About Engineering, BA - at Trinity College Dublin
What is Engineering?Engineering is basically about using mathematical and scientific principles together with analytical and design skills to devise new solutions to practical problems. These problems might be related to the physical infrastructure (roads, buildings, machines, etc.) or to the information infrastructure (telecommunications, computers, electronics, etc.) of the environment in which we live.
Is this the right course for me?Engineering is a constantly evolving profession. As an engineer, you will need to be comfortable, therefore, adapting to both the rapid development of new ideas and technology and to the shifting requirements of industry and society. Ideally you will be a good communicator and will also be capable of working as part of a team.
Course overviewThe B.A.I. degree programme is based on two years of general engineering, which provides students with a firm grounding in the principles common to all disciplines, and two years of specialisation. Graduates of the course are professionally accredited engineers with both a broad-based understanding of the whole discipline and a detailed knowledge of their chosen specialist area. The aim is that graduates are able to train themselves and to adapt and move into related or newly emerging areas as their careers develop.
The Freshman yearsAll students initially follow a two-year common programme. The Junior Freshman (first) year comprises introductory and foundation courses in subjects such as engineering science, mathematics, computer science, graphics and computer aided engineering.
In the Senior Freshman (second) year, students take a set of foundation courses and complete a basic design project in each of the specialist degree areas on offer. This allows you to explore all the possibilities open to you in advance of making your final decision about what specialism to concentrate on.
What happens next?At the end of the Senior Freshman (second) year you choose one of the five specialist areas. Courses in the Sophister (third and fourth) years aim to broaden and deepen your knowledge and understanding of the particular subjects you have chosen to follow to degree level.
Subjects are studied in much greater detail and students undertake real-life, practical projects. If you choose civil, structural and environmental engineering, for example, you could end up testing the pre-cast concrete used to build the Paddington to Heathrow railway. Likewise, if you choose computer engineering, you might find yourself building a microprocessor system.
A substantial design project will be part of your final year assessment in each discipline.
