Undergraduate Engineer Review

We study 2 days a week and work within an engineering team 3 days a week. The study days consist of 1 lecture day and 1 free study day. Within the workplace you are expected to actively contribute to an ongoing project your team are currently working on taking on real life problems.

During this course you learn lots of new skills as you get exposure to many different departments throughout Dyson. You have the chance to work on things from rig building to designing electrical circuits. As you just get thrown in the deep end you learn lots of new skills very quickly.

Overall the programme is really good particularly due to the exposure you get in the work place, understanding what it's like to be apart of a team with real responsibilities. However there are some logistical down falls on the academic learning side which can sometimes make it more difficult than needed.

The program starts with 2 years of general engineering where you rotate through many different teams. In the last 2 years you have the option to specialise in 1 of 4 'streams'. As apart of this you stay in 1 team for 2 years which allows you to build deeper more meaningful relationships and work and deepen your knowledge.

Student support on this course is exceptional. In the workplace many of the managers are really friendly and useful. People throughout all teams are willing to spend time with you to ensure you understand concepts and complete your work to a high level. However it is a workplace, therefore you do need to reach out to receive extra support.

We do not have any personal tutors to support us in our workplace. However the lecturers are very willing to help if you reach out and will do what they can to aid your learning in many different aspects of the course. There are also plenty of people in the work place who are willing to help.

The academic course though interesting and gives deep theoretical understanding of a range of concepts, does not support my role and workplace activities well. I have needed to spend lots of time in the workplace doing training and having conversations with people to ensure my basic knowledge is where it needs to be to undertake the work that is require of me.

Dyson try really hard to create a sense of community at work. There is a free on site gym which often has different classes and sessions that anyone is welcome to join in on. There are also lots of groups that meet over lunch time such as different langue groups.

Yes

This is not like a traditional university, therefore if you want a hands on experience along a side a theoretical academic course then this is for you. You start very early on in the workplace positively contributing in many different ways, it allows you to see the wider world of engineering not just within a lecture room.

During the application process just be yourself, they know what sorts of people will thrive in this environment therefore if you don't get in it probably means this was not the course for you anyway. Do not come here expecting the normal university experience because you will not get it, come here if you are ready to start working and develop your engineering skills.