Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Marine Technology.
The University of Rostock (Universität Rostock) is the oldest university in the Baltic Region, already founded in 1419. Today about 16.500 students are enrolled in more than 50 degree programmes being offered by nine faculties. In 1951 the department of “Ship Technology”, focussing on engineering education and research in ship design and production, was founded which was unique at that time as this was the first engineering department at a classical university in Germany. In the last year, the University of Rostock has defined three major focal areas in which degree programmes and research will be placed emphasis on: Aging Sciences and Humanities; Life, Light and Matter and as the third focal area: Maritime Systems. The major strategy for the coming years is to develop to a research university while concentrating on master programmes and providing an excellent infrastructure for researches to achieve a doctoral degree (Dr.-Ing.).
The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Marine Technology mainly contributes to the development of the focal area “Maritime Systems”. After the successfully completed transition phase from the German Dipl.-Ing. programme in Mechanical Engineering to the Bachelor and Master graduation scheme, the faculty today offers six degree programmes: two Bachelor of Science programmes (three years, 180 credits): one in Mechanical Engineering and a second in Medical Engineering and four Master of Science programmes (two years, 120 credits): in Mechanical Engineering, Medical Engineering, Mechatronics and in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering. More than 1100 students are enrolled; more than 120 lecturers and researches are organized in 20 chairs. The faculty focuses on degree programmes and research in three major areas of engineering: Mechanical, Energy Engineering in close cooperation with the Faculty of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering; Medical Engineering in close cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine and Navel Architecture and Ocean Engineering.
The faculty has strong relations to national and international universities, research institutions and companies of the maritime industry being continuously developed in a large number of research projects. Based on these well developed relationships with universities in the US, Australia, Japan, Russia and many European countries students are encouraged to study abroad for some semesters.
Six chairs are mainly contributing to the Master Programme in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, performing research especially in fields related to ship design and production:
- Ship Design
- Ship Structures
- Hydrodynamics
- Manufacturing Engineering/Ship Production
- Ocean Engineering
- Ship Machinery Systems
The infrastructure available for research and at the same time being used by the students in the different programmes comprises of a towing tank, wind tunnels, a structures laboratory and an engines laboratory. All software systems relevant in ship design and production are available to the students. A constantly upgraded high performance computer cluster serves to solve highly nonlinear numerical problems in ship design, e.g. hydrodynamics, structures and production simulation. Students have access while working on projects or their final thesis.
The chair of Manufacturing Engineering is the head of the Fraunhofer Application Centre “Large Structures in Production Engineering” which is located next to the faculty buildings offering outstanding facilities and a fabrication lab with automated manufacturing equipment used at shipyards.
The chair of Ship Design serves as the coordinator of the network of the German university programmes in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering. Based on a trustworthy cooperation of the professors at the four partner universities, this network maintains a comprehensive E-Learning infrastructure accessible for students enrolled in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering programmes at the universities.
More than 50 researches are continuously doing research in R&D projects funded e.g. by the European Commission, the German Research Foundation, the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the industry. In almost all research projects, professors from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Marine Technology team up with partners from industry which fosters the strong relations developed. Due to the excellent conditions, almost all students enrolled in the master programmes take part in the research projects as student research assistants while being fully integrated in the professional teams at the faculty.
The chairs of Ship Design and the chair of Manufacturing Engineering/Ship Production will contribute to the concerned ERASMUS MUNDUS master programme, bringing in their internationally recognized expertise in the fields of computer aided methods and information technology used in ship design and ship production technologies. Furthermore they will ensure that the students will find an excellent infrastructure for their project work to be accomplished at the University of Rostock.
The Student Counselling Centre and the teaching staff at the faculty give advice in all questions related to the study programmes. The Local ERASMUS Initiative cares voluntarily for all incoming students which includes a variety of activities. In the International Office student advisors take care for all issues concerning the incoming students: support is offered for local housing, immigration matters and other official paper work as well as opening a bank account etc. The Language Centre offers special courses in German as a foreign language. In addition cultural and sports events are organised providing the students with a well developed environment to support a true cultural exchange while staying at the University of Rostock.