Is University of Manchester a good one?

Original post by c2uk

Tell me then why does a General Engineering and a separate Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering units of assessment exist then for the purpose of the RAE? Seriously, I'd like to know this.

Original post by James A

i did it to get a response out of you muhahaha , you fell into the pitfall trap.

It somewhat horrifies me that you may one day be studying pharmacy and become a pharmacist given the amount of responsibility they have...

Reply 22

c2uk

Original post by Maker

Why are you advising people on this when its obvious you have no knowledge of Manchester university and mechanical engineering. Relying a report is stupid when not every uni send data to it.

Have you got any idea what the RAE is? It's pretty much the most important thing any university has to do in the UK to get government funding - a university in the UK not sending data to it doesn't exist.

So, my question stands, why didn't Manchester submit anything to the RAE under the research assessment unit "Mechanical/Aeronautical/Manufacturing Engineering". There are other RAE unit of assessment for engineering, including Chemical; Civil; Electrical/Electronic; and General Engineering. Manchester submitted to Chemical, Electrical/Electronic and General but not to "Mechanical/Aeronautical/Manufacturing Engineering" - so again, why that?

Reply 23

Maker

Original post by c2uk

I have no idea why they didn't submit, maybe it was to fool people into thinking they don't do it. The fact the OP has been offered a course on it must be a prank.

Of course, the same people could have just looked on the uni website and find out what subjects they offer.

Reply 24

c2uk

Original post by Smack

Something's definitely fishy then - either the General Engineering label in the RAE is wrong or it's misunderstood by universities, or something else completely.

For pretty much all other subjects, the RAE gives a pretty good indication of the best departments in the UK, but missing two big departments in the UK in the unit of assessment for Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering is strange then.

Reply 25

F1's Finest

Original post by Smack

I don't know since I am not interested in academia/research, only industry, but there is no "General Engineering" discipline in industry, and I can assure you that Manchester and Leeds have many mechanical engineering staff.

It somewhat horrifies me that you may one day be studying pharmacy and become a pharmacist given the amount of responsibility they have...

I got two sides to myself, the only reason why im acting up with you is because of what happened in our first encounter on TSR. I asked you kindly what jobs mechanical engineers do (seeing as you are doing the course) , and you told me to '**** off and look it up on google'. Very, very rude i must say, on your half.

Reply 26

Buddies as far as I read on their website, from 2004 merger till 2007, the whole restructuring was being done and hence Manchester didnt do good in the RAE 2008 rankings...
- RAE has been controversial as they rank big univ at the bottom, which when international rankings are published-are always amongst the top few.
- QS ranks UoM M.E. dept 18th in the world, Times Higher Education (26) while ARWU-SHANGHAI (32) in the whole world...and when we see the country rankings inside UK, we see manchester always behind 30+..... even when it has 25 nobel prize winners and 4 current noble prize winners amongst its staff..... As far as I read about their Mechanical Engg department, I am not yet sure what to conclude and thats why I am asking for views. Please dont make this a battlefield :biggrin:

Reply 27

Nathanielle

Well, I would look also into this: http://www.mace.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/staff/academic/professors/
and this: http://www.mace.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/aero/structure/index.html
==> (Attention! Personal Opinion from someone not knowing the University of Manchester)
It's not a very specific Aerospace Master, as is covers usual fields like fluid dynamics/combustion/computation which you find in a lot of different Engineering field. Thus it can be for sure be used to work in the Aerospace sector, but you shouldn't expect the same as doing an "Airworthiness Master" or an "Astronautics Master".
On the other hand this could be an explanation, why it doesn't appear in the area of Aerospace.

Sorry! I just read he was opting for the http://www.mace.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/med/index.html?code=04342&pg=2, although it doesn't change much.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 28

c2uk

Original post by schumi2124

Buddies as far as I read on their website, from 2004 merger till 2007, the whole restructuring was being done and hence Manchester didnt do good in the RAE 2008 rankings...

That may explain Manchester indeed.

Original post by schumi2124

- RAE has been controversial as they rank big univ at the bottom, which when international rankings are published-are always amongst the top few.

Haven't seen this criticism yet, normally it's the smaller departments which are at the bottom.

Anyway, I shut up now.

Reply 29

This is how General Engg is defined by the Univ of Illinois .
source: http://ise.illinois.edu/ugrad/courses/whatisge.pdf

General engineering (GE) is a comprehensive and interdisciplinary program in
basic sciences, engineering sciences, and engineering design that emphasizes real
world problem‐solving through a unique orientation toward partnerships with
industry.
General engineering provides a broad background in:
 mechanics and structures
 control systems
 decision‐making with a systems approach

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 30

Original post by c2uk

Something's definitely fishy then - either the General Engineering label in the RAE is wrong or it's misunderstood by universities, or something else completely.

I'd imagine the label in the RAE is wrong then seeing as there is no such thing as general engineering beyond the first few years of some university courses before specialisation.

For pretty much all other subjects, the RAE gives a pretty good indication of the best departments in the UK, but missing two big departments in the UK in the unit of assessment for Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering is strange then.

RAE only attempts to measure research output (and itself isn't even universally agreed upon as the best measure of research) but for the vast majority of students this is irrelevant.

Better indicators are the quality of teaching, facilities, quality of course and industrial links.

The prime factor in me choosing which university to to do my mechanical degree was its industrial links and location, not its RAE (which is extremely low). I would suggest to anyone looking to embark on a mechanical engineering degree, whether it be under or postgraduate, to primarily consider the quality of teaching as this will better enable you to do well on your course, and its industrial links as this will help when it comes to getting a job at the end; but never its RAE rating.

Original post by James A

You may have two sides to yourself, but unfortunately none of them are clever.

Reply 31

F1's Finest

Original post by Smack

You may have two sides to yourself, but unfortunately none of them are clever.

Just accept it that you were way out of order when telling me off the first time we spoke.

Secondly, you seem to think that people acting differently on internet forums (like making themselves look like clowns and making grammar mistakes), actually accounts for what the person is in real life?? so for you to say that both my sides aren't clever is a step too far. signs of desperation in an argument.

How on earth can i not be clever if im achieving good grades, surely your logic is flawed.

As i said it before, i'll say it again to reset your memory.. you think your right and everyone else wrong.

Now, please please stick to your 10kg weights, pleaseeeeee

Reply 32

Original post by James A

I don't exactly remember the time we first "spoke", but if I did tell you to **** off back then then you must have really been an idiot, and given how you've been acting since I think my initial assessment must have been correct.

Reply 33

F1's Finest

Original post by Smack

still very inappropriate, i should have reported you to the mods. good thing it came up as censored.

Reply 34

Cora Lindsay

Original post by c2uk

If you look at the RAE website it defines general engineering as 'The UOA includes: any multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary engineering research; mineral and mining engineering; and submissions from departments or centres which include two or more of the main branches of engineering, ie, chemical, civil, electrical and electronic, metallurgy and materials, mechanical, aero and manufacturing engineering. The UOA includes multidisciplinary areas such as offshore technology, renewable energy/energy conversion, industrial studies, medical engineering, bioengineering and environmental engineering. It also includes pedagogic research in engineering.'

So if, like Manchester's MACE, you have broad strength across many aspects of engineering, that'll be the one you go for. If you have niche activities, such as very good Mechanical, but no Civil or Aero, you'd go for one of the more narrowly defined UOAs. See http://www.rae.ac.uk/aboutus/uoa.asp. Remember also that universities play games with the RAE to try and get the best possible outcome for them, so getting excessively hung up on RAE rankings isn't helpful to someone like the OP who's looking at Masters programmes.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 35

Original post by James A

still very inappropriate, i should have reported you to the mods. good thing it came up as censored.

Reply 36

ok friends my question was not the validity of the RAE system coz I am sure that the rankings do not define the university completely...Manchester has a long history of science starring Rutherford, Chadwick and Reynolds... so I am pretty sure it has a legacy..However, I am not concerned with the people who have excelled in the past....I wanna know how is the mechanical engg. department in MACE-UoM at present and would it be capable of giving a kickstart to my career or accelerate it????

@ James A & @Smack - Please forget your earlier encounters and ceasefire :biggrin:

Reply 37

Cora Lindsay

Original post by schumi2124

To answer the question you asked back at the beginning, you would go through a good Masters programme in either Manchester or Leeds. Both are similar large city universities so it starts to come down to details- are there features of one course which makes it fits your aspirations better; would you prefer to live in one city rather than the other?

Reply 38

Nathanielle

It also depends where you want to end up later. You don't seem to know already. You said you haven't already applied to all of your choices, or have you?

Reply 39