Imperial vs Cranfield Aerospace

Cranfield has stronger industrial links, including for turbomachinery, and in general is slightly more prestigious and has better facilities.

I would seriously consider whether living in Cranfield is worth it though, especially when you're comparing to Imperial. If you're coming from a decent sized city it's going to be rather quiet in comparison.

I have heard many people putting arguments that the Cranfield is not given that much of importance to grant fund from EPSRC against Imperial.
Does it make any sense?
And what would be rationale behind this imbalanced fund grants?

Thank you for giving your precious time for alleviating my complex situations ...

Hello Friends,
I have been offered a place to both Cranfield and Imperial College in below mentioned courses.
C : Msc in thermal power (Aerospace propulsion option)
I : MSc Advanced Computational Methods for Aeronautics, Flow Management and Fluid-Structure Interaction

I am a little bit confused regarding the institution's selection.
I did my projects in both CFD as well as turbo-machinery area. So, the selection of course is not the main issue, both are in my interest. Even not worried about that quite and isolated location of Cranfield University.
The major concern is of getting jobs after completing my post graduation, and to get big chunk of money back that I am going to invest as early as possible.
(I mean, not wishing to wander here and there in search of exceptional job....)

please stress on the word exceptional jobs.

Knowing your personal opinions and experience will greatly be appreciated.

Hi Bhargav8,

Congratulations on your offers! Cranfield and Imperial College are quite renown as institutions for excellence. However, I would speak from a Cranfield's perspective. I am in my 2nd year PhD program in Aerospace, with Cranfield and I know, from a first-hand student's experience, the integral nature of Cranfield University's postgraduate degrees and experience- that is its research-intensive academic exigencies and industry connections. And this is what you will have in your MSc experience at Cranfield.

Cranfield University's industry connections, for research, work experience and, much later, career hubs for Cranfield University's students and graduates is part of what has made Cranfield Uni appealing to students. Let me confess, that is part of the reason why I chose Cranfield for my PhD research. From my time here, I have had interactions with Rolls Royce, Airbus, BSi, and quite a number of manufacturing and aerospace-related companies. MSc students do have this experience, from their group project work (part of their MSc module) which would mean solving complex problem for a company in a team of 4-5 students + industry contacts to their individual group projects, which may offer you the opportunity of solving a research/ industry problem for a specific company. Many students take up roles in these companies, some before graduation. Others make use of the career fair, a fair where hundreds of companies participate in, every year.

And these are not nuanced opinion- ask any Cranfield alumni you meet! The recommendation for Cranfield came to me, for instance, from a friend who completed an MSc in Cranfield, started with Arup and has moved to Atkins. This is a similar story.

As a student volunteer my usual advice to students who have this question of "seeking exceptional jobs after graduation" has been the same: "focus on your studies and optimizing the many opportunities a Cranfield experience will bring." I'll leave you with that advice as well.

Best, Cranfield TSR Rep.

It's really engrossing and unbelievable that the TSR himself has replied me regarding to my concern, moreover, the reply was so prompt that can't be described in words and this shows very well how university is taking care of their students, I hope....
Now I am no more in any dilemma.

Thank you so much....!!!!

I have heard many people putting arguments that the Cranfield is not given that much of importance to grant fund from EPSRC against Imperial.
Does it make any sense?
And what would be rationale behind this imbalanced fund grants?

Thank you for giving your precious time for alleviating my complex situations ...

And, very quickly, I am not so sure on the EPSRC funding arguments. In my first few weeks as a researcher, I walked into an EPSRC project which I contributed in.

Next month June, I and my colleagues will attend a conference within the UK, which is also EPSRC funded (part of an EPSRC grant).

From the best of my knowledge, the primary reason for funding is the strength of the research proposal.

I hope this helps.

Cranfield TSR Rep.

I am happy to get that consensual and explicit opinion on research fund grants assigned by EPSRC. But if it is dependent on research proposal (as you have mentioned) then one should consider it with grim truth that the fund difference between Imperial and Cranfield some few years back was..

I: it was around 20 million pounds
C: it was approx 0.5 million pounds

Does it mean that the proposals submitted by Imperial were stronger than those from Cranfield?
Is that what you mean?

I am happy to get that consensual and explicit opinion on research fund grants assigned by EPSRC. But if it is dependent on research proposal (as you have mentioned) then one should consider it with grim truth that the fund difference between Imperial and Cranfield some few years back was..

I: it was around 20 million pounds
C: it was approx 0.5 million pounds

Does it mean that the proposals submitted by Imperial were stronger than those from Cranfield?
Is that what you mean?

Hi Bhargav8,

Cranfield and Imperial are research-intensive; they were both top-5 research intensive universities in the UK during the period you mentioned, hence it is not because of research proposals. The difference there could be that Cranfield with its industry connections, perhaps focused on grants from other sources asides the EPSRC; it could be as well that the areas which was EPSRC funding-focused were not the focus of Cranfield's researchers. Remember, while Imperial has an undergraduate unit, Cranfield is full postgraduate- hence Imperial is expected to have more staffing than Cranfield's

There could be a variety of reasons.

What I do know is that, currently, the EPSRC is funding a good number of research in Cranfield; we have partnered with Imperial, Cambridge, Oxford, MIT, on research and research papers and this is on the rise.

Currently, the 27th CIRP Design Conference on Complex Systems and Engineering Development is going on in Cranfield and we have had papers and presentations from industry and the academia around the world. These are conferences you can participate in even as an MSc student.

Best,
Cranfield TSR Rep.

I am happy to get that consensual and explicit opinion on research fund grants assigned by EPSRC. But if it is dependent on research proposal (as you have mentioned) then one should consider it with grim truth that the fund difference between Imperial and Cranfield few years back was..

I: it was around 20 million pounds
C: it was approx 0.5 million pounds

Does it mean that the proposals submitted by Imperial were stronger than those from Cranfield?
Is that what you mean?

I wouldn't value a university based on its funding, e.g. Sheffield's engineering faculty alone is £40 million, that doesn't mean Cranfield or Imperial are inferior.

I also highly doubt that Cranfield only got £0.5 million, that's only ~15 PhD projects, even if you look on their site now, during non-peak recruitment time for PhDs, they have more available than that.