Marine Engineering with Naval Architecture

Marine engineering and naval architecture together constitute the engineering disciplines responsible for designing, building, and maintaining the vessels and offshore systems that make global trade, defence, and maritime industries possible. Naval architecture is concerned with the design and structural integrity of ships and marine structures, applying hydrodynamics and structural mechanics to ensure that vessels are seaworthy, stable, and efficient. Marine engineering focuses on the machinery that powers and controls those vessels, including propulsion systems, electrical installations, and the mechanical systems that keep ships operational at sea.

At the University of Plymouth, this three-year full-time degree includes a foundation year that builds the mathematical and scientific foundations you need before entering the core engineering programme. Plymouth's location on the south-west coast and its historical connections to the maritime industry give the programme a particularly grounded context. The sandwich year provides extended professional experience in a marine engineering or shipbuilding environment, and a year abroad allows you to encounter the global maritime industry in a different national and operational context.

Work placement experience is embedded in the programme, ensuring you develop professional competence alongside academic knowledge.

You will study the core sciences and engineering principles that underpin both disciplines, developing skills in structural analysis, fluid dynamics, propulsion systems, and the design of marine systems, alongside the professional judgement that working in safety-critical maritime environments demands.

Graduates go on to careers as marine engineers, naval architects, offshore engineers, and maritime consultants in sectors including shipbuilding, offshore energy, the Royal Navy, the merchant fleet, classification societies, and maritime consultancy. The degree provides a route to chartered engineer status with relevant professional bodies, and many graduates continue to postgraduate study in marine or offshore engineering to build specialist expertise.