Two full-time programmes are offered under this scheme:

• BEng (Hons) in Product Innovation with Marketing (BEng PIM)

• BEng (Hons) in Smart Manufacturing (BEng SM)

All admitted students will embark on a Common Year One curriculum. Towards the end of year one, students can decide whether to continue with their initial choice or switch to another choice within the Faculty of Engineering. Those who wish to switch can choose their preferred departmental scheme/programme through a ranking assessment.

BEng PIM

Programme Aims and Learning Outcomes

Product design and development have become increasingly complex in recent years, due to decreasing time to market, increasing customer expectations, and growing global competition. Today, product engineers carry out product design and development tasks that go beyond functional or engineering design to incorporate consideration of aesthetic and business issues, product life-cycle design, and technologies. Therefore, there is an urgent need for product development professionals who are sufficiently innovative, knowledgeable, and skilful to synergise product development with design, technology, and business aspects to develop novel products with immediate market appeal.

To fulfil this need, the BEng(Hons) in Product Innovation with Marketing programme has the following aims and learning outcomes:

• Provide integrated education and training for students on synergising product design, technology and business in new product development

• Develop students’ knowledge of business development, strategic product planning, product marketing and management and help them understand how to apply this knowledge to the development of successful new products

• Nurture graduates with excellent product design and development abilities who can interact with customers, industrial designers, production personnel, suppliers and vendors; understand market situations and competition environments; and identify market needs and seize opportunities by developing new products that satisfy customer and engineering requirements.

Programme Characteristics

The programme provides comprehensive education and training in the development of successful new products, enabling students to synthesise product design, technology, and business processes.

The integrative and problem-based teaching and learning approach of the programme develops students’ knowledge of product design, development and marketing and their communication, teamwork, management and self-learning skills. Graduates are equipped to play leading roles in the industry by virtue of their well-balanced education and practical training.

BEng SM

Programme Aims and Learning Outcomes

Smart Manufacturing (SM) is a professional discipline that focuses on developing and implementing optimal solutions from a system-level perspective. This involves people, technology, quality, finance, information, and environmental issues. The main task of an industrial and systems engineer is to organise and work harmoniously with others to streamline operational procedures and improve productivity and overall system performance. The ultimate goals of these efforts are to increase efficiency, to reduce operating costs, and to increase customer satisfaction. SM is different from other traditional engineering disciplines, in which knowledge and skills are applied to specific areas; for example, traditional manufacturing engineers usually work in a production environment. In contrast, SM provides students with the opportunity to work in a variety of organisations in both the industrial and commercial sectors. This broad exposure and experience give industrial and systems engineers flexible career paths. Thus, SM graduates are employed in a wide range of areas and settings, such as new product development for transportation, theme parks, logistics services, banking, public utilities, business development consultancy, and government departments. The ultimate objective of the SM discipline is to provide leadership in the design of integrated industrial and commercial systems for the advancement and well-being of the community.

Programme Characteristics

The hallmarks of this programme are its emphasis on student-centred learning and its integration of theory and practice.

In their final year, students can specialise in areas such as manufacturing engineering, logistics engineering, and Internet of things through the selection of a Final Year Project and Electives, with the latter selected from a large pool of options.

In addition to the normal curriculum, Work-Integrated Education (WIE) is incorporated into the programme to ensure that students gain work experience relevant to their studies. This enables students to better understand the relevance of their academic studies and enhances their all-round development.

Summer placement opportunities may be available to students to give them practical work experience.

Students also have the opportunity to participate in the student exchange programme, during which they spend one semester in universities in countries such as the US, Canada, Sweden, or Finland.