Aerospace Degrees

[Genghis the Engineer]

Firstly a confession, I have a degree in Aerospace Engineering, I enjoyed it, and use what I learned on it almost every day. A second confession, I did it between the ages of 19 and 21, full time, with no financial commitments beyond keeping running a clapped out old Ford Capri. After that, I went and did other things - like work, get a mortgage, buy a couple of small aeroplanes, and am currently doing a part time PhD in airworthiness.

Thing is, I can do this part time PhD, and if I wanted there are opportunities to do other part time / distance learning Masters and Doctorates (or as we all know pretty much any piloting qualification).

Yet so far as I can find out, in Britain there are no opportunities to do a first degree in my own core subject of Aerospace Engineering - or any of the closely allied technical subjects (avionics, maritime design, etc.) So if, lets say you are a LAME/technician wanting to move into aircraft design or senior technical management, an ATPL wanting to move into the same or perhaps the more technical aspects of test flying, a keen PPL who want to design their own aeroplane, or just somebody who would enjoy the huge technical challenge. there is no opportunity to gain the baseline qualification that I (and many others) rely upon without giving up work for 3 or 4 years - frankly impossible for most people, I certainly couldn't do it now.

I think there should be this opportunity - there certainly is in the US, just look at
the degrees offered by Embry Riddle for example (http://www.erau.edu/0Universe/01/01degrees.html) . It's no secret that in the past I've made efforts to persuade several universities to offer such a degree, with frankly absolutely no success. Being a glutton for punishment I'm contemplating rolling my sleeves up and trying again.

Let's be straight, an Aero-Eng degree is bloody hard work, and requires monstrous application. It's also not going to come free, anybody doing it would need to find probably in the order of £12,000 (that's what an Open University Engineering degree (http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?Q02B24_engineering) costs, and Embry-Riddle's charges are similar). Equally however it opens up a lot of opportunities for people who have the qualification (or it has for me anyway).

So, my question to the house is, how many people out there would be interested, if the opportunity were there, in doing a distance learning BEng or MEng first degree in some variation in Aerospace Engineering? For that matter, what specialist subjects (obviously the core of an aero degree is fixed, but there are many non-core options) should be available?

?

G

[ATPMBA]

Genghis:

I would be interested in such a thing. I have looked up on the web for an undergraduate degree (Bachelor in Science) in mechanical engineering and have basically found nothing (in the US). Everything out there requires you to be a fulltime student for four years.

My interests are heavily into helicopters, aerodynamics, performance, flight testing.

National Test Pilots School offers a Masters in Flight test. It’s my understanding these courses are short but they are spread over one year. You actually share the classroom with the guys or maybe a gal who are taking the Test Pilot flight program. This is probably a good setup as one could learn from classroom discussions and war stories.
I have been tempted to call them to see if they could off the course via distance learning.

Thinking out of the box, perhaps you could offer a distance learning degree program. It sounds like you have the background and a big plus is the Phd. You could set it up and I’m sure getting some kind of accreditation would be easy in the US, perhaps harder in the UK. You would be in a good position to offer an engineering degree concentrated heavily in aeronautics and aerospace. Send me a private message if you would like to discuss it further.

[Genghis the Engineer]

I'm extremely flattered that anybody thinks that I could teach a BEng solo - seriously I doubt that anybody could do that, at best a capable and current professional or academic (I hope I'm one of those but others may differ) could probably manage 1/2 to 2/3 with enough resources the rest would have to come from other sources.

Seriously, what I'm looking at is working with an existing University (I'd rather not name whom I'm talking to, but they are amongst the big-name UK Engineering campusses) and using their facilities. (To get accreditation for a degree, this is pretty much essential regardless).

My idea is to try and persuade a university to offer a distance degree, using existing course material (probably with a lot of video'd / recorded lectures added in) taking students through the initial basics of the degree course - maths, structures, thermodynamics, electronics, fluid mechanics, design priciples, drafting, etc. Some time on campus would be needed - experiments are essential and some lab equipment that you'd need to spend time on is never going to be mobile. Once the core is got through, specialist courses (such as helicopter flight or flight-test, which would certainly fall in that category) could be pursued under more individual tutelage.

The other essential part of the BEng - project work, would have to be fairly remotely supervised, but might prove the most exciting bit of all for the participants.

That's what I'd like to do anyway - as I've said, a keen student is likely to take 6+ years and £12,000+ but my opinion is it would be worthwhile.

Question is, how much call is there? Realistically, to persuade a university to run and continue a course of that nature, one would probably have to deliver a minimum of 50 students per year for them to feel there was any point in it.


Your point about a MechEng degree is interesting, and probably all my biasses about an aero-degree apply there also. The Open University (a UK state sponsored distance learning university) does offer a general engineering degree which you could almost certainly construct as a MechEng course - but wouldn't be stated as such. (Incidentally, I got my Mechanical CEng, equivalent to the US professional Engineers' licence on the back of an Aero-Eng rather than a mechanical batchelor's degree).

G

[yakker]

As a mature student I am unable to study for a degree in Aerospace Engineering on a full time basis, so I would be very interested. Meanwhile I continue my studies for a HND on a part time basis at the local College.

[checkthrust]

Looked all over the place for part time studies towards aerospace related degree. I self sponsored my atpl instead of going to to university (knocked back Beng in aero engineering). I now fly full time and can't justify giving up work completely, but would be very interested in doing a course part time even if it took four times longer it gives you something to sink your teeth into! I guess i'll whatch this space.