the BEng programme, your second and final years contribute to the final degree award. If a Professional Training year is taken, this also counts towards your degree. The MEng programme is assessed on years 2, 3 and 4, plus the Professional Training year if taken.
Generally about 60 per cent of the degree award is based on examinations and 40 per cent on continuous assessment.
Taster Courses
We run taster courses for Year 12 students each July. Living on-campus, you learn about what engineering is, what it has to offer and what you need to know to be successful in the field. Please contact us for further details.
Why Surrey?
Medical Engineering degrees 2013 at Surrey
- A strong emphasis on developing both technical and personal/professional skills
- Taught material underpinned by leading-edge biomedical research programmes
- Excellent opportunities to apply knowledge in project work
- Integrated medical engineering Professional Training on five-year MEng and four-year BEng programmes
- Professionally accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE)
- Strong clinical and healthcare industry partnerships
- Further opportunities to study to MSc and PhD level
- Programmes enhanced by closely related disciplines at the University
Looking through the prospectus and visiting on an Open Day, I knew I wanted to study here.
Rob Kulka
MEng Medical Engineering
I originally had no intention of studying medical engineering at university, but looking through the prospectus and visiting on an Open Day, I knew I wanted to study here.
During my placement I worked for one of the UK’s leading research and development companies, QinetiQ. Whilst there, I worked on a variety of projects on the implementation of different systems into energetic material modelling and ballistics research. I was also given responsibility for managing and commissioning different designs which have since been put into service.
At Surrey I was involved in a range of activities, including performances at the local theatre with the Music and Drama Society, competitive badminton and football matches, and polishing up on my French skills, with teaching provided by the fantastic Centre for Language Studies. I tried to pack as much into my time as possible, and definitely haven’t regretted it.
Guildford itself is a beautiful town with a wide variety of shops, restaurants, bars and clubs. After seeing the sort of work that went on in the Department, the friendly atmosphere on campus and the variety of societies and activities available, I knew there was no turning back.
The option for hands-on experience in the workshop is important for understanding techniques and getting your hands dirty!
Sophie Chambers
MEng Medical Engineering
I chose Surrey because it offered excellent options in engineering and was given high marks in the league tables for both this, and for job prospects after graduation. Proximity to London was also a factor for me as I was a mature student living in London.
The Medical Engineering course is varied and I enjoyed the multidisciplinary. The option for hands-on experience in the workshop is important for understanding techniques and getting your hands dirty!
The engineering knowledge that I have gained will be invaluable. Being a mature student, I found that relearning studying techniques and focusing again in an academic capacity is good for the brain and has reinstated a sense of self.
I enjoyed trying out some of the sports at Surrey including sailing, climbing and gliding. I was also a committee member for a charity raising money to get disabled people back into an independent way of life. This was brought about through work experience which I participated in throughout my course.
I had the opportunity to work closely with Queen Mary’s Hospital as part of my course, and now I have graduated I would like to continue my work in rehabilitation.
Professional recognition
Fully accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) as the fastest route to Chartered Engineer status (CEng).