The top engineering colleges in UK provide world-class academics, research facilities, labs, infrastructure and networking opportunities to students from all over the globe. Studying engineering in UK is an option that you, as a prospective international student, must consider. With degrees and research opportunities that are valued internationally, engineering in UK provides a tough competition to courses in the US. You also typically get to finish your course a year earlier in the UK!
This article is engineered to give you all that you need to know before pursuing an MTech or BTech in Engineering from UK. This article covers
In 2022, over 67,800 international students were enrolled in the study of engineering and technology subjects. What makes students consider the United Kingdom for their engineering studies?
Here’s a look at some of the reasons.
This section covers some of the best engineering universities in UK along with their average fees, intakes and admissions criteria for both undergraduate and masters level of study.
| THE World University Ranking for Engineering (2024) |
University |
| 4 | University of Oxford |
| 5 | University of Cambridge |
| 10 | Imperial College London |
| 42 | University of Manchester |
| 45 | UCL |
| 83 | University of Edinburgh |
| 94 | University of Sheffield |
| 96 | University of Bristol |
| 97 | University of Southampton |
| 98 | University of Nottingham |
| 100 | University of Birmingham |
| 101-125 | University of Leeds |
Source: Oxford University
With a history spanning over 900 years, the University of Oxford is one of the oldest universities in continuous operation in the world. Oxford’s Department of Engineering Science has been in function since 1908 and has continued to produce world-class engineers. It is currently ranked 1st in the UK and 4th in the world for engineering by the Times Higher Education World University Ranking.
| Undergraduate Course | Postgraduate Courses |
MEng in Engineering Science
Specializations include
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Besides the general list of scholarships you can apply to, as an international student, you will be automatically considered for a number of Oxford Scholarships based on your application.
For the MEng programme which is equivalent to B.Tech in UK
For masters in engineering
Within 6 months of graduating, 92% of Oxford engineering graduates are in work or further study – and earning an average salary of £30,000. Besides the engineering and the manufacturing sector, graduates have gone on to work in fields of banking, computing, energy, environment and even Formula One. The reputation of the university and the quality of the programme ensures that its graduates are in demand at a global level.
Source: University of Cambridge
Established in 1209, the University of Cambridge has a legacy of being a centre of excellence for higher education. One of the highest rated universities in the United Kingdom and the world, its Department of Engineering is one of the few truly integrated departments, working closely with various faculties. It is ranked 2nd in the UK and 5th in the world by THE.
| Undergraduate Courses | Postgraduate Courses |
| MEng Specialization options to be chosen at 3rd year
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The annual tuition fee is around £39,162 for international students. For financial aid, you can apply for the WD Armstrong studentship or the university postgraduate funding competition.
For the MEng Programme
For the MPhil Programmes
Application deadline: March 2024/ October 2024
Course begins: October 2025
Duration: MEng – 4 years (You can graduate with a BA Hons in Engineering on completing 3 years of study), MPhil 1 year
As a student of the Cambridge engineering programmes, you would have anyway completed a minimum of 6 weeks of relevant industrial experience. After that, the transition to a full fledged career is not a difficult step. The legacy of the university and the analytical skills that its graduates gain ensure that almost 99% of its students are employed within 15 months of graduation.
Source: Imperial College
One of the finest engineering colleges in London, Imperial College ranks 3rd in the UK and 10th in the world for engineering studies. Made of 10 constituent departments, Imperial College provides a number of study options for its students from across the globe.
| Undergraduate Courses | Postgraduate Courses |
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The tuition fees are typically between £38,000 and £42,000 for international students per year. You can apply for the International Baccalaureate Excellence Scholarships and World Scientific Scholarship as a student of the faculty of engineering.
Course begins: October
Duration: BEng – 3 years, MEng – 4 years, MSc – 1 year
What puts Imperial College apart from the other top engineering colleges in the UK is that it gives you the flexibility to tailor your engineering interests to biomedical, electrical, mechanical or computational bioengineering. By doing so, you will create a professional expertise that is unique to you.
Source: UoM
Another of the top engineering universities in UK is the University of Manchester. The School of Engineering is renowned for its cutting edge research in areas ranging from robotics, artificial intelligence, green processing and healthcare technologies. The engineering school functions through four main departments: Department of Chemical Engineering, Department of Computer Science, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering.The university continues the city’s legacy of being one of the world’s first industrial cities.
| Undergraduate Course | Postgraduate Courses |
|
|
The tuition fee for international students is around 32,500 per annum for the undergraduate programmes and around £33,000 for MS in Engineering. Here are some of the university scholarships you can apply to, as an international student.
For the MEng programmes
For the Master’s courses
Application Deadline: March. (Undergrad applications must be submitted through UCAS)
Programme begins: September/ October
Duration: BEng – 3 years/ MEng – 4 years/ MSc – 1 year
Graduating from any of Manchester’s engineering programmes will give you a high rate of employability and industry connections. For instance, Airbus, Rolls Royce, GE Aviation, Airbus, Bombardier Transportation, BAE Systems, MBDA, SAFRAN, GKN Aerospace, Spirit, Finmeccanica, EDF, BP, Schlumberger, and others are some of the top level organisations who have employed aerospace engineering UK graduates.
Source: UCL
University College London, more popularly known as UCL is another top university for engineering in England. With world-class research and flexible programmes, UCL’s department of engineering stands 4th in UK and 45th in the world, according to the THE Ranking. The department is known for providing one of the best civil engineering courses in UK.
Did you know that UCL’s department of engineering can lay claim to the development of fibre optic communications that we are so dependent on, today?
| Undergraduate Course | Postgraduate Courses |
|
MSc, MRes, MD(Res), MPA in areas of
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The undergraduate engineering courses cost £37,500 per year for international students while the masters programmes cost around £35,000. You can apply to the UCL Global Scholarships at the bachelor’s and master’s level for financial aid. UCL also has bursaries for international students who can produce proof of financial need.
For Bachelor of Engineering in UK UCL, you must have
For MS in Mechanical engineering or other postgraduate programmes, you must have
Graduates have gone on to become graduate engineers, R&D engineers and network services engineers at companies including France Telecom, BT, Huawei, Cisco, Motorola and PwC. The department has an employability rate of over 95%, within about a year of graduation.
Source: University of Edinburgh
Having some of the best engineering courses in UK, the Edinburgh School of Engineering is one of the latest and highly ranked schools in Scotland. With internationally relevant research, this school is one among the top 100 engineering colleges in the world.
| Undergraduate Course | Postgraduate Courses |
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The annual tuition for international students is around £34,800 per year and the MSc Engineering courses cost around £33,300 per year. You will be considered automatically for the Engineering International Masters Scholarship based on your application.
For Bachelor of Engineering in UK (Scotland)
For the Master’s programmes
The programmes will give the practical experience and theoretical expertise to work as engineers in areas such as application, design, on the field, test and validation. Some of the employers include BMW, Guangzhou Hangxin Avionics and Kongsberg Maritime.
Source: University of Sheffield
A public research university in South Yorkshire, the University of Sheffield is one of the members of the prestigious Russell Group of research-intensive institutions. With over 6,700 students in their Faculty of Engineering, the University of Sheffield is one of the largest providers of engineering research and teaching in the UK. It is ranked 7th in the UK and 94th in the world by the THE. The school provides BEng, MEng and MSc degrees with the option of a placement year.
| Undergraduate Course | Postgraduate Courses |
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The annual tuition fee for overseas students is around £29,110 per year for the BEng and MEng programmes. The MSc programmes cost around £27,500. If deemed eligible, you can apply for the international undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships offered by the University of Sheffield.
For BEng/ MEng
For MSc Engineering
Course begins: September
Duration: BEng – 3 years, MEng – 4 years, MSc – 1 year
Graduates from all of their courses have been highly employable and work all over the world for companies such as Arup, Rolls-Royce, Boeing and IBM. Besides subject knowledge, Sheffield programmes teach a number of key transferable skills that can be applied across industries.
Source: University of Bristol
Ranked 7th overall in the UK for graduate employability, the University of Bristol is another member of the prestigious Russell Group of Universities. Ranked 8th in the UK for its engineering courses, the University of Bristol has state-of-the-art technology and labs for its engineering students.
| Undergraduate Course | Postgraduate Courses |
BEng/ MEng
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The tuition fee ranges from £30,000 to £32,000 for international students. The university has a number of financial support packages to students from low-income backgrounds.
For the BEng/ MEng courses
For MSc
The postgraduate programmes prepare you to take on supervisory/ leadership roles. It is also extremely advantageous to choose engineering with the management option to get into profitable areas of business such as business development or product design.
Source: University of Leeds
Another of the top engineering colleges in UK for Indian students, the University of Leeds is ranked 12th in the UK and is a member of the Russell Group. The Faculty of Engineering brings together fundamental science, mathematical modelling and the practical aspects of engineering to provide a truly interdisciplinary experience.
| Undergraduate Course | Postgraduate Courses |
BEng/ MEng
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The university has over 50 different MSc in Engineering courses ranging from Geotechnical Engineering to Transport Planning and Engineering. You can access the entire list here. |
The UG programme can cost around £30,350 per year white the PG programmes charge a tuition of around £31,000 per year. You can apply to the undergraduate and postgraduate excellence scholarships of the School of Engineering.
Course begins: September 2024
Duration: 3 or 4 years for UG, 1 year for master.
The University of Leeds is in the top 10 most targeted universities in the UK by graduate recruiters, according to High Fliers’ The Graduate Market in 2023 report. You also will have access to the university’s employability team who will guide you in the process of networking and seeking job opportunities.
Source: University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is another top engineering university in UK for international students. Ranked 10th in the UK, the Faculty of Engineering is made up of 6 departments, from architecture to the physical sciences.
| Undergraduate Course | Postgraduate Courses |
BEng/ MEng
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The average tuition for international students is around £28,000 per annum. You can apply to the department’s excellence awards for financial aid.
Course begins: September
Duration: 3/ 4 years for B/M Eng, 1 year for MSc
Here is a sample of the university’s employability rates based on the Department of Electrical and Electronic engineering. 86.7% of undergraduates secured graduate-level employment or further study within 15 months of graduation. The average annual salary for these graduates was £30,810.
While we have looked at the best engineering colleges in UK for international students, it is also important to understand that there is fierce competition for admissions. So, here are some more options that you can consider which did not make it to the top 10 list but still provide some of the best engineering courses in UK
| THE World University Ranking for Engineering | University |
| 97 | University of Southampton |
| 100 | University of Birmingham |
| 126 – 150 | Queen Mary University of London |
| 126 – 150 | University of Surrey |
| 151 – 175 | Cardiff University |
| 151 – 175 | University of Glasgow |
| 151 – 175 | University of Liverpool |
| 151 – 175 | Queen’s University Belfast, Ireland |
| 151 – 175 | University of Warwick |
| 176 – 200 | Lancaster University |
| 176 – 200 | Newcastle University |
| 201 – 250 | University of Exeter |
Before we get into the specializations, let us take a look at the engineering degrees that are awarded in the UK. With most universities you are looking at three main degrees, besides the postgraduate diploma (PG Dip) courses.
– It stands for bachelor’s in engineering and is an entry-level qualification. It typically takes 3 years to complete, except in Scotland, where it takes 4 years.
stands for Masters in Engineering. If you look at university websites/ our own listing of the different universities and their courses, you will realise that the MEng degree is always listed in the undergraduate section. It is because it is an integrated programme which takes 4 years to complete and you will graduate with a master’s degree. You can apply to this programme right after school, and choose your specialisation in the beginning of the third year.
is Master of Science. After your BEng/ MEng, if you want to specialise in a niche area, such as “Mechanical Engineering Design”, this is the postgraduate degree to choose. It usually takes one year to complete.
The following are the most popular general subject areas of engineering to choose from:
In this section, we answer the question “What is the cost of studying engineering in UK?”. It is important to note that the figures shown in the table below are averages and approximations to give you a general idea. The actual costs can vary depending on your selection of courses, the universities and the city you will be living in.
| Cost | Amount in Pounds (Approx figures per year) |
| Tuition (Range) | £25,000 – £48,000 |
| Rent (On Campus) | £4,000 – £7,000 |
| Rent (Off campus, shared living) | London – £9,000 Rest of UK – £6,700 |
| Food | £1,800 – £2,200 |
| Transport | £1,000 |
| Health Insurance | £470 |
| Utilities | £650 – £800 |
| Average Total Living Expenses | £14,400 – £16,800 |
Scholarship options for architecture courses UK have been listed along with the respective universities. However, here are some of the common government scholarships for Indian students.
According to a 2023 report published by the Engineering Council of the UK, “demand for engineers is predicted to grow faster than for other occupations and that vacancies for ‘green engineering’ roles in the UK have increased by more than half (55%) over the last five years.” There is a shortage of qualified engineers in the UK, especially in roles such as
It is also why the average salary of a qualified engineer is around £38,000, which is significantly higher than other similar roles which have an average salary of £30,000.
Currently, some of the fastest-growing fields that require experts are machine learning engineering, AI engineering and design, green/ alternative energy engineering and biomedical engineering.
Keeping in mind the tuition and the cost of living, you can expect to spend anywhere between £39,000 and £65,000 per year.
Computer engineering, civil, electrical and MS in mechanical engineering in UK have a lot of employment opportunities.
A bachelor’s degree takes 3 years, an integrated master’s 4 years and a specialised masters in engineering takes 1 year in the UK.
Yes, as long as you have the skill sets required by the organisation you will be working for, you can be employed with an Indian degree.
Yes. A degree qualifying the completion of biomedical engineering courses in UK, automotive engineering courses in UK or any other specialisation for that matter is valid in India. Moreover, the reputation of UK universities will increase your chances of securing a well-paying opportunity.
The equivalent of a BTech in the UK is a Bachelor of Engineering or BEng.
Not necessarily. However, with a BEng, you will begin at an entry level position. For more lucrative options or to take on leadership roles, it is better to have an MEng, which is the UK equivalent of an MTech.
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