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UNITED KINGDOM In the United Kingdom , the MEng is an Undergraduate award, available after pursuing a four or five year course of study at a University . These are taught courses, with only a small Research element in the final year, and are not available as Postgraduate qualifications in most cases. Most British universities offer both the traditional three year or four courses in engineering, leading to a BSc or BEng , as well the MEng. A few, such as the University Of Cambridge and the University Of Oxford , offer only a four year MEng although even these make provision for leaving at the end of the 3rd year. At the University of Oxford, a BEng is awarded for failure to pass the third year. Structure In terms of course structure, MEng degrees usually follow the pattern familiar from Bachelor's Degrees with Lecture s, Laboratory work, Coursework and Exam s each year. There is usually a substantial project to be completed in the fourth-year which may well have a research element to it, and a more teaching-based project to be completed in the third year. At the end of the third year, there is usually a threshold of academic performance in examinations to be reached to allow progression into the final year. At some universities, the structure of the final year is rather different to that of the first three - for example at York the Computer Systems and Software M.Eng final year consists entirely of project work and intensive advanced seminar courses rather than traditional lectures and problem classes. Final results are, in most cases, awared on the standard British Undergraduate Degree Classification scale, although some universities award something structurally similar to 'Distinction', 'Merit', 'Pass' or 'Fail' as this is often the way that taught postgraduate master's degrees are classified. History MEng courses were introduced in the UK in the mid 1980s in response to growing competition from technical-degree Graduate s from continental Europe , where degree courses are often longer than the usual three years in the UK. There was a feeling among recent graduates, the engineering institutions, employers and universities that the longer and deeper study offered on the continent needed to be made available to UK students too. Since to obtain a taught Master's degree in the UK typically already took an additional year after a bachelor's degree, it was decided that this extra year would be made a formal part of the undergraduate course and, instead of taking both bachelor's and master's degrees, students would proceed to become Masters in a single step of four years. Since its introduction, the MEng has become the degree of choice for most undergraduate engineers as was intended. The most common exception to this is international students who, because of the substantially higher fees they are charged, sometimes opt to take the tradition BEng/BSc route where that is available. Most of the Engineering Institutions have now made an MEng the minimum academic standard necessary to become a Chartered Engineer . Graduates who graduated before the changes in the rules will still be allowed to use their bachelor's degree for this purpose and those who have earned a bachelor's degree since the changes can usually take some additional courses (known as 'matching sections') over time to reach an equivalent standard to the MEng. Other undergraduate masters The MEng is one of a number of 'new' undergraduate master's degrees recently introduced in the UK; they are also commonly available in Mathematics ( MMath ), Physics ( MPhys ), Chemistry ( MChem ) and Biology ( MBio or MBiol ) as well as other subjects. A more comprehensive list may be found on the Wikipedia page for British Degree Abbreviations . UNITED STATES AND CANADA In the United States , the Master of Engineering degree is generally a Professional Master's Degree offered as a coursework-based alternative to the traditional research-based Master Of Science . It is typically a two-year program, and many universities allow students to choose between the Master of Engineering and the Master of Science. In Canada , the Master of Engineering degree is a graduate degree of typically two years length that involves coursework and a thesis or research paper of significant depth. Some Canadian universities offer a Master of Engineering or Master Of Applied Science in engineering or both. Master of Engineering degrees usually require more coursework and less research, whereas Master Of Applied Science degrees require less coursework and more research. However, this is not absolute since some universities only offer a Master of Engineering and some only offer a Master of Applied Science. GERMANY In Germany , the country of origin of European Engineer's Degree s, the local engineer's degree (Diplomingenieur, a first degree after 5 years of study.) will be abolished until 2010, and will be replaced by postgraduate master's degrees (MSc and MEng). The first Master of Engineering courses were introduced in Germany in 2000 . This type of master's degree is in very most cases offered by German ''Universities of Applied Sciences'' ('' Fachhochschulen ''). Unlike the Master of Engineering degree in the United States, the German Master of Engineering, like the Canadian Master of Engineering degree is ''not'' regarded as a terminal degree. It is typically a two-year program with applied oriented coursework and an applied research thesis. SEE ALSO |
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