Overview of Undergraduate Programmes in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in the United Kingdom

In both the United Kingdom and abroad, the demand for robotics professionals is increasing rapidly due to the widespread adoption of automation and artificial intelligence technologies. This highlights the critical need for robotics and artificial intelligence professionals to support the advancement of automation technologies while also addressing its potential impact on the workforce. These trends underscore a growing gap between the demand for robotics professionals and the available talent pool, emphasizing the necessity for more specialised education and training programmes. Historically, undergraduate engineering and computer science programmes in British universities have been designed to focus on conventional technological domains, such as mechanical, electrical, and computing engineering. However, careers in robotics require a comprehensive blend of these fields, alongside training in systems engineering and advanced applications. Therefore, there is a clear need for new educational programmes dedicated to robotics and artificial intelligence. Despite some recent progress in introducing specialised robotics and artificial intelligence programmes in the UK, there is limited systematic research on how these programmes should be structured to align with evolving market and societal needs. This paper examines the structure and learning outcomes of robotics and artificial intelligence programmes offered in the UK. The authors evaluate the similarities and differences among these programmes, identify subject-specific learning outcomes, and outline core topic streams in robotics and artificial intelligence. We analysed 12 undergraduate educational programmes currently offered in the UK with titles explicitly including both ‘Robotics’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence’. Our findings revealed that modules in the areas of artificial intelligence and computer science typically account for approximately one-third of the total available credits in these programmes. This proportion is often comparable to the combined share of modules related to electrical, electronic, and general engineering. However, a preliminary analysis of job advertisement keywords for positions in the areas of robotics in AI in the UK posted on LinkedIn in the during the last quarter of 2024 indicates that over 55% of the keywords fall into the AI or computer science categories. This disparity suggests a potential misalignment between the curricula of these educational programmes and the demands of the job market.