Changes in Education Programmes in Mechanical Engineering Faculties

Abstract

Changes in education programmes in mechanical engineering faculties have become a fact for various reasons. According to the author of the article, one of the main reasons is a change in the requirements in respect to the graduates of this course of study in the wake of the current needs of industry and the development of science, especially of the technical Sciences. On the example of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Gdańsk Technical University, the article describes successive stages of the introduction of changes or new programmes. The analysis of the problem focuses on: profile of the graduate, structure of education, minimum programme requirements, weekly student load, share in educational programmes of lectures in comparison with other classes, the number of basic hours, the so-called canon, and the number of hours devoted to specialisation. The author also analyses the proportions of classes at master’s, engineering, evening and extramural studies. The numbers presented by the author provide information on differences in the nature of education between graduates of various kinds of studies (master’s - engineering - intramural - extramural). The data also give an indication of the main areas of divergence in the proportions of educational content between courses of study in faculties of mechanical engineering in various higher education institutions.