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I am looking for an Aerospace Engineering program in the EU. I heard the Aerospace Engineering Department in Delft University in the Netherlands is one of the best programmes.
I prefer English speaking countries, such as the Netherlands, Scotland, and Scandinavian countries.
To be more specific I would like to study about the operation of airlines, airports, maintenance, how to do aircraft take-off performance calculations, and regulations relating to the operation of EFB applications.
Updated: February 2016
Keep in mind this is aerospace engineering, but some places offer stuff like aviation management, which might be more what you are after, depending on what you want to do. TU Delft is more tailored to the former.
While most of the topics of interest you mention will only appear in some capacity in the TU Delft AE BSc, they will appear in more detail and focus in certain MSc tracks. I'm not sure which you are after. While you mentioned Sweden, they do the first year BSc in Swedish, which stops you unless you know the language (All MSc is English). KTH (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan), Stockholm is normally considered the best TU in Sweden and does AE as MSc. Again, it might not match what you're looking for. Scotland has plenty of programs- a search in the UCAS serach engine should suffice.
Wherever you go, it's a big cultural question as well. What are your expectations of for instance social life? There are two similar but still different countries & cultures.
I am a former BSc Aerospace Engineering student at TU Delft. In my opinion, the uni has great facilities and it's for most part a very good (of course with the occasional bad lemons that you would find anywhere). Student teams are also of very high quality. The topics you mention thought would probably be more dealt with in the master program however. The BSc. is pretty 'heavy' engineering (calculations/exercises) for most part with a lot of conceptual and a little practical work to try and brighten up your day :) TU Delft may be good but you won't get through it on a banana peel. First year dropout rate is ~55% according to one source. University officially says 76% however. A minority pull it off in the official three years but most take longer. Important consideration if you’re paying the non-EU fee.
The topics you describe are certainly part of aerospace engineering, however they are somewhat specialized topics. I am not trying to discourage you, but Aerospace engineering involves a lot of mathematics and physics. If these fields do not appeal to you, you will be having a hard time to get through to the sweeter parts.
Some universities only offer a Master programme for Aerospace engineering, which typically follows on to their Bachelor programme Mechanical engineering. If you are really interested in aviation, I would recommend to select a full (Bachelor and Master) Aerospace programme.
Aerospace engineering programmes generally involve a thorough basis of mathematics (linear algebra, calculus) , physics (mechanics, thermodynamics), material sciences before introducing more specialized subjects like aerodynamics, aircraft performance, and space flight. At bachelor level, you will get an introduction to a diverse set of aerospace related subjects. At master level you will go deeper into an area, although you will have to accept that you won't master all subjects you mention.
I had a good time at Delft University, it certainly has a good Aerospace Engineering programme which I would recommend. In addition I had the pleasure to work with a graduate from Bristol university, she is very knowledgeable. I'd certainly look into their programme as well. For Scandinavia I would look into aerospace programmes in Sweden. Sweden has quite an active Aerospace industry. Linköping is their centre of Aerospace Engineering.
