Studying Mechanical Engineering

We prepare you for your future

Here in Sheffield our Mechanical Engineering courses will equip you with the hands-on industry experience and knowledge to pursue whatever career you choose.

Making you employable

Our courses are designed to prepare work-ready future engineers so whether you've always dreamed of becoming a chartered engineer or are still weighing up your options, we'll make sure you have the skills and attributes to stand out from the crowd.

Importantly, our Mechanical Engineering degree course is part of an accredited engineering program as defined by the UK's regulatory body, the Engineering Council. The experience you'll gain in problem solving, leadership responsibility, communication, interpersonal skills and more, will pave the way for an engineering career of your choice.

You'll be an engineer from day one

As a mechanical engineering student you'll thrive within a connected environment. Our focus is entirely on you, shaping your experience and preparing you for a successful future career.

You'll develop an interest in how things work and learn more about the science behind them - connecting it to the world around you to help solve engineering problems and improve lives.  

What our students say

Don't just take our word for it, hear what some of our students have to say

I was challenged to think outside the box and apply my skills in unusual scenarios. I'm confident that with all of my knowledge and experience from placement and my course I will excel in my future workplace.

Gabi

MEng Mechanical Engineering

I enjoyed my placement experience because Eadon Consulting deals in a lot of different engineering fields which meant I could find out what I like and don’t like, and you can build on those parts for your future career

Elliot

BEng Mechanical Engineering with an industrial placement

The course has provided me with a strong balance of technical skills and soft skills that are essential for a successful engineering career

Rhia studied a Foundation Year

Final year student, Rhia, explains how Mechanical Engineering degree has prepared her for a career in engineering

Freedom to choose my own projects and join different engineering teams has allowed me to shape my degree

Joel MEng Mechanical Engineering with an industrial placement

Joel talks about his industrial placement experience & how his degree is preparing him to be an engineer

Challenging you to succeed

Our course is designed to challenge you to be the best engineer you can be. It won't be easy and you'll have to work hard but we'll help you to meet that challenge so that you're able to problem solve and think like an engineer. You'll put theory into practice and get hands on with real engineering projects. 

Hands-on engineering

In your first year, you'll work in a small group to create a water bottle rocket. You'll use your understanding of engineering science to design and manufacture a rocket which can carry a specified payload and travel a specific distance to reach a target. 

What hands-on learning looks like

In industry, collaboration and innovation are at the heart of engineering. Engineers from different backgrounds with mixed skill sets work on projects together in groups. Here at Sheffield you will take part in our project weeks that not only look at solving a real world problem, but also allow you to work within interdisciplinary groups with students from across the entire Faculty of Engineering. 

Global Engineering Challenge

In your first year the week-long Global Engineering Challenge will give you the opportunity to tackle real world engineering problems within for example,  the fields of digital, sanitation or the built environment whilst developing team working and problem solving skills. Alumni are also on hand to offer support, guidance and feedback to you.

I think the Global Engineering Challenge was a great opportunity to see how multidisciplinary teams work together, to research new challenges faced by different communities across the globe, find solutions to these challenges and propose solutions and concepts which tackle these problems. There was a certain thrill to finding ingenious solutions to the problems proposed, which required thinking outside-of-the-box and creativity. 

Deniz

Engineering: You're Hired 

In second year, this interdisciplinary Engineering: You're Hired week builds on the Global Engineering Challenge. You work in teams from a mix of disciplines, alongside home and international students, replicating the modern engineering world. You will bring your own discipline knowledge to collaboratively propose a design and a plan to take it to the proof-of-concept stage.

Many of the projects are suggested by industry, which creates a current and relevant opportunity for you to apply your academic learning to industry. Mentors from industry will support you throughout the project, giving you insights and real life experience into how to approach the problems proposed.

Engineering You're Hired provided many useful skills for helping me develop as an engineer however in my opinion the most beneficial aspect were the presentations. By having several presentations within the week it pushes the group to work efficiently to create the resources needed alongside boosting each members confidence when it comes to speaking your ideas in front of others.

Luke

Quality teaching

We're more than just a top-ranked mechanical engineering program, Sheffield is a vibrant community where your curiosity, creativity, and collaboration will thrive. We're not just about amazing experiences inside and outside the classroom; we're committed to delivering a high-quality education that sets you up for success.

Your learning will be active and engaging as we combine small group sessions, personal tutoring, and research-led teaching with real-world projects, industry connections, and access to our world-class facilities, as well as lots of opportunities to get involved in student-led initiatives.

Dr Jevgenija Prisutova 

Dr Jevgenija Prisutova is the module leader for the Spring Integrative Project, Preparation for Practice, and the Professional Development Portfolio. She also teaches professional skills and design and is our Year 1 Tutor.

Lightbulb Moment? I hesitated between physics and engineering, and ended up going for engineering when I realised that physics is a very theoretical science, but engineering is very people centred, and can be applied for the benefit of  the community.

Why study Mechanical Engineering? It is a very broad discipline which will give you a depth of knowledge and teach you skills that can be applied in a variety of careers afterwards.

Dr Keith Tarnowski 

Dr Keith Tarnowski is a Senior University Teacher and the Programme Lead for Mechanical Engineering. As a teaching focused academic his goal is to improve engineering education. He currently teaches the Autumn Integrated Project for First Years, and Finite Element Techniques to the Third Years.

Best thing about being an engineer? Mechanical Engineering opens up so many different opportunities and gives you the chance to combine creativity with science. The opportunity to apply science to design solutions for real world problems and make a tangible difference to people’s lives, is really rewarding.

Tell us something interesting about you. I’ve climbed Aconcagua, a 7000m peak in South America.  I designed and commissioned the tooling for manufacturing the lift-fan that gives the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet its short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) capability.

Dr Graeme Manson 

Dr Graeme Manson is our School's Student Experience Lead and also teaches the Engineering Mechanics (Statics and Dynamics) part of our First Year Engineering Science modules

Best thing about being an engineer? The best thing about being an engineer in a university is that you can do anything that looks fun. For example, in order to indulge my love of chocolate, I’ve previously run a project that put ultrasonic signals through molten chocolate in order to make a smoother chocolate with better ‘snap’.

Lightbulb Moment? I think my lightbulb moment was when I chose to study O-Level Engineering Science, in addition to Maths and Physics, and realised that Engineering was much more than just the application of Maths and Physics - there is huge satisfaction to engineering a solution to a real problem.

We're proud to say that our students are truly exceptional. As you can see from our NSS rankings, you’ll have a great time and leave with fantastic skills for the future. You'll find a friendly community of like-minded individuals here, where you can grow your skills and invest in your future. We hope you'll choose to join us and take your next steps in making the world a better place. I look forward to welcoming you to our First Year in September and wish you all the best as you prepare for university. 

Professor Martin Mayfield-Tulip

Head of the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

Stay in touch

To stay up to date with all things Mechanical Engineering at Sheffield, you can find us on Instagram, X, Facebook, and LinkedIn.