The new four-year undergraduate engineering course will see students work on placements with industry partners.
Munster TU is introducing a new engineering course designed to prepare graduates for working in industry 4.0.
The BEng in mechanical and manufacturing engineering is one of the first of its kind of qualification in Ireland. It aims to bring industry and academia together to educate and equip workforces for the challenges of the future.
The course was developed by Munster TU through the Rethinking Education in Ireland (REEDI) project, which involves a consortium of national and international higher education institutions, industry stakeholders and research centres.
The project is led by Munster TU, with University of Limerick, Harper Adams University and Charles Sturt University as the academic partners. REEDI’s research centre partners are Confirm, Lero, IMAR and the AgriTech Centre of Excellence.
Its industry partners are spread across a variety of sectors such as pharma, medtech, automotive, electronic, advanced manufacturing and agritech.
As part of the new four-year engineering course, students will spend their final two years on placement with one of the industry partners. The first half of the course will be based at Munster TU’s campus in Kerry.
Students will get a chance to work with companies such as Stryker, Analog Devices, Thermo Fisher, Astellas, Tricel, EPS Group, Johnson & Johnson and other industry partners. They will also get to learn with emerging tech such as VR and AR.
These industry partners were involved in the design of the course, participating in workshops and surveys to develop the curriculum and work placement framework.
Trevor Murphy, senior project engineer at Tricel, said the company is looking forward to welcoming its first batch of engineering students on site in Killarney.
“Munster TU’s REEDI programme is a massive evolutionary step forward in preparing engineers for industry and offers employers the chance to identify and assess students early on for potential graduate roles.”
Joanne Tracey, HR manager at EPS Group, echoed Murphy’s comments and added that she looked forward to welcoming the future engineers to the company in September 2024.
For more information about the course, see REEDI’s website.
Earlier this week, Munster TU revealed its incubator programme for student entrepreneurs, Student Inc, would receive support from businessman and alumnus Brendan O’Regan.
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