Mechatronic Engineering with Placement Year

MEng Hons

  • UCAS code HHH8
  • Entry year 2026 or 2025
  • A level requirements AAA
  • Duration Full time 5 years
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We welcome applications from the United States of America

We've put together information and resources to guide your application journey as a student from the United States of America.

Overview

Top reasons to study with us

  • Practical hands-on courses including lab-based sessions and project work

  • Get real-world experience with our placement years

  • Brand new state-of-the-art facilities

Mechatronic engineering is the design of systems and products that require a combination of mechanical, electronic and computer engineering. It’s an interdisciplinary field and you might work on robotics, automation, artificial intelligence, digitally controlled engines and even self-driving cars. With the rapid evolution of AI, automation and advances in machinery and manufacturing, these highly skilled engineers are in demand. As a mechatronics graduate you are open to a rewarding career in these industry sectors and more.

In all fields of engineering, but especially mechatronics, it’s crucial to have a broad understanding of general engineering and its applications. At Lancaster, your first year is dedicated to exactly this, and you’ll share this experience with all our School of Engineering students, regardless of their specialisation. We think this makes you a well-rounded graduate, with excellent teamwork and communications skills, prepared for your future career.

What to expect

Our five-year BEng Hons Mechatronics with Placement Year degree starts with your general engineering first year and includes core themes of design, circuitry and instrumentation, programming and engineering science, along with mathematics.

In Year 2 is where you start to specialise and you will continue to learn core themes from mechanical and electronic engineering to ensure you retain the interdisciplinary focus of mechatronics. This will include system design, control and power electronics. Working in our two new engineering buildings with state-of-the-art facilities, you’ll develop your creativity and technical skills as you design, build and test to solve real-world problems. A particular highlight for our students is a team project where you design, build and test a small mobile robot capable of completing a set task. Previous examples have included transporting hazardous liquid waste and dribbling a ball and scoring a goal.

As you progress into third year, you begin to focus on more advanced technical material which is directly informed by some of the research we undertake, such as in mechatronic systems and automation. You will also complete a dissertation project that will refine your analytical and technical skills. This provides you with an opportunity to practise programming and design and gain valuable hands-on experience of the discipline.

Take further steps towards professional engineering with management skills, project management, and industry engagement. Sustainability, safety, ethics and quality management are kept in focus too.

Your placement

In Year 4, you will undertake a year in industry that will enable you to apply the knowledge and skills learnt so far and gain invaluable experience. We have extensive links built through our leadership in research and have students undergoing placements with multinational corporate companies to smaller specialist SMEs. Once you have completed your placement, you will write an extended reflective piece about your time spent with the company.

Master’s-level training

In your fourth year of study, you will gain a strong understanding of real-world engineering and hands-on experience in the profession through an industry-linked project, further building your confidence and preparing you for the workforce. You will also complete a comprehensive individual research project alongside specialist technical modules, allowing you to explore your interests and align them with your future career goals. Previous projects have included robotics for the inspection of wind turbine blades, novel embedded control of additive manufacturing technologies and health monitoring of aerospace systems. This year will solidify your knowledge, placing you in an excellent position to launch your engineering career and progress toward achieving Chartered Engineer status.

Personal Development

You will develop valuable transferable skills that make you highly desirable to future employers, such as working in collaboration, communication, and the ability to design, build, and implement a system or device. You will grow interdisciplinary practical skills in diagnosis and testing, system maintenance, digital and computing proficiencies, and the ability to consider and maintain work safety practices in a range of environments. With a year’s experience added to your CV, you will be a standout graduate.

3 things our mechatronics students would like you to know

  • All of us engineers share the same newly built facilities. We have access to the labs and maker spaces a lot of the time for both personal and academic use
  • The dedicated engineering buildings are a great asset, and having access to facilities that reflect industrial working environments prepares you for moving into the workplace
  • The multi-disciplinary first year is brilliant for future careers when project work will include colleagues from other engineering specialisms

Course accreditation

Institution of Engineering and Technology logo Institution of Mechanical Engineers logo Engineering Council logo

Full or partial CEng eligibility

Careers

Mechatronic engineers are experts in bringing together elements from mechanical and electronic engineering, control and automation, and as such, you are at the forefront of innovation in engineering. Your multidisciplinary skill set allows you to see the bigger picture of design and build projects, and your knowledge of engineering combined with technology makes you a highly desirable employee across many sectors. Our graduates have found careers in a range of industries, from automotive and aerospace, to robotics and energy – and some have even gone on to lead in their specialist field as academics. The ability to think creatively to solve problems, alongside experience gained managing projects and applying your practical and technical knowledge will make you a desirable employee for careers even beyond the scope of engineering. Graduates from our Engineering degrees are well-paid too, with a median starting salary of £29,000 (HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey 2023).

Here are just some of the roles that our BEng and MEng Mechatronic Engineering students have progressed into upon graduating:

  • Mechatronic Engineering – Rail-Ability Ltd
  • Electrical Engineer – Aston Martin
  • Graduate Electronics Engineer – JCB
  • Robotics Engineer – Electric Eel
  • Electronic Technician – Laser Quantum
  • Offshore Operations Graduate – Shell
  • Software Engineer – Jaguar Land Rover
  • CERN Doctoral Student – CERN
  • Electronic Control Systems Engineer -– Triumph Motorcycles Ltd
  • Aerospace Engineer – Rolls Royce
  • Motor Controls Engineer - Mercedes

Lancaster University is dedicated to ensuring you not only gain a highly reputable degree, you also graduate with the relevant life and work based skills. We are unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award which offers you the opportunity to complete key activities such as work experience, employability/career development, campus community and social development. Visit our Employability section for full details.

Entry requirements

These are the typical grades that you will need to study this course. You may need to have qualifications in relevant subjects. In some cases we may also ask you to attend an interview or submit a portfolio. You must also meet our English language requirements.

Find more about these qualifications and others not shown here

Learn about how we will assess your application

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Contact Admissions

If you are thinking of applying to Lancaster and you would like to ask us a question, please complete our enquiry form and one of our team will get back to you.

International foundation programmes

Delivered in partnership with INTO Lancaster University, our one-year tailored foundation pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University degrees. Visit the INTO Lancaster University website for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.

Contextual admissions

Contextual admissions could help you gain a place at university if you have faced additional challenges during your education which might have impacted your results. Visit our contextual admissions page to find out about how this works and whether you could be eligible.

Course structure

Enhancing our curriculum

We continually review and enhance our curriculum to ensure we are delivering the best possible learning experience, and to make sure that the subject knowledge and transferable skills you develop will prepare you for your future.

We will publish more detailed information about the structure of this degree course for 2026-entry in June 2025, ahead of our summer undergraduate open days. This will include overviews of the core modules you will take and examples of optional modules which may be available to you.

Fees and funding

We set our fees on an annual basis and the 2026/27 entry fees have not yet been set.

As a guide, our fees in 2025/26 were:

Home International
£9,535 £29,820

Fees and funding information

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Scholarships and bursaries

Details of our scholarships and bursaries for students starting in 2026 are not yet available.

You can use our scholarships for 2025-entry applicants as guidance.

Important information

The information on this site relates primarily to 2026/2027 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.

The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.

More information on limits to the University’s liability can be found in our legal information.

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We believe in the importance of a strong and productive partnership between our students and staff. In order to ensure your time at Lancaster is a positive experience we have worked with the Students’ Union to articulate this relationship and the standards to which the University and its students aspire. View our Charter and other policies.

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