If TS is still hanging around, here's my insights about the MEng/MSc, BEng and all those sort of thing.

If you intend to spend least time (and cost) and don't care about accreditation (which is admittedly not really practised in our industry), 3-years BEng is extremely effective to get to work fast with a good degree - not that anything you learn in the degree will be extremely useful to your work.

Why care about MEng then? Because it adds another year of content, mainly high-level modules exclusive to MSc students and make it into 4 years in length to meet the requirement for 4-years accreditation across the globe now. Is it an MSc? Nope, it's not - it's not meant to produce researcher, but rather an engineer, an accredited one.

MEng vs MSc, what's the difference? The modules taken are mostly the same (at least in Nottingham - Malaysia or UK) but MEng undertake an extra group project which aims to train student in handling and managing projects as it is the case in the industry (PR talk la, but actually YMMV). MEng also makes a 3-month industrial placement compulsory. On one hand it is said to prepare you better for industry but I would say it's just trying to meeting the additional requirement for accreditation only.
MSc, meanwhile, apart from those taught modules similar to MEng (except for one or two that aims to prepare you for research), it has a summer research project, which is individual and worth 1/3 of your mark.

Note though, MSc is a taught/coursework postgraduate Master's. Entirely different thing if you talk about research postgraduate.

For the Australian side, they offer 4 years BEng which is standard case, as you see it offered in Malaysia, Singapore etc. as well. At first glance, you may think 4-year Aus BEng and 4-year UK MEng are the same - but yes ONLY about accreditation. Academic wise, you could see the 1st year of Australian degree usually covers general stuff, where 1st year of UK degree pushes specialised content already. That might explain why UK could afford graduating BEng with 3-years time but took 4-years for Australia. And there doesn't seem to be problems for UK BEng graduates in looking for jobs in Malaysia. And since the additional taught modules for the extra year in MEng are actually being conducted for MSc students as well, I suppose you can say MEng is a notch higher than BEng (Aus or UK). Unless somebody will want to say MSc's modules are of undergrad quality (seriously, anyone?).

So, while MEng is an undergrad Master's, it's certainly more than an undergrad Bachelor, not to mention a slightly more handsome starting pay you have as well (comparing Nott's BEng and MEng. I have no figures for other unis to verify.)

EDIT: And if the D-Setara makes sense, please choose between Monash or UTAR as Nottingham is a tier lower already.

This post has been edited by tanjinjack: Feb 10 2013, 01:44 PM

D-SETARA for teaching, SETARA for research. To me, all bullshits.

3-year BEng is enough. My friends have no trouble looking for job. It's a degree of engineering after all. But without any approved further studies and exam taking, you will not be able to proceed to working towards the chartered engineer status, i.e. Ir. That is pretty crucial for civil engineering but much less so for other field.
To proceed to PhD studies, a 3-year BEng could be sufficient as well although you'll probably need a First Class and show strong potential to succeed the tasks and workload of a PhD student.

Usually, you are required to make your decision to pursue MEng/BEng by the end of your 2nd year. The content for the 3rd year will be different and thus there's no way back after that. However, if you go the BEng route, upon your graduation, you can register yourself into the MSc course. On the other hand, while technically you can still do an MSc after your MEng, but it doesn't make any sense unless it's of a different stream or is extremely specialised.