At all levels, the Department defines its teaching purpose through aims which are promulgated via a Staff Teaching Handbook, documents issued to students, syllabuses and coursework instructions. These aims are encapsulated in the Department's Mission Statement. The mission of the Department is to foster and develop academic excellence across a wide range of engineering and at all levels of study. The Department is extremely fortunate in the calibre of the 300 or so students accepted by the colleges for the undergraduate courses in engineering. The students without A-levels have attained equivalent results in the International Baccalaureate or comparable examinations.
Subsequently students can choose one of a number of routes to degree level.
The majority opt for the specialisations provided by the two-year courses of either the Engineering Tripos, Part II, or the Electrical and Information Sciences Tripos. For those with a particular interest in manufacturing, there is the Manufacturing Engineering Tripos, for which the number of places available is limited to 44. In the future, this transfer is to take place at the end of the first year. There is also an inward transfer of students from Natural Sciences or Mathematics, comparable in number to the outward transfer to Chemical Engineering. The Advanced Course in Design, Manufacture and Management is a one-year taught course for graduates with a first degree in engineering, or some other numerate subject.