Integrated Design Engineering

Integrated design engineering is a relatively young but rapidly growing discipline that sits deliberately at the interface between engineering and design. Traditional engineering programmes have often kept these apart, treating design as a downstream activity that follows engineering decisions. Integrated design engineering takes a different view, arguing that the most innovative and human-centred products, machines, and systems emerge when engineering rigour and design thinking are woven together from the start.

At Bath this three-year full-time programme is for creative engineers who want to develop products and systems that genuinely improve lives and respond to the challenges the world faces. You will explore how engineering and design principles can be combined to drive innovation, studying technical engineering disciplines alongside skills in complex problem-solving, critical thinking, and the broader considerations that professional engineers must keep in mind throughout their careers, including ethics, environmental sustainability, and inclusivity. The programme is built on the understanding that the engineers who make a real difference are those who can think beyond the purely technical, asking not only whether a system works but whether it is right.

You will engage with hands-on project work throughout the degree, developing the habit of moving between analysis and making, between abstract principle and physical artefact. Collaboration is central to engineering practice, and the programme develops your ability to work effectively in teams and to communicate your ideas to a range of audiences.

Graduates of integrated design engineering programmes move into careers in product design and development, manufacturing, consultancy, entrepreneurship, the automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics, medical devices, and sustainability sectors, as well as in design-led engineering roles more broadly. Many also pursue postgraduate study or professional engineering qualifications through bodies such as the Institution of Engineering Designers or the relevant chartered engineer routes.