Electives
The elective program of the bachelor program Mechanical Engineering consists of 45 credits, in which courses can be freely chosen, based on your interests and ambitions. It is possible to choose courses in a specific field or theme, or to build a broader profile by choosing courses in multiple fields. You can choose from all courses that TU/e Bachelor College offers, even core courses from other bachelor programs, as long as your program meets the elective space requirements. It is also possible to choose the educational minor(s).
Requirements of your elective space
Your elective Program will be assessed on 2 criteria: sufficient level and overlap courses.
1.Sufficient level
The elective space needs to have a minimum of 30 EC spent on level 2 or level 3 courses of which al least 15 EC must be spent on level 3 courses. The level of each course is mentioned in the PlanApp or in the Osiris Course Catalogue.
2. Overlap
The elective courses you choose are not allowed to have any overlap with our major courses. You can check this yourself via the list of excluded overlap courses.
After the Examination Committee approves your proposal for the elective program, this is program will become your degree. In case you want to make any adjustments, and have not submitted your diploma request in Osiris, you can change your elective space in the PlanApp and resend it to the Examination Committee. Check the instruction video below!
Important!
Your elective space will be assessed on the mentioned criteria above,namely overlap and level. However, when approving the elective program, overlap in time slots, scheduling of the courses and the entry requirements for the selected courses are not taken into account. This is the sole responsibility of the student.
Therefore, it is important to keep in mind the needed pre required knowledge as well as the time slot of a course. The course catalogue and the PlanApp, can help you with this.
If after reading the above, you still have questions or run into problems, you can reach out to an Academic Advisor.
Below you can find the list of electives provided by the ME department. Please note that you can also choose electives from other departments. Always check the overlap courses list (Overlap courses):
Elective courses offered by the ME department
The department of mechanical Engineering offers eight elective courses:
Year 2 Electives (2024-2025)
Course | Code | Level | Period |
Solar Heat system | 4CBLB00 | 2 | Q1 |
Material Models | 4MB10 | 2 | Q2 |
Control of manufacturing systems | 4CB40 | 2 | Q3 |
Year 3 electives (2025-2026)
Course | Code | Level | Period |
Chemically reacting flows | 4BC00 | 3 | Q1 |
Engineering design 1 | 4CBLC00 | 3 | Q1 |
Computer aided engineering | 4CBLC20 | 3 | Q2 |
Dynamics of energy systems | 4EC10 | 3 | Q2 |
Engineering design 1 | 4CBLC10 | 3 | Q2 |
Elective courses offered by other departments
It is also possible to broaden your program by following electives from other departments. An overview of external elective options can be found here.
Core electives
The bachelor program of Mechanical Engineering also contains two so called core elective courses. Students need to choose two courses from the eight offered core elective courses.
Core elective courses (2025-2026)
Course | Code | Level | Period |
Design Principles | 4CC50 | 3 | Q3 |
Dynamics and control of robotic systems | 4DC00 | 3 | Q3 |
Strength and structure | 4LC00 | 3 | Q3 |
Thermofluids Engineering | 4PC00 | 3 | Q3 |
Mechanical design project | 4CBLC30 | 3 | Q4 |
Mechatronic design | 4CC10 | 3 | Q4 |
Flow and structure | 4RC00 | 3 | Q4 |
Introduction computational fluid dynamics | 4RC30 | 3 | Q4 |
How to submit your elective program for approval
After your obtained at least 90 credits, you can submit your proposal for the elective program to the Examination Committee via the PlanApp.
You can do this by choosing ‘submit for approval' under the tab 'Options' in the PlanApp. This is only possible if you have uptained (more than) 90 credits. The option becomes available after you have gained 90 ECTS.
Check this Instruction video
Note:
Validating is not the same as submitting your elective program for approval. Validation is to check whether you have overlap in time slots or too few, too many or even incorrectly scheduled courses or other issues that you must resolve before you can submit for approval.
Study Progress overview (SPO)
SPO stands for Study Progress Overview, which can be found in Osiris. Please make sure that everything is correct after your planning has been approved:
- Are all courses completed?
- Are all credits correct?
- Have you completed all the requirements of your program?