University of Twente

Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering

To feel at home in the field of mechanical engineering, you need to love technology, be versatile, and be keen to solve the challenges that people and society face today. Throughout this program, you will become an expert in designing, improving, and maintaining all kinds of machines, devices, and installations, as well as structures and processes. We will equip you for a very broad field of work, teaching you to contribute to many different kinds of innovations and improvements. Some examples include: 3D-printing a ship propeller; making a power plant sustainable; building a window-cleaning robot, or an exoskeleton for rehabilitation processes; developing and applying new materials for lighter, stronger airplane wings; contributing to the development of the self-driving car, or the magnetic glider train.

With this Bachelor’s you will become an academically educated and highly resourceful mechanical engineer – an independent thinker who understands the technology our society relies on, now and in the future.

Modules Mechanical Engineering

Year 1

• Module 1 | Design & Manufacturing: In the first project you will work together with your team on designing an original, not-yet-existing mechanical tool, for example, a solution for reducing the volume of plastic waste, or a volleyball cannon. You will invent and design the product, manufacture the different components, and then assemble them in our workshop. You will learn everything you need for this in lectures on subjects such as mathematics, statistics, manufacturing systems, and technical drawing.
• Module 2 | Energy & Materials: The second project focuses on energy and materials. Together with your project team, you will analyze an existing energy system from a material and thermodynamic perspective. This module begins with a strong emphasis on thermodynamics and materials, giving you the acquired knowledge you will need to start on your project. On top of that, you will have lectures on mathematics and, just like in the other first-year modules, modeling and programming.
• Module 3 | Energy & Sustainability: In this module, you will go deeper into the theory you explored during the second module. An added theme is sustainability; during these lectures, you will learn about life-cycle analysis. In your team project, you will re-design the energy system from Module 2, taking into account technological and environmental aspects. As in the other modules in the first and second year, we will also work on your overall academic training.
• Module 4 | Design & Mechanics: During the fourth module’s project, you will be challenged to design construction, finding the right balance between geometry, the materials, and its strength. Again, throughout this module, the lectures are closely related to the project, so there will be subjects like mathematics, the strength of materials, machine parts, and modeling and programming. By the end of the fourth module, you will have completed your first year.

Year 2

• Module 5 | Dynamic systems: During the second year’s first project, you will learn to analyze dynamic systems. Think, for example, of moving structures, such as a crane, an elbow, or an electrical toothbrush. The focus is on the structure’s movement in one direction. You will have lectures on mathematics, dynamics, system analysis, and design principles for dynamic systems.
• Module 6 | Product design: In the project you will design a consumer product, working together with students from Industrial Design Engineering and Industrial Engineering and Management. Some examples of consumer products are a robot vacuum cleaner, a wine cooler for a café, and a coffee machine. The theory for this project will be covered in lectures on subjects such as the theory of elasticity, tribology, and the processing and properties of polymers.
• Module 7 | Fluid mechanics & Heat transfer: The second year’s third project in Module 7 is about fluids engineering. You will be challenged with quite complex assignments like ice melting on the wings of an airplane during a flight or designing a heat shield for a spacecraft. The theory for this project is taught in the lectures on fluid mechanics and heat transfer.
• Module 8 | Mechatronic design: In Module 8, you will go deeper into the theory you explored in Module 5. Having looked at construction that can move in one direction, you will now learn to analyze and (re)design a complex multi-functional system. This could be a fuel pump, a cruise control system, or a wind turbine. You will gain the necessary theoretical knowledge in lectures on continuous dynamics, buckling, system, and control engineering.

Year 3

• Modules 9 & 10 | Electives: You can take modules that give you more in-depth knowledge of your field, such as aeronautical engineering or (bio)robotics. You can also take modules from other programs that broaden your knowledge, like Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Design Engineering, or Industrial Engineering and Management.
• Module 11 | Production systems engineering: To finish off your studies you will perform a technical scientific research project in one of the Mechanical Engineering disciplines. You will carry out your research with one of our research groups, learning how to set up and conduct research and how to critically study the results. In Module 11 you will start your research project with the course Academic Research & Skills by writing a research proposal. At the same time, you will take the courses Introduction to Finite Element Methods and Statistics, and carry out a project in the field of Production Systems Engineering. In this project, a complex production system will be designed in a realistic situation. Besides the project assignment, the project consists of the courses Systems Engineering and Production Management.
• Module 12 | Bachelor's assignment: The last module is fully dedicated to your final Bachelor project. You will research as described in the proposal in the previous module. Next to performing the research project itself, you will also look at the social embedding of your research project. You finish off this project and the Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering with a research paper and presentation on the research you have done. After completing this Bachelor’s you are admissible to the Mechanical Engineering Master’s, in which you can pursue further specialisations.

As a mechanical engineer, you can go in many different directions after graduation. Whether you want to work in the automotive or aerospace industry, mechanical engineering, biomedical, or, for example, an engineering firm or research institute, the choice is yours. In the future, you could fulfill jobs such as:

• Mechanical designer
• Production planner
• Maintenance coordinator
• Automotive designer
• Aerospace engineer
• Robotics engineer
• Energy specialist
• Materials specialist
• Marine engineer
• Technical adviser
• Quality coordinator
• Logistics planner
• R&D specialist
• Researcher