Global Engineering Challenge

In your first year, you’ll be a part of the Global Engineering Challenge (GEC). This innovative week-long project will give you the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams with other students from across the Faculty of Engineering. Your challenge? To find solutions to real engineering problems faced by developing communities throughout the world.

Make a difference

You could find yourself researching alternative fuel sources for a small community in India, or designing new water and sanitation systems. You won’t only have to think about the technical issues in engineering development, but also the social, ethical and environmental implications of your decisions. The project is based on the Engineering Without Borders initiative.

This is the opportunity for you to mark out that you are a potential engineer who understands that you are going to work across the world.

Professor Mike Hounslow

Vice-President and Head of Faculty of Engineering

Career development

Employers expect more from graduates than just having a degree. To succeed as a professional engineer, you’ll need to be able to work well as part of a team, to communicate well and to think creatively. This project gives you the opportunity to put those skills into practice. It's also a chance to learn more about yourself and become a confident engineer.

You'll collaborate with engineers across all disciplines – just as you would in industry – and learn to think outside your specialism. As you research and present ideas, you'll improve your skills in communicating and solving complex problems. At the end of the week, you’ll present your ideas to the other teams, as well as alumni and reperesentatives from industry. Throughout, you'll be thinking about issues from a global perspective.

Skills you'll gain:

• Team working
• Analytical thinking
• Communication
• Interdisciplinary working
• Problem solving
• Project management
• Leadership
• International development
• Presenting
• Time management
• Collaborative working