Bachelor of Engineering

Introduction

The engineering program is designed for students who have completed senior matriculation (Nova Scotia Grade XII) including mathematics, physics, and chemistry, and rank well in their course. Students may be admitted with advanced placement.

At Dalhousie, students benefit from our unique approach to undergraduate engineering education. Renowned for innovation in education, the unique undergraduate engineering curricula at Dalhousie University provide a sound basis in Mathematics and pure Science and in Engineering Science and Design, that are a foundation for success in any engineering career. A substantial part of the work of the first and second years is common to all programs. The content of many of these courses will change very little over the course of an engineer’s career; they will become a sound basis of life-long learning.

The Faculty of Engineering has five engineering departments and one service department, the Department of Engineering Mathematics and Internetworking. Civil and Resource Engineering administers degree programs in the disciplines of Civil, Environmental and Mineral Resource Engineering. The Department of Process Engineering and Applied Science administers a degree program in the discipline of Chemical Engineering. The Mechanical Engineering department administers degree programs in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Engineering. The remaining departments are Electrical and Industrial.

At the end of Year 1, students apply for discipline placement indicating the order of their preferences. The Faculty of Engineering will inform students who have met the criteria of promotion from Year 1 to Year 2 of their conditional placement in one of the accredited programs. The curriculum for each of the basic programs combines required ‘core’ subjects essential to the field, and ‘elective’ subjects permitting considerable diversity in individual programs of study. An important part of the curriculum is a series of Complementary Studies courses. The curriculum for the first two years of Engineering at Dalhousie is indicated below. Students should refer to the appropriate departmental chapter of the calendar once a field of specialization has been determined for subsequent years.

Admission to an Engineering Discipline

A student must apply to be admitted into one of the engineering disciplines. Application must be made by April 30 of any year, for conditional acceptance into year two of a specified engineering program.

Every engineering discipline has a defined maximum enrollment; therefore places are assigned on a competitive basis. The criterion for this competition is the average grade over all credits completed to date in the core curriculum of the Diploma of Engineering.

The procedure is as follows:

1. By April 30, each student must specify ordered preferences for five engineering disciplines. The application is for conditional acceptance into year two of an engineering discipline.
2. Any student who has completed all of the entry requirements for an engineering discipline, with a GPA of 3.50 or better, will be guaranteed a place in that engineering discipline.
3. In a single competition, students with a GPA greater than or equal to 2.00 and less than 3.50 will be assigned conditional places (year two) in engineering disciplines, proceeding in strict order of GPA, subject to discipline capacities.
4. Any student with a GPA of less than 2.00 will not be admitted to a discipline.

Humanities Electives

Some disciplines of engineering require a student to do one or more humanities electives. In such a case, the definition of a humanities elective shall be as follows:

Humanities would normally be in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and may not include signifiant science, technical or mathematics content, nor may they include economics or language acquisition. Departments which may have suitable courses include: Arabic, Bioethics, Canadian Studies, Chinese, Classics, Contemporary Studies, Creative Writing, Early Modern Studies, English, European Studies, French, Gender and Women's Studies, German, History of Science and Technology, History, International Development Studies, Italian, Journalism, King's Foundation Year Program, Law, Leisure Studies, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Religious Studies, Russian Studies, Social Work, Sociology and Social Anthropology, Spanish and Latin American Studies, Sustainability, Theatre.