A Focus on Mechanical Engineering Design at New Zealand's University of Canterbury

At the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, the mechanical engineering course has recently been revised to offer a more flexible degree structure based on a semester system and a package of teaching modules which can be combined to offer either specialist or general degrees. The course is strongly oriented towards design, which is seen as the integrating element which brings together engineering science subject material in the solving of design problems. Computer-aided engineering is used to aid this integration. Design-and-build tasks which appear in both design and final year projects offer an extra dimension to student learning, which is challenging to both students and staff supervisors. This paper outlines the place of design in the new degree course, and comments and discusses, with examples, the implications of running design-and-build projects.