Automobile Engineering

We are surrounded by machines. From the time we wake up to the time we doze off, there is a continuous operation of machines. We purchase various kinds of machines to enhance our life and lifestyle. One machine that best defines our personality and status is the automobile that we own.

What is Automobile Engineering? 

Automobile Engineering is a branch of engineering which deals with designing, manufacturing and operating automobiles. It is a segment of vehicle engineering which deals with motorcycles, buses, trucks, etc. It includes mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety elements.

Skills Required:

• Artistic
• Creative
• Technical knowledge
• Effective planner
• Precision
• Meticulous
• Systematic
• Punctual
• Team worker

What are the Entrance Exams to be taken to get admission in Automobile Engineering course?

The automobile engineering career option is fast paced and very creative. It is one of the most preferred careers by engineers. Thus students vie for a seat in the following entrance exams.

List of Colleges Offering Masters in Automobile Engineering Programs

A master's degree program in automotive engineering offers advanced study of the function, mechanical workings and production of automobiles. These programs may be specifically in automotive engineering or in mechanical engineering programs that offer an automotive concentration. A master's degree typically takes 2 years to complete.

How to Select a Master's Program in Automotive Engineering

Although mechanical engineering programs offer relevant material, there is a greater amount of automotive coursework included in a master's degree specifically in automotive engineering. Some programs offer concentrations in areas such as electric power systems or electronic control systems. Importantly, online programs are available, enabling students to continue working while completing degree requirements.

Consider the following when looking for an master's degree program in automotive engineering:

• Concentration Options- Does the degree offer areas of concentration, such as hybrid electric cars, that interest you?
• Distance Learning Opportunities- Night classes or online learning make it possible to complete the degree while continuing to work.
• Practical Experience Opportunities- Internships are useful for gaining real-world experience as well as building connections and establishing possible employment opportunities in the field.

Automobile Engineering Program Overview

Master's Degree in Automobile Engineering

Students can find master's degree programs in automotive engineering or focus on the field of study through a mechanical engineering program. A master's degree can typically be earned in two years. The degree often qualifies graduates to work in a number of positions in the automotive industry, including design engineering, management or technology research. A thesis, internship or capstone experience might be required. Coursework includes:

• Mechanical and thermal design
• Internal combustion
• Manufacturing
• Business management
• Automotive electronics

Some Schools to Consider

College/University	Institution Type
Lawrence Technological University	4-year, Private
University of Michigan	4-year, Public
Michigan Technological University	4-year, Public
Ohio State University	4-year, Public
University of California Davis	4-year, Public
Clemson University	4-year, Public
Rochester Institute of Technology	4-year, Private
Georgia Institute of Technology	4-year, Public
Kettering University (GM Institute)	4-year, Private
University of Texas	4-year, Public

Computer Games Technology

Developed in consultation with the games industry, our computer games technology degree focuses heavily on programming and combines in-depth academic knowledge with the practical skills that employers are looking for in computer scientists , games developers and games designers.

We work closely with companies such as Microsoft, Sony  and  Kwalee, as well as with our fast-growing, local independent game studios which are within a few minutes walk from our City Centre Campus.

What's covered in the course?

On this course, you’ll have the opportunity to study an enviable range of disciplines that include the production of both entertainment and educational ‘serious games’.

We have worked closely with the games industry to develop a comprehensive course that covers the essential subject areas for anyone wanting to work in the sector: computer programming, ‘coding’ and basic programming, as well as the concepts behind game engine development, working with game consoles and associated hardware.

As part of your studies, you will have the opportunity to work with both 2D and 3D game worlds, to learn how to programme game engines, work with augmented and virtual reality and study  mobile technologies, graphics programming and artificial intelligence.

Associated with the curriculum is the opportunity for students from all years to participate in internationally recognised game development competitions, for example Global Game Jam and the Microsoft Imagine Cup, which is one of the world’s premier technology competitions.  This gives you the chance to showcase your technical and creative skills to a wider audience. Our students have twice gone on to represent the university at the national finals  of the Microsoft Imagine Cup, an extremely  prestigious contest that sees an incredibly high quality of entries.

The course also prepares you for life in the real world, so you’ll learn how to work effectively as a team player, and develop skills in evaluating and communicating information effectively both verbally and in a written form. Several modules use a work-based learning approach to equip you with the skills needed to work as part of game development teams.

As part of the real-world preparation, you will also have the chance take part in a year-long work placement in the games and associated industries and we have a dedicated placement office who can help you find a suitable post. Having industry experience can really help to boost your CV.

Throughout your course, you’ll receive the support of expert teaching staff, all of who are authorities in their industry, having worked in computer science and software development. We have internationally recognised research and practice based interests which include applying computer games technology to  healthcare, engineering and the built environment.

I enjoy spending time with my new found colleagues during and after class. I find working as a team to be a great and enjoyable experience thanks to them. Radu Dumitriu

Why Choose Us?

• We are home to both a Cisco and Microsoft Academy –one of Microsoft’s top UK university-based academies – and we are a member of the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance. We are also part of Sony’s PlayStation First academic programme.

• We have strong links with Birmingham’s independent games industry, which has enabled us to organise many internship and graduate opportunities for our students. We are actively involved with many of their professional ‘LAUNCH’ game events, as well as working with several companies to promote and educate the next generation of game developers.   

• The School is based at Millennium Point, part of the state-of-the-art City Centre campus, which has outstanding resources and facilities, including a dedicated games studio with specialist game development software.

• The course involves project-based learning, which enables you to work in teams while developing games and solving technical problems – as you would in the workplace.

• You have the opportunity to work with programmers, artists and sound engineers to reflect professional practice.

You can study the production of entertainment as well as educational ‘serious games’.

Entry Requirements

We accept a range of qualifications, the most popular of which are detailed below.

UK students

Essential
At the point of application, you must have GCSE at Grade C or above in English Language and Mathematics. Equivalent qualifications will be accepted.
280 UCAS tariff points from A/AS Level with a minimum of 2 A Levels
Typical Offers
UK Qualification	Requirements 2016/17
GCE A Level/ AS Level	BBC at A Level or 280 UCAS tariff points from A/AS Level with a minimum of 2 A Levels, at least one from a Science, Technology, Mathematics or Computing subject.
Access to Higher Education Diploma	Pass overall with 60 credits, 45 at Level 3 and 15 at Level 2, including with a minimum of 12 credits achieved from any Technology units awarded at Merit or Distinction
BTEC National Diploma (12-units not including early years)	D*D* or combined with other level 3 qualifications to achieve a minimum total of 280 UCAS points
BTEC Extended Diploma (18-units not including early years)	DMM - 280 UCAS points
BTEC Subsidiary Diploma/ National Award (6-units not including early years)	Combined with other level 3 qualifications to achieve a minimum total of 280 UCAS points
BTEC Diploma in Foundation Studies in Art and Design	Distinction
International Baccalaureate Diploma	30 points overall
Irish Leaving Certificate	280 UCAS points - Higher Levels
Scottish Higher/ Advanced Higher	280 UCAS points
Welsh Baccalaureate (core plus options)	120 tariff points combined with other level 3 qualifications to achieve a minimum total of 280 UCAS points
Other qualifications
If you have a qualification that is not listed in the table please refer to our full entry requirements on UCAS. Further guidance on tariff points can be found on the UCAS website.

EU/International students

Essential
EU/Non-EU (International) Qualifications	Requirements 2015/16
IELTS	6.0 overall with 5.5 minimum in all bands
International Baccalaureate Diploma (or equivalent, including internationally accredited Foundation courses).	30 points overall Country-specific entry requirements and qualifications.

International students who cannot meet the direct entry requirements can begin their degree studies at Birmingham City University International College (BCUIC).

Additional Requirements

As part of the application process you will be invited to attend an applicant visit day where you will undertake a short one-to-one interview with an academic member of staff. This is your chance to show us how passionate you are about the subject and it will help us make a decision on your application.

This will provide you with more information about the Faculty and your course. In addition, it will give you a chance to meet and our staff and students to gain a better understanding of what it is like to be a student here.

We think it’s important that you are assessed in a number of different ways during your Computer Games Technology BSc (Hons) studies. These will include  continuous assessment, in-class tests, examinations, laboratory exercises and project work. 

The bulk of your assessments – 70 per cent  – will be via coursework, with 30 per cent being assessed by formal examination.

You will also benefit from industry-led events, on areas such as quality assurance and play-testing, and guest speakers throughout your studies, which give you an additional and valuable dimension to your learning.

This course focuses on computer programming, a skill that is in high demand in the computer games industry.You will start by studying the C# programming language in the first year and move on to C++, the industry standard language, in the second and third years.

You will learn to make games from first principles through to the underlying technologies used in game engine design and you’ll also acquire a range of other computer science skills,as well asmaths and physics-based skills,which are applicable to other areas of IT.

Course breakdown

The course comprises five main themes:

 Business

This theme aims to give you an understanding of market-led innovation planning and management. It also develops your team working skills.

Toolbox

This focuses on the analytical skills you will need for a career in computer game development.

Computer Technologies

You focus on computer hardware and software, as well as the distribution of data through computer networks with applications to mobile computing. There are further elements associated with operating systems and programming.

Game Development

As part of this theme, you examine game design concepts, and the processes involved in developing and implementing games that are widely used in industry standard game engines.

Game Programming

This offers an introduction to games programming, together with an understanding of performance and optimisation issues with respect to graphics and audio.

Enhancing your employability

Your studies will arm you with the practical and academic skills that will help you to stand out when you look for your first professional role.

To break into the industry, you must have a portfolio of games that you have created, which is why alongside your studies you are encouraged to participate in activities such as Global Game Jam, Microsoft’s Imagine Cup or Brains Eden. These students made a game in one weekend at Global Game Jam.

These events offer the ideal platform for showcasing your programming ideas and also give you the opportunity to pick up practical and academic knowledge, and to meet with top employers.

We pride ourselves on our strong links with companies such as Sony, Microsoft Studios, Samsung, Intel and IBM, all of whom you have the chance to work with from early on in your degree studies.

You might even have the opportunity to make incredible contributions to industry while you are still studying, like Jake O’Connor, a second year student who had the opportunity to work with Birmingham City Hospital and developed an innovative virtual reality simulation for teaching doctors to perform eye examinations.

Placements

We aim to have you employer-ready by the time you graduate and as part of your Computer Game Technology course, you have the option of undertaking an industrial placement with either a small, independent studio or large commercial team.

You will do your placement after the second year of study, which will extend the duration of your course to four years.

Thanks to our excellent partnerships and working relationships with some of the UK’s leading companies, you have the chance of a work placement with innovative organisations such as Jagex, Sumo Digital, Microsoft Studios, , Rebellion, Kwalee, Sega Hardlight, and Mixed Reality Studios, as well as local independent game studios at Innovation Birmingham Campus, for example Team Football, Sync Interactive, Dojit and Soshi Games.

Placements such as these will give you the workplace experience that many employers look for and will also provide an invaluable opportunity to develop your practical expertise, earn money and try out a potential career path. It will also boost your CV.

The Faculty's placements team will give you every support throughout the placement process.

Learn more about some of the prestigious organisations that our students are placed with:

• Cisco Systems
• IBM
• Jagex
• Eutechnyx

Full details can be found on the School placements page.

OpportUNIty

OpportUNIty: Student Jobs on Campusensures that our students are given a first opportunity to fill many part-time temporary positions within the University. This allows you to work while you study with us, fitting the job around your course commitments. By taking part in the scheme, you will gain valuable experiences and employability skills, enhancing your prospects in the job market.

It will also allow you to become more involved in University life by delivering, leading and supporting many aspects of the learning experience, from administration to research and mentoring roles

Gaming Education: Saviour or destroyer

If the use of technology in education is about meeting students where they are, it seems like gaming would be a good place to start. After all, as far back as 2008, the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that 97 percent of kids ages 12 to 17 were playing some kind of digital game every week; about half played daily.

And why not? When Neil Postman wrote his classic, Amusing Ourselves to Death, about the shift from a typographically focused society to one that was ruled by television, his title could just as easily have been foretelling the increasing use of gamelike activities in all aspects of life. Consumers spent about $21 billion on the game industry last year. Half of all American households have dedicated game consoles; many have two. We don't fly without getting our miles. We can't shop without handing over our rewards card. We seem to be a species well-suited for seeking "pleasure and reward," notes Janna Quitney Anderson, director of Pew and Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center. Gaming and its trappings play right into our appetites.

Proponents say gaming provides a compelling way to engage students and make educational efforts more effective. Others believe it simply provides a merry diversion from what should truly be happening in the classroom. Where do the golden tokens reside? Let's click for a roll of the die and find out.

"Failing Up"
Games and playing have been part of classrooms "for a long time," declares Katie Salen, well-known game designer, DePaul University professor, and one of the masterminds behind Quest to Learn, a public school in New York designed around game playing. "Play is the way that human beings learn about the world…. That's how we discover how things work."

Besides providing an environment in which to "learn by doing," games offer several other educational benefits, according to Salen. For one, games structure problem-solving in a way that helps the player to "fail up," as Salen puts it. "Every game designer expects every player to be successful in their game," she notes. The best games are designed to makes the problem to be solved both hard and fun so that students will "want to continue to persist on that problem."

Sometimes, the learner will have to try hundreds of times to find success. "You know you're getting better at that particular skill every time you try, and you're learning something about how to solve that particular problem," Salen says. The failure is productive. Rather than hitting some kind of wall and just stopping--which is "what kids tend to experience in the classroom"--failure becomes "a fantastic thing because it's about iteration and discovery. When I try it again, I'm going to apply that particular piece of learning."

Data Rich

One of Salen's arguments for the use of games in education should sit well with most policymakers: Games are rich with data. "They're filled with information for players around how they're doing, where they need to go, how they need to get better," she notes. That data can be used by teachers as well as students, she adds. "Games open up assessment, so it's really kid-facing, and that can be incredibly powerful."