Biomedical Engineering with an Industrial Placement Year

You’ll spend a year gaining hands-on work experience in an engineering, medical, or healthcare company, gaining invaluable real-world insights. This experience will give you a distinct competitive edge in the job market upon graduation.

Why study this course?

• Number one for teaching on my course: We are ranked number one in the Russell Group for teaching on my course in the subject of bioengineering, medical, and biomedical engineering (National Student Survey 2024).

• Unique, state-of-the-art facilities: You’ll work in specialised biomedical spaces, including the Bio Mammalian and Bio Bacteria labs, as well as advanced areas like the Microfabrication room, Electronics Cleanroom, and the Pilot Plant in the Diamond building.

• 4th in the UK for bioengineering and biomedical engineering: Ranked in the top 5 for bioengineering and biomedical engineering (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025).

• Broad choice of specialisms: From your second year you can choose between four specialisms: Biomedical Engineering, Medical Devices and Systems, Biomaterials Science and Tissue Engineering, or Biomanufacturing. This flexibility allows you to tailor your degree to your interests and career goals.

• Global Engineering Challenge: Join teams of students to solve engineering problems in developing countries.

This course prepares you to be at the forefront of the rapidly growing medical technology sector, developing your skills and knowledge to create innovative solutions that can save and improve lives.

This well-established course helps you build a strong foundation in engineering principles, while equipping you with the skills to design, innovate, and improve medical technologies. You’ll gain hands-on experience and knowledge that will empower you to make a real impact through advanced biomedical solutions.

Our expert team, composed of industry professionals, clinicians and academics, will show you how engineering principles can transform healthcare, by integrating diverse disciplines to develop innovative solutions that enhance health and wellbeing.

The course offers unparalleled flexibility to allow you to tailor your course to your interests. Your first year gives an introduction to bioengineering, at the end of which you’ll begin to broadly tailor the course towards a specialism, by choosing one of the following four specialisms for the rest of the course:

• Biomedical Engineering

• Medical Devices and Systems

• Biomaterials Science and Tissue Engineering

• Biomanufacturing

The final year involves undertaking an individual project, where you’ll collaborate closely with an academic expert in your chosen specialism. This project allows you to apply your knowledge and skills to a real-world challenge, exploring your area of interest in depth.

You’ll have the opportunity to put your knowledge and skills into practice with a year-long industry placement, gaining invaluable real-world experience. On the placement year, you'll have the chance to work in an engineering, medical or healthcare company. It'll provide valuable experience that enhances your employability and prepares you for your future career.

You’ll receive comprehensive support and advice from our dedicated Industrial Placement Year team to help you find the right opportunity.

Many of our students have secured placements with leading companies, gaining hands-on experience and industry insights. We have links with world-famous companies such as Siemens, AstraZeneca and Nestlé, who also join us on campus for employability fairs and networking sessions.

Accredited by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) on behalf of the Engineering Council for the purposes of fully meeting the academic requirement for registration as an Incorporated Engineer and partially meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer.