All engineering degrees within UNSW Canberra aim to provide outstanding engineering education to the future leaders of the Australian Defence Force and to pursue excellence through contributions to the engineering profession, industry and the community.

The BE program is four years in duration, and the degree may be awarded as a pass or an honours degree. The engineering programs at UNSW Canberra at ADFA have been granted full accreditation by Engineers Australia.

All Engineering degrees lead to a Bachelor of Engineering degree, with the type of engineering specified.

Mechanical Engineering is the branch of engineering that is concerned with machines and the production of power, and particularly with forces and motion. It became a separate branch of engineering in the early 1800s, when steam power began to be used in manufacture and transportation.

One can identify four functions that are common to all branches of mechanical engineering.

The first is the understanding of and dealing with the bases of mechanical science. These include dynamics, concerning the relationship between forces and motion, such as vibration; automatic control: thermodynamics, dealing with the relations among the various forms of heat, energy, and power; fluid flow; heat transfer; lubrication; and properties of materials.

Second is the sequence of research, design, and development. This function attempts to bring about the changes necessary to meet present and future needs. Such work requires not only a clear understanding of mechanical science and an ability to analyse a complex system into its basic factors, but also the originality to synthesise and invent.

Third is production of products and power, which embraces planning, operation and maintenance. The goal is to produce the maximum value with the minimum investment and cost while maintaining or enhancing longer term viability of the enterprise or the institution.

Fourth is the co-ordinating function of the mechanical engineer, including management, consulting and, in some cases, marketing.

In all of these functions there is a long continuing trend towards the use of scientific instead of traditional or intuitive methods. Operations research, value engineering and reliability centred maintenance are typical titles of such new rationalised approaches. Creativity, however, cannot be rationalised. The ability to take the important and unexpected step that opens up new solutions remains in mechanical engineering, as elsewhere, largely a personal and spontaneous characteristic. (This description was adapted from the Encyclopedia Britannica).

Army BE (Mech) graduates can expect to be posted to the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RAEME), Armour, or Infantry corps. Typically they will work in workshops, or headquarters or on equipment procurement in the Materiel Branch. Navy BE(Mech) graduates will undertake courses to enhance their professional development as Naval officers and Marine Engineers before taking up postings at sea or ashore.

Except for Electrical Engineering and those in the Chief of Defence Force Students Program first-year engineering and technology students enrol in a common program taking foundation science and engineering courses. In second and increasingly in third and fourth years the programs diverge into their specialities although there are some courses that span across programs in all years. A key element in all years is the design stream which emphasises complex problem solving. Other streams such as stability, control, thermofluid dynamics, structures, mechanics, materials and management often incorporate project based learning informed by academic research and industrial practice. Electives and a final year thesis enable students to pursue particular interests both within and outside the specialist discipline.

At the end of the program students are expected to meet the graduate attributes of the University and Stage 1 Competencies of Engineers Australia, ready to practice in their chosen profession and with the ingenuity and resourcefulness to meet rapid technological change.

The Bachelor of Engineering programs require a prescribed program structure as determined by the engineering program chosen. Descriptions of the courses which comprise the program are given in the Course Catalogue section of this Handbook.

First Year Program

and 1 x Technical Elective Course - see list below.

and 2 x General Education courses. Students must select one General Education course from each of the following groups:

Group 1: ZGEN2222 Introduction to Strategic Studies, OR ZGEN2801 Strategy, Management and Leadership;

AND

Group 2: ZGEN2240 Introduction to Military Ethics, OR ZGEN2215 Law, Force and Legitimacy

Fourth Year Program

and 3 x Technical Elective courses

*The courses ZEIT4503 Applied Thermodynamics and Gas Turbines, ZEIT6574 Marine Engineering and ZEIT6572 Land Vehicles share some common teaching materials which make them mutually exclusive.

Students may choose to specialise by taking elective courses in the following specialisations:

Marine Specialisation

Note: Enrolment in ZEIT4011 and ZEIT4012 requires the approval of the Undergraduate Coordinator.

Upper level courses from other programs may be taken with the SEIT Undergraduate Coordinator's approval. Not all electives may be offered in any year.

1. Faculty Regulations for Undergraduate Students

A student must comply with the Faculty Regulations for Undergraduate Students. In the event of a conflict, the rules for the Bachelor of Engineering take precedence over the Faculty Regulations for Undergraduate Students.

2. Degree Requirements

2.1 The degree of Bachelor of Engineering shall be conferred as a pass degree or as an honours degree. Honours may be awarded in the following categories:

Honours Class I;
Honours Class II, Division I;
Honours Class II, Division II

2.2 To qualify for the degree of Bachelor of Engineering, a student shall normally be enrolled for a minimum of eight sessions and gain a minimum of 192 UOC (normally 24 UOC in each full-time session).

2.3 A student completing a Standard Program shall complete courses, in the years prescribed, for all engineering students and those pertaining to one particular branch of engineering as set out in the relevant schedule.

2.4 A student completing a Non-Standard Program shall, subject to the requirements of Rule 2.5 (below), timetabling requirements and the approval of the appropriate Heads of School, be permitted to enrol in any one year in courses selected from more than one year of the relevant schedule.

2.5 Before a student's enrolment will be accepted for any course, the student must have completed the relevant pre-requisite courses shown in the Course Catalogue, except where the Course Authority for the appropriate course approves otherwise.

3. Practical Experience Requirements

Before graduation a studentshall complete 60 days of approved practical engineering experience which must be done in blocks of at least 20 working days each, each block being in the service of a single employer. Such practical experience may incorporate the following Service training.

Service Training and Practical Experience Requirements

Service training conducted during the degree program is recognised as partially satisfying practical experience requirements in the following ways:

Naval Midshipmen, 30 days for experience gained at a defence establishment between second and third years. (Time at sea prior to arrival at UNSW Canberra is not eligible for consideration.)

Army Cadets, 30 days for the year spent at Royal Military College between third and fourth years.

Air Force Cadets, 30 days for experience gained at a defence establishment between second and third years.

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/fees/FeesMainPage.html

These regulations apply to all undergraduate degrees and are to be used in conjunction with Academic Rules and Program Information. All rules in this Handbook apply to each student who enters an undergraduate program in 2014. The rules remain applicable until the student exits their program, either by discontinuation or graduation. Students who entered a program in another year should consult the rules and regulations for that year.

Please refer to Faculty Regulations information