Engineering at Lancaster will challenge students to design and build things to solve real-world problems. The discipline is particularly interesting to anyone with a technical and creative mind, and enjoys working as part of a team. In modern engineering, it is almost impossible to define distinct boundaries between disciplines and as such Lancaster offers a general engineering entry point. Knowledge and experience spanning across several engineering disciplines will compliment later specialisms, improve career prospects, and is ideal for students who want to defer choosing a specialism. For example, it can be highly beneficial for an electronic and electrical engineer to understand thermal heat transfer, a chemical engineer to understand stress analysis, and a mechanical engineer to be able to program a simple interface.

During this general first year, students will be introduced to many of the key features of engineering, equipping them with a well-rounded understanding and skill set in areas such as transport technology, chemical engineering, computing and digital electronics. In addition to these, students will gain an appreciation for the interdisciplinary nature of the subject. Following the first year, where students will have developed a solid foundation of engineering knowledge and begun to explore a variety of different areas of the discipline, they will have the opportunity to consider and plan their academic progression. At this stage, students move onto any of the specialist programs.

All of the specialist programs are accredited by at least one professional body, including the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), and the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), and depend on which specialism students wish to pursue. Although students select a specialisation, there are still common themes to all degrees notably in management and business development. Interdisciplinary work also continues throughout the group project work where the change in emphasis is about project management and adding their technical specialism to ensure the success of the project. Students will also develop and reflect upon their professional skills and experience, just as they would do in industry.   

During fourth year, students will undertake two short projects linked to industry. Set by the company, these projects provide an opportunity to tackle the unfamiliar, asking them to develop a solution by applying prior learning and skills in a logical, insightful manner. Although daunting at first, they provide real businesses experience and learning that is difficult to achieve within a purely academic environment.