Materials Engineering

What is Material Engineering?

Materials Engineering is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering which is dedicated to designing and developing new materials, especially solids. Materials engineers work on three main tasks - material characterization, extracting them and application them for useful forms. Materials Engineering is closely related to Chemical Engineering and some of the issues are similar for these two branches of Engineering, for example, creation of polymers - chemical compounds made up of similar components stuck together like chains. The main difference is that Chemical Engineering is mostly concentrated on actual creating of these compounds and their theoretical application, and Materials Engineering works with the use of these compounds on an industrial scale.

Materials Engineering has a lot of topics, such as Composites, Ceramics and glasses, Polymers, Semiconductors and each one of them is covered by a specific sub-discipline of Materials Engineering.

Entry requirements for Materials Engineering applicants

Most likely you will find a Master study program in Materials Engineering - they are way more common than Bachelor study programs. That means that applicants for a Master of Materials Engineering study program need to have an undergraduate education in a related area. Usually it is Engineering, but most universities also accept Physics and other technical disciplines graduates. Applicants need to demonstrate a high GPA score for all study programs in Materials Engineering, some top universities also require an Honours degree, or a first place amongst the other students in group - it will depend on the chosen institution and its prestige.

Research and work experience will also be an advantage for Materials Engineering applicants, but they are rarely mandatory.

Applicants whose native language is other from English need to demonstrate their language proficiency with a language certificate, as all international study programs are usually taught in English. Applicants who have already completed a degree in English in most situations do not have to pass language exams again.

Applicants for rare Bachelor study programs in Materials Engineering also need to demonstrate high scores in Physics and Mathematics (sometimes also Chemistry).

Note that some countries have some specific requirements for international students. Some of them, for example, requirements of USA or UK, can be found on our website.

Materials Engineering study program structure

Master study programs in Materials Engineering usually last from one to two years. They include specific courses in Chemistry, Nanotechnology, Biomaterials Science and Biocompatibility, Quantum Mechanics, Solid State Physics.

During all education period students are busy working on their own research or design project. Many study programs in Materials Engineering include internships in industry.