The aim of the schools offering engineering degrees within The University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy is to provide an outstanding engineering education to future leaders in the Australian Defence Force and to pursue excellence through contributions to research, the profession, industry and the community.

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

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

First-Year engineering students enrol in separate programs in Aeronautical, Civil, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering. There is, however, considerable commonality in the first year within the engineering programs. More than half of the programs are devoted to mathematics, physics and computer science.

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'.
(The above 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.

The BE program in Mechanical Engineering is firmly based on mathematics and the physical sciences in Year 1 and the engineering sciences in Year 2, leading into an engineering approach to analysis, design and operation in the later years. The major streams of the course are dynamics, fluids, structures, materials and design.

Students are encouraged to develop resourceful and innovative attitudes throughout the course especially in their final year thesis. A number of elective courses are available in the final year. Electives may be selected from courses offered in other schools, subject to the approval of the Head of Schools concerned.

The Bachelor of Engineering degrees require a prescribed program structure as determined by the engineering program chosen. Descriptions of the courses which comprise the degree program are in the Course Catalogue section of this Handbook. Specialisation in Mechanical Engineering increases as the degree program progresses. At the final year level, thesis projects and elective courses are offered permitting further specialisation in particular areas.

During the first and second years of the program, students may go on appropriate industrial visits.

1.0 General Award Rules

1.1 A student must comply with the Undergraduate General Award Rules. In the event of a conflict, the rules for the Bachelor of Engineering take precedence over the Undergraduate General Award Rules.

2.0 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 candidate shall normally be enrolled for a minimum of eight sessions and gain a minimum of 192 units of credit (normally 24 units in each full-time session).

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

3.0 Practical Experience Requirements

3.1 Before graduation a candidate shall 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.

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