Business Administration and Engineering: Mechanical Engineering B.Sc.

 

How can technical products be optimally marketed? When are innovations sustainable and economically viable? What measures can implemented to target savings?

Industrial engineers and their expertise are needed when technical developments need to be evaluated in terms of economic aspects.

Their interdisciplinary education predestines them to work in the cross-section of technology and economics. They posses both engineering know-how and economic knowledge and are thus the ideal intermediaries between both worlds.

The Business Administration and Engineering course of study with a specialization in Mechanical Engineering at RWTH has a strong technical focus. The intensive training in natural science and engineering subjects provides students with a skills profile similar to a purely engineering education. This is also evident in the unusually diverse specialization possibilities.

The curriculum supplementes the technical perspectives with business and economics modules. Over seven semesters students acquire the typical cross-sectional skills, which distinguish industrial engineers.

Starting in the fifth semester students can specialize and select from one of the career fields offered:

• Energy and process engineering deal with the provision and transition of energy and materials. For example, crude oil is turned into cosmetics, biomass into fuel, wind power and sunlight into energy.
• Design technology focuses on the optimization of products in mechanical engineering. The spectrum ranges from materials to industrial design.
• Product development develops complex processes, which make it possible to conduct cost-effective production with longterm, consistant quality – and at every scale: from individual tools to complete production plants.
• Textile and plastics technology is dedicated to the manufacture and processing of plastics and textile materials. This is how, for example, technical building components are developed from fibers and products for living are made from plastics.
• The goal of transportation engineering is to optimize all methods of transport – from private vehicles to railcars to aircrafts.

 

Degree Content

Curriculum

Semester	Fundamentals of Natural Science and Engineering	Fundamentals of Business and Engineering
1	Mathematics I, Mechanics I, Physics, Machine Design I	Decision Making, Bookkeeping and Internal Accounting
2	Mathematics II, Mechanics II, Thermodynamics I, Introduction to CAD, Quality and Project Management	Introduction to Business Administration
3	Mathematics III, Mechanics III, Machine Design II, Thermodynamics II	Production and Logistics, Introduction to Economics
4	Machine Design III, Computer Science in Mechanical Engineering, Statistics	Macroeconmics: Markets and Strategic Decision-Making, Quantitative Methods, Sales and Purchasing
5	Materials Science I, Control Engineering	Investment and Finance, Introduction to Emperical Economic Research
	Subjects from the selected career field
6	Materials Science II, Introduction to Labor Science	Human Resources and Management, Elective Module Basics of civil law or Strategic Management
	Subjects from the selected career field
7	Internship and Bachelor's thesis

For a curriculum overview that is always up to date, please visit the website of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

Internship

In order to enroll in the course of study, new students must provide documentation of a six-week pre-internship. It offers an initial look at metal processing. During the seventh semester, students complete the second, 14-week internship, during which the budding industrial engineers become familiar with the cross-section of technology and economics. Aside from knowledge about products and processes they acquire a look at economic decision-making processing in at least two of the operational areas of activity: marketing, accounting, sales, or purchasing.

Programs Abroad

Future engineers are trained at RWTH for the global market. Aside from an above average technical education, they also need international skills. Experience abroad is often a deciding factor for one's career path.

The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering offers study and internship opportunities worldwide. Partnerships with renowned international universities make it possible to conduct a stay during Bachelor's studies in, for example, Europe, the USA, Korea, Japan, or China.

RWTH students profit not only from the Faculty's exchange programs but also from the University's strategic partnerships with international universities. They can, for example, complete short stays at one of the IDEA League universities while completing a term paper. The UROP Abroad program, the only one of its kind in Germay, offers the possibility to participate in research projects at international universities during Bachelor studies. These stays abroad are partially funded by RWTH-specific funding.

All of RWTH's partnerships programs are listed on the study abroad pages. Subject-specific offers are published on the Faculty's webpage about international programs.

 

Prerequisites

Personal Prerequisites

The course of study is suited for perspective students who are interested in the cross-section of economics and technology. Interest in technical-mathematic matters is also important. In the event that you wish to refresh or supplement the math you learned in school, RWTH Aachen offers a bridge course in math. You can find this course and recommended courses - e.g. in chemistry, CAD, and computer science - in our bridge course catalog.

Enrollment Prerequisite

You must submit proof of the following at the time of enrollment , not when applying:

1. Pre-internship

Six-week pre-internship in accordance with the internship guidelines in the appendix of the exam regulations. Detailed information is available from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Internship Office. There you can find out what to do if you cannot fulfill the internship requirement.

2. Two Self Assessments

RWTH "Mechanical Engineering" Self Assessment

RWTH "Economics" Self Assessment

 

Career Prospects

From renewable enrgies to automotive technologies to communication technology – industrial engineers balance the technical innovative spirit with entrepreneurial thinking. As interdisciplinarily trained cross-section specialists, they use their expertise for tasks in the cross-section of engineering and economics.

Their traditional responsibilities include, for example cost calcuation for innovation processes, market analyses for the new introduction of products, and the optimization of energy and raw material use for production processes. Due to their comprehensive technical skills they are sought as the binding agent between different operational areas. They are often used as technical consultants for strategic matters.

RWTH graduates' intensive core education also allows them to assume responsibiities in pure technical or ecnonomic departments.

 

Master's Degree Prospects

In the Business Administration and Engineering with a Specialization in Mechanical Engineering Master's program students ideally continue to puruse the same specialization. To supplement their technical curriculum they choose one of four economic research areas or the field general business and economics and build their own skills profile.

Together with leading French universities, a Japanese and a Spanish university, the T.I.M.E. double Master's program is offered. Here – depending on the partner university – students can select different subjects. In addition, RWTH offers a Double Degree Program with Tsinghua University, one of China's most renowned universities.

Furthermore graduates can also be admitted to the Faculty's other Master's courses of study: General Mechanical Engineering, Energy Technology, Automotive Engineering and Transport, Plastics and Textile Technology, Product Development, Aeronautical Engineering and Astronautics, Production Engineering, and Process Engineering.

Students can also pursue interdisciplinary courses of stduy, such as Automation Engineering, Sustainable Energy Supple, or Energy Technology. Admission to these courses of studies is probational, based on students' completion of additional requirements.

 

Examination Regulations

Regulations that apply for all Bachelor and Master courses of study as well as detailed information about the necessary documentation of required language skills can be found in RWTH’s Comprehensive Examination Regulation. Examination regulations are only published in German as they are legally binding.

Subject Specific Exam Regulations regulate academic goals, the course of study layout, and exam procedures. The appendix to the regulations contains the description of the modules, from which the course of study is composed.

 

Faculty

The Bachelor course of study Business Administration and Engineering: Mechanical Engineering B.Sc. is offered by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in collaboration with the School of Business and Economics.