Master of Engineering degree
MEng - Questions and Answers
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MEng is a master's degree. Would I be an undergraduate student?
Yes, for most purposes. But, in your fourth year, the Department would give you access to certain facilities that are provided for MSc (graduate) students.
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Would that apply to fees?
You would be charged fees as an undergraduate student through all your four years (or five if undertaking a placement in industry).
Even in your fourth year, you would still pay fees as an undergraduate, because that is what you would be: we would carefully have avoided awarding you a degree until you finally graduated with MEng.
[That is not just a peculiarity of this Department: it applies to all similar degrees at York. Nor is it a peculiarity of York: some other universities award you just the MEng (or similar degree) after four years, while some others award you BEng and MEng simultaneously at that time. In all cases, the aim is to preserve your undergraduate status until you graduate with MEng.]
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Would that apply to funding?
We can only give an answer that applies to UK and EU students. This answer is without prejudice, and describes the situation at the time this page is written.
You would be treated as an undergraduate student for funding purposes through all your four years (or five if undertaking a placement in industry).
Even in your fourth year, you would still be funded as an undergraduate, because that is what you would be: we would carefully have avoided awarding you a degree until you finally graduated with MEng.
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Would I get a BEng and an MEng after the four years, or just MEng?
Just MEng. That is unfortunately the case, but it is not unusual: several universities have this same policy.
Employers will know about it and understand it.
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Could I apply to do an industrial placement if I took the MEng programme?
Yes.
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Would I have to do an industrial placement if I took the MEng programme?
No.
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When did the York MEng start?
Our Computer Systems and Software Engineering MEng programme started in 1982. The Electronics Department at York started their MEng in the following year.
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How did MEng programmes originate?
They followed the Finniston Commission report, Engineering our Future, published in 1980.
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Are MEng programmes organised as set out in the Finniston Report?
No. The Finniston Commission was set up by the British Government but its Report, when presented, was formally rejected by the Government on grounds of cost. It was rejected by British Industry for the same reason, a decision ratified by the Council of Engineering Institutions (as it was at the time). Its successor, Engineering Council UK, then produced its own version of Finniston which effectively introduced the ideas of MEng and accreditation and Chartered Engineer (CEng). The current version is called UK-SPEC.
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Are there MEng degree programmes at other British universities?
Yes. Many of them. (Most of them?)
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Has the MEng degree programme been adopted in other countries?
Yes. In the USA, for example, M.I.T. has one.
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Are there similar four-year Master's degrees in other subjects?
Yes. Four-year Master's degrees are now standard in all engineering and science subjects. For all kinds of engineering these are MEng, but there are also degrees of MPhys, MChem, MMath, and so on, at York and elsewhere.
(You can still take a three-year BEng or BSc programme, but it will not have been fully accredited by the relevant professional institution.)
How to contact us | Page author Bill Freeman | Page last updated 23 Sep 2008