Sustainable Energy Engineering (beng Honours) in Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland

Sustainable Energy Engineering (beng Honours) in Cork Institute of Technology

Work Placement

There is a mandatory work placement module for a minimum of 10 weeks at the end of the third year. However, in most instances the company will extend this over the summer up to six months in total. The student will be placed in an energy related industry, consultancy, government agency (SEAI), or research group. The placement will be assessed by means of presentations, reports and research project development. Companies have included; ESB, Bord Gáis, GSK, Boston Scientific, Dairygold, Jones Engineering, PM, Openhydro, Tyndall, Dell EMC, Enercon, Novartis, EPS, and GE Healthcare.

Leaving Cert Subjects:

Helpful subjects are Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, Construction Studies, Design and Communication Graphics, and Applied Mathematics.

Course summary

The course is delivered through a variety of methods including, laboratory practicals, individual and group project assignments, site visits, guest speakers, interactive workshops and lectures. Modules are delivered by staff from many different disciplines, allowing the student to gain understanding of the roles of a range of engineering disciplines involved in the energy and sustainability field. Sites visits are organised which have included: wind farms, hydroelectric power stations, and solar installations. Visiting speakers provide industry input to the programme and have included GSK, Phillips 66, OpenHydro, Arups, Kingspan, Stryker, and Abbotts. Most of these companies now employ graduates from the programme. A major individual research project is undertaken by each student in the final year. In most cases, this project has been brought back from the work placement and has real industry relevance. The results of the project are presented to the public and industry at the annual CIT Engineering Exhibition in April.

Further studies

Honours Degree holders who achieve the specified level of academic performance are eligible to apply for a postgraduate course of study, both at CIT and at other third level colleges in Ireland and abroad.

Career

Graduates over the past 5 years have been employed as process engineers, design engineers and energy analysts. All major industry now requires that its energy use be minimised, and so energy graduates are working in all sectors of industry, including, biopharmaceutical, biomedical devices, energy supply utilities, and manufacturers of energy systems.

Potential Areas of Employment

• Energy Management
• Energy Systems Design
• Energy Project Management
• R&D Energy Engineer
• Process Engineer
• Design Engineer
• Engineering Consultant

Please see www.cit.ie/energyeng for more information