Your next step into aerospace

A degree is the most established route into engineering roles across the industry. Aerospace and aeronautical engineering are the obvious courses, but they’re not the only ones: mechanical, electrical and electronic, software and materials engineering all lead into the same companies, and physics, maths and computer science graduates are in demand too. A broader degree can keep more doors open if you’re not yet certain aerospace is where you’ll land.

Entry requirements vary by university, so check each course, but engineering degrees usually ask for A level Maths and often Physics with it. Look at the shape of the course as well as the grades: many offer a year in industry, which employers rate highly, and most engineering courses are accredited by the professional institutions, which matters later if you want chartered status. Courses come as a BEng, usually three years, or an MEng, usually four, and you can often switch between them once you’re in.

Applications go through UCAS in Year 13: five choices, one application. The personal statement is now three short structured questions about why you want the course, how your studies have prepared you and what you’ve done outside education, which is exactly where work experience and personal projects earn their keep. The main deadline is in January of Year 13, with an earlier mid-October deadline for Oxford and Cambridge, so use Year 12 for open days and narrowing your list.

A degree apprenticeship gives you a full-time job with an aerospace employer and a degree at the same time. You spend most of your week working and part of it studying with a partner university, your employer covers the tuition costs, and you’re paid a salary throughout. You finish with a degree, several years of real experience and no student debt from the course.

The trade-off is competition and commitment. Places are limited and employers select carefully, with online tests, interviews and assessment centres a normal part of the process. Expectations are high, since you’re holding down a job and a degree at once. Applications go directly to each employer rather than through UCAS, and many open in the autumn of Year 13 and close early, so start looking in Year 12 and check the careers pages of companies that interest you.

A sensible approach is to apply for degree apprenticeships and university in parallel, then decide when you know your options. In Scotland, the equivalent route is a Graduate Apprenticeship: you’re employed while studying for an honours degree, with the learning costs funded, and apprenticeships.scot lists what’s available.

Not every role in this industry needs a degree, and apprenticeships below degree level are how much of its skilled workforce trains. Advanced apprenticeships (Level 3 in England) and higher apprenticeships (Levels 4 and 5) lead into roles like aircraft maintenance, manufacturing, avionics and quality inspection: practical work on real aircraft, spacecraft and the systems around them.

You’re employed from day one, earning a wage while you work towards recognised qualifications, often with time at a college or training centre built in. These routes suit people who learn best by doing, and they aren’t a ceiling: plenty of apprentices go on to higher qualifications, degree-level study or professional registration later, frequently with their employer’s backing.

Opportunities are advertised on employers’ careers pages and on the government’s Find an apprenticeship service; in Scotland, Modern Apprenticeships are listed on apprenticeships.scot. As with degree apprenticeships, recruitment often runs from autumn for starts the following year, so look early and apply to more than one.

Some routes into the industry sit outside the standard course-or-apprenticeship choice. Commercial pilot training is one: airlines and approved flight training organisations run structured programmes towards a commercial licence. Training is expensive and selection is demanding, and a few airline-linked schemes help with funding, so research the routes carefully before committing to anything.

The armed forces are another long-standing way in. The RAF, Royal Navy and Army all train their own aircrew, engineers and technicians, with recognised qualifications built into service. It’s a significant commitment that suits some people well, and the skills transfer widely across the industry afterwards.

You can also simply start working. Joining a company in a junior or related role and studying part-time, through an HNC or a part-time degree, is a well-trodden path, particularly with employers who support further study. And if none of these lands for you at 18, nothing closes: people join this industry at all ages and from all directions, and the routes above stay open to career changers too.