MSc Advanced Aeronautical Engineering
Multidisciplinary training in aircraft technologies aimed at reducing environmental impact and life-cycle costs.
Key information
Overview
This course is suitable if you have an engineering background and a particular interest in aircraft technologies.
Air travel is vital for the prosperity of the economy and is predicted to grow significantly over the next 20 years. The challenge facing aviation is to meet this demand while ensuring the environment is protected.
You will learn the fundamentals disciplines needed to develop new technologies and greener aircraft.
The course offers multidisciplinary training in aircraft technologies for reducing environmental impact and life-cycle costs.
The facilities in the Department are of a high standard, with the latest industry-standard software available for students to use.
Study programme
The programme can be completed in one-year on a full-time basis.
The programme is comprised of core and optional modules: the core modules are compulsory and consist of a set of introductory non-examinable modules and modules related to the "Green Aviation" initiative. The optional modules deal with advanced aeronautical engineering topics.
You will also complete an extensive four-month individual research project. The project is made up of a piece of individual research which must include some element of originality and can be wholly experimental, wholly theoretical, or a mixture of the two.
Professional accreditation
The Department of Aeronautics' current professional accreditation agreement is due to be renewed and the department is seeking re-accreditation for its courses. We expect to be successful in this renewal.
This degree has previously been professionally accredited by The Royal Aeronautical Society between 2014 and 2019.
Structure
Modules shown are for the current academic year and are subject to change depending on your year of entry.
Please note that the curriculum of this programme is currently being reviewed as part of a College-wide process to introduce a standardised modular structure. As a result, the content and assessment structures of this course may change for your year of entry. We therefore recommend that you check this course page before finalising your application and after submitting it as we will aim to update this page as soon as any changes are ratified by the College.
Find out more about the limited circumstances in which we may need to make changes to or in relation to our courses, the type of changes we may make and how we will tell you about changes we have made.
Structure
Core modules
You take all of the core modules below.
- Aerospace Structures
- Aircraft Systems Engineering
- Applied Aerodynamics
- Emerging Technologies for Green Aviation
- Introduction to Fluid Dynamics
- Introduction to Programming
- Introductory Mathematics
- Major Individual Research Project
- Revision Stress Analysis
- Technical Writing and Presentations
Optional modules
- Advanced Mechanics of Flight
- Advanced Propulsion
- Aeroservoelasticity
- Aerospace Vehicle Design
- Aircraft Performance and Flight Mechanics
- Airframe Design
- An Introduction to Flow Control
- Analysis of Laminated Composites
- Artificial Intelligence for Aerospace Engineers
- Compressible Flow
- Computational Fluid Dynamics
- Computational Mechanics
- Control Theory
- High-Performance Computing
- Introduction to Turbulence and Turbulence Modelling
- Introductory Mathematics
- Manufacturing Science
- Materials Modelling
- Stress Analysis and Impact
- Technology, Business and the Market for Aeronautical Engineers
Research project
You complete an extensive four-month individual research project. The project is made up of a piece of individual research which must include some element of originality and can be wholly experimental, wholly theoretical, or a mixture of the two.
You select projects from a list of topics proposed by university staff and by industry. The results from the study must be set in context against published work. The project is assessed by progress in conducting the work, a dissertation of about 10,000 words, and an oral presentation.
Log books are good practice and may be required by your supervisor as part of your submission. Please ensure you speak to your supervisor at the start of your project to find out if a log book will be required.
It is expected that many projects will have significant industry support and may be wholly or partly undertaken in industry, as appropriate.
Teaching and assessment
Teaching methods
- Lectures
- Tutorials
- Group Work
- Blackboard VLE
- Student Portal on Sharepoint
- Panopto recordings
- Major Individual Research Project
Assessment methods
- Written Examinations
- Coursework
- Tutorial Material
- Oral Presentations
- Progress Reports
Entry requirements
We welcome students from all over the world and consider all applicants on an individual basis.
Admissions
Minimum academic requirement
Our minimum requirement is a 2.1 degree (or equivalent) in aerospace or mechanical engineering, with some experience of fluid and structural dynamics. Please note, a first class degree (or equivalent) is strongly preferred.
International qualifications
We also accept a wide variety of international qualifications.
The academic requirement above is for applicants who hold or who are working towards a UK qualification.
For guidance see our Country Index though please note that the standards listed here are the minimum for entry to the College, and not specifically this Department.
If you have any questions about admissions and the standard required for the qualification you hold or are currently studying then please contact the relevant admissions team.
English language requirement (all applicants)
All candidates must demonstrate a minimum level of English language proficiency for admission to the College.
For admission to this course, you must achieve the standard College requirement in the appropriate English language qualification. For details of the minimum grades required to achieve this requirement, please see the English language requirements for postgraduate applicants.
Competence standards
Our competence standards highlight the core skills students should be able to demonstrate by the end of this course.
View the Department's competence standards for MSc Advanced Aeronautical Engineering [pdf]
We believe in providing the widest practicable access to all of our degree programmes and will make reasonable adjustments wherever possible to support your study. For more information, please contact the Department using the contact details below.
Department of Aeronautics
T: +44 (0)20 7594 5066
E: aero.msc-admissions@imperial.ac.uk
Admissions
Making an application
Apply online
All applicants must apply online.
Visit our Admissions website for details on the application process.
You can submit one application form per year of entry. You can usually choose up to two courses.
Application fee
For 2021–22 entry, we are introducing a pilot application fee for our Master's courses. This helps cover some of the administrative and staffing costs associated with processing the large volume of applications we receive.
This fee will be £80 per application and not per course.
We will waive the fee for any applicant – Home or Overseas – who demonstrates that they are experiencing financial hardship.
There is no application fee for Postgraduate Certificates, Postgraduate Diplomas or PhDs. The fee for MBA applications to the Imperial College Business School is £135.
ATAS certificate (overseas candidates)
An ATAS certificate is required for all visa-nationals, with the exception of EEA/Swiss nationals and nationals of the following countries: Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the USA.
To apply for an ATAS certificate online, you will need your programme’s Common Aggregation Hierarchy (CAH) code and ‘descriptor’, as well as your university supervisor name. For this course, these are:
| CAH code | Descriptor | Supervisor name |
|---|---|---|
| CAH10-01-04 | aeronautical and aerospace engineering | Professor Paul Robinson |
Your student visa application, or extension of stay, will automatically be refused if you need an ATAS certificate and cannot provide one.
For further guidance on obtaining an ATAS certificate please see the information on our International Student Support website.
Further questions?
Find answers to your questions about admissions. Answers cover COVID-19, English language requirements, Visas and more.
Tuition fees and funding
The level of tuition fees you pay is based on your fee status, which we assess based on UK government legislation.
Find out more about fees and funding opportunities.
Tuition fees
Home rate of tuition
2021 entry
£14,650 per year
Fees are charged by year of entry to the College and not year of study.
Except where otherwise indicated, the fees for students on courses lasting more than one year will increase annually by an amount linked to inflation, including for part-time students on modular programmes. The measure of inflation used will be the Retail Price Index (RPI) value in the April of the calendar year in which the academic session starts e.g. the RPI value in April 2021 will apply to fees for the academic year 2021–2022.
Fee status
Whether you pay the Home fee depends on your fee status.
Your fee status is assessed based on UK Government legislation and includes things like where you live and your nationality or residency status.
Find out more about how we assess your fee status.
EU/EEA/Swiss students
The Government has confirmed that EU/EEA/Swiss students who begin a course before the 31 July 2021 will be eligible to pay the same fee as Home students and have access to student finance for the duration of their course, as long as they meet certain requirements which are unchanged from previous years. This includes students who begin the course remotely.
EU/EEA/Swiss students starting a course on or after 1 August 2021 will no longer be eligible for the Home fee rate and so will be charged the Overseas fee. Please note we do not expect this to apply to Irish students or students benefitting from Citizens' rights under the EU Withdrawal Agreement, EEA EFTA Separation Agreement or Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement respectively. However, we are currently awaiting the formal publication of the amended Fees and Awards regulations.
The UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) website has useful information on the conditions you currently need to meet to be entitled to pay tuition fees at the Home rate for study on a higher education course in England and reflect the regulations as they currently stand (not the amended regulations which are subject to publication).
UKCISA has also provided some information in response to Questions for students starting their course from the 1 August 2021.
For regular updates for EU students, please see our Imperial and the EU webpages.
Overseas rate of tuition
2021 entry
£34,000 per year
Fees are charged by year of entry to the College and not year of study.
Except where otherwise indicated, the fees for students on courses lasting more than one year will increase annually by an amount linked to inflation, including for part-time students on modular programmes. The measure of inflation used will be the Retail Price Index (RPI) value in the April of the calendar year in which the academic session starts e.g. the RPI value in April 2021 will apply to fees for the academic year 2021–2022.
Fee status
Whether you pay the Overseas fee depends on your fee status.
Your fee status is assessed based on UK Government legislation and includes things like where you live and your nationality or residency status.
Find out more about how we assess your fee status.
EU/EEA/Swiss students
The Government has confirmed that EU/EEA/Swiss students who begin a course before the 31 July 2021 will be eligible to pay the same fee as Home students and have access to student finance for the duration of their course, as long as they meet certain requirements which are unchanged from previous years. This includes students who begin the course remotely.
EU/EEA/Swiss students starting a course on or after 1 August 2021 will no longer be eligible for the Home fee rate and so will be charged the Overseas fee. Please note we do not expect this to apply to Irish students or students benefitting from Citizens' rights under the EU Withdrawal Agreement, EEA EFTA Separation Agreement or Swiss Citizens’ Rights Agreement respectively. However, we are currently awaiting the formal publication of the amended Fees and Awards regulations.
The UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) website has useful information on the conditions you currently need to meet to be entitled to pay tuition fees at the Home rate for study on a higher education course in England and reflect the regulations as they currently stand (not the amended regulations which are subject to publication).
UKCISA has also provided some information in response to Questions for students starting their course from the 1 August 2021.
For regular updates for EU students, please see our Imperial and the EU webpages.
Postgraduate Master's loan
If you're a UK national, or EU national with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you may be able to apply for a Postgraduate Master’s Loan from the UK government, if you meet certain criteria.
For 2020-21 entry, the maximum amount was of £11,222. The loan is not means-tested and you can choose whether to put it towards your tuition fees or living costs.
Scholarships
We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students to support you through your studies. Find out more about our scholarships to see what you might be eligible for.
A number of external organisations also offer awards for Imperial students. Find out more about non-Imperial scholarships.
Accommodation and living costs
Living costs, including accommodation, are not included in your tuition fees.
You can compare costs across our different accommodation options on our Accommodation website.
A rough guide to what you might expect to spend to live in reasonable comfort in London is available on our Fees and Funding website.
Further information
Got a question?
T: +44(0) 20 7594 5066
E: aero.msc-admissions@imperial.ac.uk
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