Education: 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.

Most mechanical engineering programs also require varying amounts of research or community projects to gain practical problem-solving experience. Mechanical engineering students usually hold one or more internships while studying, though this is not typically mandated by the university.