Design Engineering with Integrated Foundation Year

Design engineering is a discipline that combines creative design thinking with the analytical rigour of engineering, producing graduates who can move fluently between the generation of ideas and the technical work of realising them. In an economy increasingly shaped by complex products, digital-physical systems, and sustainability imperatives, the ability to design things that are simultaneously functional, manufacturable, and human-centred is genuinely valuable.

This four-year programme at the University of Brighton includes an integrated foundation year, giving you a supported entry point into the subject before you advance to the full degree. The foundation year builds the scientific and mathematical foundations alongside introductory design and engineering principles, ensuring all students have a common base. As the programme develops, you will explore the full cycle of product development, from identifying user needs and generating concepts through to prototyping, materials selection, and production considerations.

You will also undertake a placement year, spending time in an industry setting where you apply and test what you have learned in a genuine professional context. The programme also includes a work placement component, so your engagement with industry is a sustained feature of the course rather than an afterthought.

Design engineering graduates are employed across product design, manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, medical devices, construction, and sustainability-focused industries. Many graduates work in roles that sit between traditional design and engineering teams, providing the collaborative bridge that complex product development requires. Some move into entrepreneurship, taking ideas through to commercial ventures.

Further study in design, engineering, or innovation management is also open to graduates who wish to deepen their expertise.