Undergraduate Programs

Modern mechanical engineers face many challenges: designing for manufacturability, quality control, and engineering for high quality products at low cost. Electronics, optics, and computers have become an integral part of mechanical systems. There is also a variety of sophisticated tools for computer aided design and analysis. Practicing engineers today are expected to effectively utilize these tools. Owing to the importance of balancing social needs, economic costs and benefits, and environmental concerns in all engineering decisions, engineers must also be trained in the humanities, social sciences and management. Mechanical engineers apply the principles of dynamics, mechanics, control, heat and mass transport, thermodynamics, and system analysis, and use their knowledge of materials behavior and experimental methods in the design, analysis, manufacture, and testing of mechanical and thermal systems.

The purpose of our MAE undergraduate education is to equip students with the capability for self-directed learning and to produce broadly-educated individuals with a basic knowledge of engineering and sufficient specific skills. The Department promotes self-directed learning with a curriculum that trains students to think independently, a skill increasingly important due to the rapid technological changes. One way to accomplish this is to have students involved in design as early as the second year of their studies and to follow through with a final year design project to further strengthen their design and synthesis capabilities. This allows students to start their careers in engineering or professional services, or to carry on to Postgraduate study. 

The undergraduate program is structured in three stages. The first stage concentrates on the fundamentals of mechanical engineering in solid mechanics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, thermal sciences, manufacturing, materials processing, and design. It also provides students with basic knowledge of modern electronics and computers. The second stage integrates engineering sciences with laboratory work and exposes students to state-of-the art tools and equipment. The third stage comprises electives that provide students with sufficient depth in one of the following areas of specialization: (i) Building Services, Energy and Environmental Engineering, (ii) Mechatronics, Design and Manufacturing, and (iii) Structure, Materials and Reliability Engineering. Students will participate in an integrated Final-Year-Design-Project and may join an industrial-based Co-op program in their last year of study. 

These specializations are intended to help students enter the job market more easily.

Program Objectives 

The MAE undergraduate program is structured to provide students with a balanced curriculum and the capacity to: 

• Be able to communicate and perform as an effective engineering professional in both individual and team-based project environments;
• Have an international outlook with clear perspectives on the Pearl River Delta and Greater China;
• Be able to research, design, develop, test, evaluate and implement engineering solutions to problems that are of complexity encountered in professional practice and leadership;
• Clearly consider the ethical implications and societal impacts of engineering solutions; and
• Continuously improve through lifelong learning.