Skip to main content

Mechanical Engineering (Top-up) BEng(Hons)

2025-26

How to apply Order a prospectusOpen Days
{{menu.previous.name}}
{{menu.center.name}}
{{menu.next.name}}

Start date

22 September 2025

Duration

1 year full-time

Places available (subject to change)

20

Chat with our students  

About the course

Reasons to study

  1. Flexibility - in our Mechanical and Automotive Engineering subject area, all our degree programmes share the same first year of study, which means you can leave your options open until the start of your second year.
  2. Enhance your employability - past students have spent their placement year at companies, for example, Cummins, DriveWorks, Jaguar Land Rover, Syngenta, Caterpillar, and Airbus.
  3. Prepare for your future career - in your first and second year, you'll study through EnABLE (Engineering in an Activity Based Learning Environment), working in small teams to solve real engineering problems, just like engineers do in industry. 

Mechanical Engineering impacts virtually all aspects of our daily lives and is vital to the functioning of many of the systems and products we rely upon. Following this course, therefore, you could choose from a wide range of rewarding and challenging careers, many of which will give you the chance to drive forward the increasingly important sustainability agenda and EngineeringUK report 25% of all job postings in the UK are in engineering and technology.*

The top five job titles advertised in the UK for graduate roles associated with Mechanical Engineering courses are Mechanical Engineer, Robotics Engineer, Test Engineer, Mechanical Service Engineer and Equipment Engineer.**

Engineering skills needs – now and into the future, EngineeringUK labour market analysis, May 2023 *Lightcast data – job postings from May 2022 to May 2023 showing jobs advertised associated with a selection of relevant graduate roles.

Why study Mechanical Engineering (Top-up) BEng(Hons) at Huddersfield?

For those with good knowledge of engineering, this top-up course could help you build on your existing skills. A one-year course, you will be expected to have completed prior university or higher education study in a related subject.

The course allows you to continue your studies in the principles of, for example, dynamics and design, and to have the choice of other key modules to best suit you. With an understanding of the key role of sustainability, we aim to prepare you for career opportunities in a wide range of industries.

You will work on a selected individual research/design project with the support of your academic supervisor. It is possible to align this with one of the Master's team projects, which involve the design, build and friendly competitive testing of either a road, airborne or rail vehicle, for example, Team HARE, Team Hawk or HudRail.

Opportunities for the skillset of a graduate engineer can be varied, with our Mechanical Engineering graduates often finding themselves at the heart of technological developments within the industry.

We aim to provide you with strong practical, theoretical and transferrable skills that may reward you with an interesting and challenging future as a professional engineer.

Course detail

Design Analysis

In this module you will discover the principles behind Finite Element Analysis (FEA). This is increasingly becoming an integral part of the design process and has recently been linked to optimisation methods within many commercial computer packages. You will develop the understanding of the theoretical foundations and limitations of these methods for their effective application in practical contexts. In addition, you will gain an invaluable experience of using state-of-the-art commercial software of this type to equip you with the skills of carrying out accurate and cost effective finite element and optimisation analyses.

Dynamic Analysis and Control

This module will let you develop knowledge and understanding of dynamic systems related vibration and its analysis and control in machine systems. The module uses selected topics to give you an understanding of the analytical tools applied to vibration in mechanical systems and the ability to synthesise and analyse complex mechanisms. The module focuses on mathematical models of physical systems which are key elements in the design and analysis of control systems through theory and practical examples. Mathematical and analysis packages are used extensively throughout the module.

Eco Design and IPR

In this module you will have an opportunity to demonstrate a range of knowledge and understanding of sustainable design processes and the inherent value of design by undertaking a group design project. Through collaboration you will develop product design solutions that comply with the sustainable engineering agenda with the goals of a lower carbon economy at the forefront of your thinking. You will develop and use quantitative techniques that allow for the direct measurement of outcomes from a sustainability and commercial perspective. In addition you will demonstrate critical and creative thinking in the creation of industrially appropriate approaches to the handling and exploitation of intellectual property in regard to new and novel products.

Final Year Project

This module is designed to provide you with the opportunity to study and investigate a specific engineering topic in-depth. The aim of this module is give you the skills and experience to carry out an engineering project and introduce you to the process that would typically take place in a professional engineering environment. You will undertake and execute a project on a topic appropriate to your study pathway. You will be allocated a project supervisor(s) who will direct you through the process of project planning, undertaking background research and carrying out the technical aspects of the project to a satisfactory conclusion. Your project will be an in-depth study of an engineering problem and may be either academic or industry-based. You will have the opportunity to either select a project defined by a tutor, or to propose your own project idea. The project work will extend your knowledge and capabilities in the specific field associated with the project topic and allow you to demonstrate your initiative, commitment, and engineering capability to a professional standard.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for this course are considered on an individual basis and are normally one of the following:

  • Higher National Diploma at Merit in Mechanical Engineering
  • Foundation Degree in Engineering
  • International qualifications are accepted, with high technical engineering content

Other relevant skills or experience will be considered.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our International Entry Requirements page.

EnABLE

When you study Engineering at Huddersfield, you'll study through EnABLE – which stands for Engineering in an Activity Based Learning Environment. 

You'll take part in EnABLE during your first and second year. This initiative allows you to work in small teams solving real engineering problems, and testing your solutions against other groups, in a supportive and friendly competitive environment.

Your career

Previous graduates from courses in this subject area have gone on to work in a variety of roles such as Supplier Quality Manager, Vehicle Engineering, Design Engineer, Lead Engineer and Chassis Engineer in organisations including McLaren Automotive Ltd, Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd, Rolls-Royce, Cummins Inc and Bentley Motors Ltd.**

Additionally, you may gain skills that are transferable to other industries and may be able to pursue a career that requires a good honours degree. You could also go on to further study and the University has many options available for postgraduate study which may interest you.

*of undergraduate graduates from the School of Computing and Engineering who are in work and/or further study within fifteen months of graduation (HESA Graduate Outcomes 21/22, UK domiciled graduates)

*Source: LinkedIn

88.1%* Graduates employed

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Research excellence

Research plays an important role in informing all our teaching and learning activities. Our research community has expertise in such diverse areas as precision engineering, intelligent interfaces, systems engineering, and diagnostics. Our research environment is lively and collaborative, and well stocked with cutting edge equipment. Our Centre for Precision Technologies is widely regarded as the best research facility of its type in the UK and one of the top three in Europe. Through research our staff remain up-to-date with the latest developments in their field, and contribute to society, which means you develop knowledge and skills that are current and highly relevant to industry. For more information, find out more about our Research institutes and centres.

Important information

Although we always try and ensure we deliver our courses as described, sometimes we may have to make changes for the following reasons

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by our terms and conditions, Handbook of Regulations and associated policies. It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan.

Although we always try and ensure we deliver our courses as described, sometimes we may have to make changes for the following reasons

Changes to a course you have applied for but are not yet enrolled on

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment. We may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and we will discuss with you other suitable courses we can transfer your application to. If you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

Changes to option modules:

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have an equivalent range of options to that advertised for the course. We will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes:

We will only make major changes to non-optional modules on a course if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change is a change that substantially changes the outcomes, or a significant part of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum. For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators or a commissioning or accrediting body. We may also make changes to improve the course in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback or to ensure you are being taught current best practice. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff leaving the University or being unable to teach, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to damage or interruption to buildings, facilities or equipment, or pandemics.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but may happen sooner in an emergency. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will carry out suitable consultation. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you contact us in writing before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for future tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed in accordance with the student protection plan.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.

You may also be interested in...

Electronic and Communication Engineering (Top-up) BEng(Hons)

This one year top-up is designed to help you start a fulfilling career in the communications technology industry.

Find out more How to apply

Full-time

Undergraduate

Electronic Engineering (Top-up) BEng(Hons)

We cover a broad range of topics, for example, embedded computer-based systems, communications and control as well as electronic, digital and analogue systems

Find out more How to apply

Full-time

Undergraduate

Mechanical Engineering BEng(Hons)

Mechanical engineers help transform our world through the application of fundamental knowledge and professional skills to engineering challenges.

Find out more How to apply

Full-time

Undergraduate

View more courses