General Information

The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering has implemented the four year mechanical engineering program since 1974. A major revision was made in 1997, when the total credits were reduced to 154 and 30 percent of the credits were required to be taken from the courses given in English. The graduates of the Mechanical Engineering Program will have the following basic characteristics besides the principal and genel qualifications of an engineer:

• Designing and managing skills for mechanical components, systems and processes,

• Designing and managing skills for thermal, systems and processes,

• Analytical skills to solve technical problems of mechanical engineering.

The educational objectives and program outcomes were determined by considering the recommendations made by the industrial partners, advisory board members, alumni and faculty as well as ABET criteria. 230 freshman students are enrolled to the program each year.

The curriculum is designed to cover courses in mechanical design, theory of machines, thermo-fluids, system dynamics-control after a background in mathematics and fundamental engineering. The ME curriculum has 38.5 credits (25%) of basic sciences, 45 credits (29.2%) of basic engineering, 40.5 credits (26.3%) of mechanical design, and 30 credits (19.5%) of humanities and social sciences. The program is bilingual and 30% of the courses are taught in English.

Mechanical Engineering Program is being conducted by 97 full-time faculty and 39 teaching assistants. A total of 1554 undergraduate students are enrolled in the program currently.

Program Educational Objectives

In conformity with the mission of Mechanical Engineering Department, the objectives of Mechanical Engineering Program are to graduate professionals who can:

• Perform design and integration of mechanical and thermal processes, components and systems,

• Play leadership roles by improving collaboration between engineers, scientists and professionals,

• Involve positively in the competitiveness of design, manufacturing and research enterprises,

• Aim to reach knowledge and professional growth for their successful careers in industry, research or academia,

• Contribute to the society as professionally, ethically and globally aware members.

Student Outcomes

1. An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.

2. An ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors.

3. An ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences.

4. An ability to recognize ethical and professional responsibilities in engineering situations and make informed judgments, which must consider the impact of engineering solutions in global, economic, environmental, and societal contexts.

5. An ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives.

6. An ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions.

7. An ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.

Program Criteria (ABET)

These program criteria will apply to all engineering programs that include "mechanical" or similar modifiers in their titles.

1. Curriculum

In preparation for professional practice, the curriculum must include:

a) principles of engineering, basic science, and mathematics (including multivariate calculus and differential equations);

b) applications of these topics to modeling, analysis, design, and realization of physical systems, components or processes;

c) coverage of both thermal and mechanical systems; and

d) in-depth coverage of either thermal or mechanical systems.

2. Faculty

The program must demonstrate that faculty members responsible for the upper-level professional courses maintain currency in their specialty area(s).

Program Constituents

The constituents play an important role in establishing and developing the educational objectives of the program. In the constituents loop the four primary constituents (faculty, alumni, industry and students) are brought together to review the program objectives and outcomes and to make recommendations for modifications. By benchmarking with our academic peers, the Department can also find out what it must do to improve its competitive position. The key constituents of the undergraduate program of mechanical engineering are,

Students: Students are one of the five primary constituents of the education process. At ITU most of the students come directly from high school; the teaching process has been developed to facilitate and improve the transformation from a student to a graduate for this student profile. They can supply valuable information and make proposals for corrective actions about the program they are in. Elected “Class Representatives” are the members of the “University Students Representatives Board”. Each class (from freshmen tor senior) elects a representative. These representatives elect a “Faculty Student Representative (FSR)” in turn. FSR joins the Administrative and Academic Committees of the Faculty and when the student problems are discussed. The FSR also is a member of the “Student Representatives Board” of the University.

Faculty: The Department of Mechanical Engineering has 97 full-time faculty.  The faculty have the responsibility of defining what must be taught in each course (the learning outcomes); deciding how this desired learning can be accomplished (lectures, labs, class activities, etc.), and finally assessing how well the learning was accomplished (homework, quizzes, surveys, etc.).  But they also have the broader responsibility of periodically reviewing the program to see if there are ways to improve the learning.

Alumni: Graduates are one of the five primary constituents of the education process. Our graduates get jobs where they employ the skills and attitudes that were accumulated during their attendance in the programs. The sense of how well the education process prepared the alumni for their work is an important component of program improvement. Alumni are be polled via surveys at least once per year.

Industry/Employers: Industry is another primary constituent of the education process. Industry employs our graduates and hence has valuable information about their quality. Industry surveys are one of the tools in which they are asked periodically about their expectations from the graduates. This information is valuable and provides a great assistance to the Department to review and revise Mechanical Engineering Program objectives and outcomes.

Advisory Board: Industry is also represented by the Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) established in 1993. This group of 15 individuals is composed of distinguished people of industry, alumni of the faculty, academic leaders of mechanical engineering programs of selected universities in Turkey and ex-deans of Mechanical Engineering Faculty. The advisory board meets annually.

Other constituents are:

• Government

• Higher Education Council (YOK)

• University and Faculty Administration

• National and International Engineering Societies

• Prospective students and their families

• Graduate Schools

• Accreditation Boards

İTÜ Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Program: Accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET www.abet.org (Criteria: Mechanical Engineering) Please follow the link for accrediation information of İTÜ Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Program.