Tina
MEng Chemical Engineering
There’s a really broad spectrum of people on the course. Everyone’s got their own little story. You could go to the lecture theatre and sit anywhere and sit with someone familiar and chat.
Practicals and design
"In the early years of the course, we did quite a lot of practical’s and had to write up reports off the back of them. This year, because it’s the final year for the bachelor's degree, it’s been primarily focused around the final year design project.
"It’s basically group work where you've got to design a chemical plant within your group and then in the second semester you’ve got to then zoom in and design individually one component of that plant, whether it’s a reactor or a column you’ve got to do that in detail.
"A good chunk of the course was lab based in years 1 and 2. This year, it’s more kind of putting into practice.
"There's specific engineering computer rooms, that’s the main resource that we use. They’ve got all the computer programmes you could need. You’ve got all your basics, Microsoft, Visio and then they’ve got MATLAB, Aspin which is a Chemical Engineering design programme which you can’t get, you can’t download it, it costs thousands so it’s really good software."
Placement opportunities
"I’m starting a placement this time. I’ve just finished my third year and then I’m starting a placement at Cummins in Huddersfield, an engineering place. Then, I’m going to come back and do my masters.
"I’m wanting to be a chemical engineer but I’m not sure what industry specifically yet.
"That’s probably the reason I’m doing a placement. It’s to make me more employable but I want to have a little taste and at Cummins especially, they do a rotation where you go round different departments as well. You can be in the design department and actually in the plant."
Right for me
"I think the campus is my favourite thing about studying at Bradford.
"It’s not too big, it’s clean and it’s quite accommodating. Because it’s not too big you don’t have to walk miles to get to one place or to another, it’s convenient.
"As well, with the size, because it’s not enormous, your lecturers know you, you can go to lectures and they’ll recognise you. You have a little bit more; I imagine there’s a bit more connection with the academics and the support staff because it is a more manageable size. It’s not enormous, I think it’s just a good size for me."
I am proud of myself for coming back and doing it. Sometimes, when I do think about my life, I think I’ve got three kids and I’m doing this. I do feel proud and that I can do it.
this is where
...I started again
If I’d have left school at 18, I wouldn’t have even known anything about engineering courses. But after I had my third child, I wasn’t ready to go back to work. I had a break and thought ‘do I go back to that same job or do I start afresh something new?’.
I just started looking. I was interested in Maths and Science and I looked at what jobs were out there and found Chemical Engineering. I looked at different universities and course descriptions and it just took my fancy, so I decided to start again.
I think you can be as organised as you like, I’ve got all my days broken up in my calendar. But it’s the out of University study that's the difficult bit. It’s just finding the time. Sometimes by the time I get my few hours in the day, the kids are in bed and you’re kind of nodding off thinking ‘I’ve not even started’. That’s the biggest challenge definitely.
