Chemical engineers are responsible for the chemical and biochemical transformations behind thousands of everyday products. The application of these changes is essential to a wide variety of industries, from the manufacture of medicines to freeze-drying food.
This degree includes a 12-month paid placement in a chemical/process engineering company, which will count directly towards your final degree mark.
This degree is accredited by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), providing industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.
You will also have the opportunity to take modules that are professionally accredited by the Institute of Measurement and Control and the Energy Institute.
See the MEng or BEng section below for more information about professional accreditation and the difference between studying to BEng and MEng level.
At Newcastle you will join a School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials with a long-standing reputation for teaching quality and student support.
We are ranked in the top 5 universities in the UK for Chemical Engineering in The Times Good University Guide 2013, The Guardian University Guide 2013 and The Complete University Guide 2013.
Teaching is a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars, computer practice sessions and an extensive hands-on laboratory practical component. You will also spend time working on industrially relevant case studies and design projects in small groups. Further information can be found on our undergraduate web pages about the approach to teaching and learning at Newcastle University.
Assessment is by class tests, laboratory reports, multi-choice questions, project reports, oral presentations, closed book examinations, and interviews. Teaching and assessment methods may vary from module to module, more information can be found in our individual module listings.
During the first two years you follow the same study programme as all of our Chemical Engineering students.
This shared curriculum provides you with a broad foundation of chemical engineering knowledge.
It also gives you the flexibility to transfer between our chemical engineering MEng degrees should your ideas change as your skills develop and you gain more experience of different aspects of chemical engineering.
Transfer to or from this degree to one of our other chemical engineering MEng degrees is possible up to the end of Stage 2 before your accredited industrial placement begins in Stage 3.
This degree includes a 12-month paid placement in a chemical/process engineering company, which will count directly towards your final degree mark.
We have strong links with over 100 companies, including P&G, MSD and ExxonMobil. The School and the University Careers Service will help you to find potential employers and guide you through the application process.
You will work within a team of professional engineers and scientists to apply your knowledge to an industrial problem defined by your host company. Your technical skills will be assessed through an industrial design project. You also complete selected chemical engineering topics by distance learning.
As a chemical engineering student at Newcastle, you will join the School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials. Our state-of-the-art labs and facilities have benefited from considerable investment in the last few years. They include:
Visit the School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials' website, where you can:
We offer chemical engineering degrees at two levels:
All of our chemical engineering degrees are professionally accredited by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE).
Both the BEng and MEng provide a pathway to becoming a Chartered Chemical Engineer. This is one of the most recognisable international engineering qualifications.
Our Master of Engineering (MEng) degrees are considered a more direct route to becoming a Chartered Engineer (CEng) as they completely satisfy the academic requirements required to achieve this professional qualification. This means you will not have to undertake any further study on the route to chartered status.
Our three-year BEng degree can also lead to Chartered Engineer status later in your career, though you will need to undertake a further period of study, for example an accredited or approved Master’s degree, or appropriate further learning to Master’s level.
A BEng is also suitable for international students who don’t need British Chartered Engineer status.
Find out more about the benefits of becoming a Chartered Engineer on the Engineering Council’s website. Find out how to obtain Chartership through IChemE on IChemE's Get Chartered website.