Mechanical Engineering student Emma Atkinson tells us about her experience

Second Year Mechanical Engineering BEng (Hons) Student

Second year Mechanical Engineering BEng (Hons) student Emma Atkinson believes her decision to come to UCLan has more than paid off.

Having initially toyed between studying other courses here in Preston, she has been pleasantly surprised by both the quality of the teaching and the facilities available to students.

Furthermore, the University’s Masterplan, which involves the new £35m Engineering Innovation Centre, played a part in Emma choosing UCLan.

“The university has a good reputation for engineering and was also close enough to commute,” she started. “I was also aware that there were plans for investment within the course and the facilities that the university was going to offer its students.

“I had considered other courses at UCLan, but after analysing the list of modules I realised that the mechanical engineering course would enable me to use my degree in a wider range of jobs and industries.

“The facilities are fantastic and the vast investment into the new building shows the dedication that the University has for its students. The plans for the building and the new workshop will allow us to gain more real-world experience in state-of-the-art working environment.

“I will never forget the first time that I used the water jet cutter in the workshop. Using this specialist equipment was an amazing experience and one that you would not get every day. We can use this machinery to create our own parts, which is brilliant.

“The lecturers are very friendly and easily approachable, and if we ever have any problems they always listen to us. They also are very good at making time for us, either through a one-on-one session or an optional drop-in session that they make available.”

Emma has also taken advantage of the extra-curricular work available here at UCLan by joining the Engineering Society.

This has allowed her to take part in extra projects in order to further her development.

“[The Engineering Society] is a fantastic experience with lots of people all interested in the same things as myself,” she continued.

“We completed a very interesting project in one of our modules under the IMechE (Institute of Mechanical Engineers) board. This gave us chance to learn how we work in groups and complete the process of fully designing and manufacturing our own ideas ourselves.”

Having initially been anxious about how she would take to university life, Emma thinks that the staff at UCLan helped her to settle in perfectly.

“I found that it was an easy transition from sixth form into university, as this was a worry I had at the start,” she admitted. “With the help of tutorials and being able to discuss the work in this time, this concern quickly faded.

“University life has been made so easy by all of the members on our course having integrated together really well and with us all being good friends it takes a lot of pressure away.”