Meteorology
High quality weather forecasts and, nowadays, climate predictions, are essential to the well-being of society world-wide. Both depend critically on understanding the workings of the atmosphere including its interaction with the oceans and continents over periods that vary from seconds to many decades. At Reading you will gain a uniquely broad and deep insight into the processes that drive and change both the atmosphere and ocean, and the world's weather and climate.
A centre of expertise
The knowledge, the understanding and the varied skills you develop will set the stage for a career in meteorology and allied subjects. The status of the Department is reflected in the long-standing presence of the UK Met Office's Joint Centre for Mesoscale Meteorology in the building, the Data Assimilation Research Centre for Earth Observation and the Walker Institute for Climate System Research.
Career prospects
Employment prospects in meteorology and related areas are very good with 81% of our graduates in graduate level work or study six months after graduating. Most of our graduates are able to find jobs or postgraduate oppurtunities (MSc or PhD) in their area of interest.
Many of our graduates have found employment with the UK Met Office as research scientists or as forecasters, including the job of 'mobile meteorologist' in association with the Royal Air Force. Others are forecasters in the Royal Navy where they are involved in predicting the weather for Naval Air Station operations or for the Fleet during training or real events. Private weather forecasting companies such as MeteoGroup UK, Weather News International in the Netherlands and Weather Services International in Birmingham have employed graduates in recent years. They may for example prepare national and local forecasts for newspapers, radio and television or be involved in predicting weather for towing oil rigs in European waters or indeed any part of the world's oceans. Some graduates pursue higher degrees in atmospheric and oceanic science, either at Reading, at other UK universities or overseas in order to follow a research career in the university sector or in government research centres.
Some meteorology students have positions as TV and radio weather presenters, while others work for the UK's Environment Agency – predicting floods on the River Thames for example. The meteorology programme has also lead to employment in Air Traffic Control and along other paths as diverse as banking, school teaching and accountancy. Our programmes offer not only an excellent grounding for careers in weather science, but are also seen as a very sound scientific qualification by a wide-ranging selection of employers.
Quality assessment
The Department of Meteorology is housed in an attractive modern building that has up-to-date teaching facilities including web-linked technology tables, well-provisioned instruments and fluids laboratories and a well-used, professionally-staffed library.
It is well-known internationally as a prime centre of training and education in meteorology, with some overseas weather services sending their staff on the undergraduate programme.
Practical experience/study abroad
The degree programmes all involve outdoor practical sessions on the Department's campus atmospheric observatory. In recent years some second year undergraduates have won competitive summer vacation employment with the Met Office working either at the HQ in Exeter or at the Met Research Flight facility. Students have also organised visits to the BBC TV Weather Centre in London.
The four year programme with a year at the University of Oklahoma provides the opportunity to experience advanced modules at one of the best meteorology faculties in the United States. Students will study in the High Plains region that is renown for severe local storms, particularly in the spring.
Oklahoma University's School of Meteorology shares the new 'National Weather Centre' building with the US National Severe storms Laboratory and Forecast Office, along with other excellent federal research centres.
Progressional recognition
The BSc programmes on offer are accredited by our professional body, the Royal Meteorological Society.This means that Reading meteorology degress can be used as part of the qualification for the title 'Chartered Meteorologist.'
Scholarships and bursaries
The Department offers bursaries of £500 per year to Part 2 and 3 to the two highest performing students in Part 1. Scholarships may also be offered by the Met Office to students who do exceptionally well in the first year. In addition, any student who firmly accepts our offer on either degree and who achieves 3 A grades at A2 level including Mathematics and Physics automatcally receives an entrance scholarshi of £1000.
BSc or MMet?
We offer two single subjects Meteorology programmes that are complemented by a combined degree in Mathematics & Meteorology. The 3-year BSc in Meteorology and Climate begins with 50% content in the subject plus some complulsory mathematics and the choice of physics, more mathematics, soil science or geology as options. T
he flexibility of the Reading system means that, subject to the Part 1 options you select, you can swap from a single subject programme to a combined one and vice-versa at the outset of the Part 2 session. In Part 2, Meteorology comprises 2/3 of the year's work that is supported by relevant mathematics along with the choice of more mathematics, soil science, geology or one of a wide variety of languages options. Part 3 is entirely given over to Meteorology, including a substantial research project.
The three-year degree is extended into a fourth year by the MMet Meteorology and Climate with a year in Oklahoma. This programme follows the same structure in Year 1 and Year 2. In the third year you will take US-system fourth-year modules and, possibly some Masters level modules at the University of Oklahoma. You will return to Reading for your final year. The MMet has a higher entry requirement and is aimed at students driven to spend a significant period in one of the best Meteorology Schools in the USA. It may also act as a 'foot in the door' for those wishing to study further in North America.
Educational approach
Teaching on the meteorology programmes includes lectures and practical sessions that involve weather map analysis, laboratory classes, PC-based work, outdoor measurments and data analysis. A key element of your learning and your assessment will be a major piece of project work in the third year. This may, for example, be the detailed analysis of a severe weather event, computer simulation of atmospheric or oceanic phenomena or measurment and analysis of meteorology phenomena.