After looking at all of the universities within the Manchester, Fenton Cooney, a now-final year BEng Aeronautical Engineering student, came to a University of Salford open day and decided that this was the place. Read on to find out more about Fenton’s journey throughout his course; what he enjoys most about studying at Salford, his advice to you as a potential student and where he’d like to go after graduation.

“Using MathScope raised my Maths grades from 57% and 45% in first year online exams, to 70% and 84% in my second year written exams”

Hi, Fenton! Thanks so much for talking to us today. First things first, why did you choose to come to study at Salford?

Originally, I was looking at all three main universities in the Manchester area. I went to an open day and was impressed with the equipment being used along with the approachability of the doctors and lecturers on campus. They talked about the course realistically and gave a clear understanding of what would be expected of me and what I could expect to receive.

Tell us a bit about your course. How would you explain your course to someone who knows nothing about it?

The course is very theoretically and mathematically heavy, with a lot of concepts such as simple wind flow being dove into, to reveal how complex it can actually be in mathematical terms. This gets progressed on each year with more and more details added from first year learning about flow equations and Reynolds numbers, to heat transfers and boundary conditions.

Have you done or will you do a placement? If so, tell us about how you found it.

I did a placement with the University of Salford as a researcher. This role lasted over summer (primarily July) and had me working on an individual project given by another team. The placement had been brought to me by a lecturer and then this was also advertised in other lectures.

What support was available to you during your studies?

One of the best supports for me while at Salford was the MathScope. As someone who didn’t take A Level Maths or A Level Further Maths, I struggled in my first year while others seemed to excel in Maths. However, after going to the MathScope, which is a group of lecturers from various departments who help with either a question presented or and entire topic (given time), had raised my Maths grades from 57% and 45% in first year online exams, to 70% and 84% in my second year written exams.

What advice would you give to someone thinking of studying here?

I’d personally recommend networking and getting to know your peers in your year, peers in high years and lectures. A great first step to this would be by joining engineer society’s, booking meetings with your tutors about research papers and what they have worked on recently or possibly becoming a course representative.

What was your favourite piece of equipment?

Currently, the closed loop wind tunnel is my most used piece of equipment on campus. Along with this, the Merlin is also a great tool for simulating flying in various aircraft.

What is your favourite part about being a University of Salford student?

How accessible and close everything is. Compared to other universities, Salford has the best balance between being professional and conducts an industry style method which gives the necessary skills to work in the given field, while also being very easy to arrange meetings and being able to open talk to lectures which you couldn’t really do in other universities.

And finally, where do you want your degree to take you? What is your dream job, and how do you think your degree will help you get there?

Currently, I have looked at various companies such as Marlec and Morsons to work with in the area. Along with this, I’ve also considered trying to get a scholarship for my Masters degree and PhD in order to become a junior researcher or lecturer in the field. My degree would help me with companies such as Marlec and Morsons as I’ve done projects with them in the past and am going to be doing other projects with them for my finals year project.