Education

Degrees in mechanical engineering are offered at universities worldwide. In China, India, and North America, mechanical engineering programs typically take four to five years and result in a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc), Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech), Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng), or Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc) degree, in or with emphasis in mechanical engineering. In Spain, Portugal and most of South America, where neither BSc nor BTech programs have been adopted, the formal name for the degree is "Mechanical Engineer", and the course work is based on five or six years of training.

In the U.S., most undergraduate mechanical engineering programs are accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) to ensure similar course requirements and standards among universities.

Some mechanical engineers go on to pursue a postgraduate degree such as a Master of Engineering, Master of Science, Master of Engineering Management (MEng.Mgt or MEM), a Doctor of Philosophy in engineering (EngD, PhD) or an engineer's degree. The master's and engineer's degrees may or may not include research. The Doctor of Philosophy includes a significant research component and is often viewed as the entry point to academia.

Coursework

Standards set by each country's accreditation society are intended to provide for uniformity in fundamental subject material, promote competence among graduating engineers, and to maintain confidence in the engineering profession as a whole. Engineering programs in the U.S., for instance, are required by ABET to show that their students can "work professionally in both thermal and mechanical systems areas." The specific courses required to graduate, however, may differ from program to program. Universities will often combine multiple subjects into a single class or split a subject into multiple classes, depending on the faculty available and the university's major area(s) of research. Fundamental subjects of mechanical engineering usually include:

• statics and dynamics

• strength of materials and solid mechanics

• instrumentation and measurement

• thermodynamics, heat transfer, energy conversion, and HVAC

• fluid mechanics and fluid dynamics

• mechanism design (including kinematics and dynamics)

• manufacturing technology or processes

• hydraulics and pneumatics

• engineering design

• mechatronics and control theory

• drafting, CAD (usually including solid modeling), and CAM

Mechanical engineers are also expected to understand and be able to apply basic concepts from chemistry, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, and physics. Most mechanical engineering programs include several semesters of calculus, as well as advanced mathematical concepts which may include differential equations and partial differential equations, linear and modern algebra, and differential geometry, among others.

In addition to the core mechanical engineering curriculum, many mechanical engineering programs offer more specialized programs and classes, such as robotics, transport and logistics, cryogenics, fuel technology, automotive engineering, biomechanics, vibration, optics and others, if a separate department does not exist for these subjects.