Five reasons to study Aerospace Engineering at Surrey
What makes our aerospace engineering degrees different and what’s the secret behind our graduates’ success? Here we reveal five reasons why you should choose the University of Surrey for your aerospace engineering degree.
Students get hands-on experience in a practical project.
1. Top-ranked for aerospace engineering and graduate success
Ranked in the UK top 10 for aerospace engineering in the Guardian University Guide 2026 and 10th in the UK for aerospace engineering by the Complete University Guide 2027, Surrey offers an outstanding foundation for your future career. Through our renowned Professional Training placement programme you can gain a year of valuable industry experience with a leading aerospace company or specialist supplier. Many students receive graduate job offers from their placement employers, contributing to our strong employment record: 93% of our mechanical engineering sciences graduates are in employment or further study within 15 months of graduating (Graduate Outcomes 2026, HESA).
Students have recently gone on placement to:
- Williams Racing
- Airbus
- GE Aviation
- Lockheed Martin
- Rolls Royce
Read about student Natália Gogolová's placement experience with Formula 1 legends, Williams Racing.
2. Flexibility with common first year
Whether you opt for our Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or Biomedical Engineering courses, you’ll study a common first year, which means you can swap to a different pathway, if you decide it’s a better fit, up until the end of your first year.
3. Compete in prestigious competitions
Learning at Surrey isn’t just about lecture theatres and labs. Our students compete in prestigious Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) competitions - with great success!
In 2021 and 2022 our team claimed top prize in the UAS (unmanned aerial system) competition, coming second in 2023. Our Peryton Space team has recently won four competitions, including the UKSEDS Satellite Design Competition (SDC) in 2023 and 2024, In-Orbit Servicing and Manufacturing (IOSM) in 2024, and the Mach-23 1.5 km Rocketry Competition in 2023.
Surrey also won the Virtual Dynamic Event at Formula Student (the world’s largest student motorsport competition) in 2020.
4. Learn in industry-standard facilities
Learn in industry-standard facilities that bring aerospace engineering to life. Throughout your degree, you'll apply your knowledge in specialist laboratories, design spaces and workshops, developing practical skills alongside your academic studies. You'll have access to advanced wind tunnel facilities, including the internationally recognised EnFlo Laboratory, as well as dedicated engineering design facilities, composites laboratories and manufacturing workshops that support hands-on learning and innovation.
5. Professionally accredited courses
Our Aerospace Engineering degrees are accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), which means you’ll be well on the way towards chartered status after studying at Surrey. Our MEng courses fully meet the academic requirements to become a Chartered Engineer, while our BEng programmes partially meet the academic requirement and can be supplemented by further study.
At Surrey, we are also proud to have been ranked 7th in the UK for overall student satisfaction** in the National Student Survey (NSS) 2026.
Discover more about our programmes in Aerospace Engineering.
