Automotive Engineering, Fontys University

The programme

Year 1
The first year is primarily focused on orienting your studies and future profession. You are introduced to the automotive engineer’s broad engineering domain and you establish an initial theoretical basis that will enable you to start working as an automotive engineer in the future. The lectures cover the theory, which you can immediately apply in practicals and projects. A sample of the subjects covered: motor dynamics, vehicle dynamics, mechanics and materials science. Mathematics is a common thread throughout your studies. We will help you with additional lectures should you require any help with mathematics.

Year 2
Starting in the second academic year, you will expand your automotive knowledge and engineering skills and you will increasingly gain insight into the connection between certain subjects. The thinking process becomes more abstract and projects become more complicated, but challenge you to engage in creative, out-of-the-box thinking. You will do all this in collaboration with your fellow students. In addition to taking specific automotive subjects in the engineering domain, such as motor dynamics, vehicle dynamics, vehicle electrical engineering, materials science (light-weight structures are becoming increasingly more important), electrical drive trains and motormanagement systems, you will also take subjects such as mechanics, thermodynamics, electrical engineering and process control systems.

Year 3 - internshipe (stage) & Minor
In the first half of the third academic year you will spend 20 weeks in an internship. This is the perfect opportunity for you to put into practice what you have learned during you study programme. You will be entering the job market! You will complete an internship in a company in the Netherlands or abroad. Naturally we will help you with the selection of your internship.
In the second half of the third academic year of your bachelor programme Automotive Engineering you will do your minor programme. All Fontys full-time bachelor's degree programmes consist of a major and a minor. The major is the core of the programme and provides the basic programme. The major Automotive engineering will prepare you for your future profession. The minor is an elective programme of one semester. As a full-time student, you can opt for a broadening Fontys minor in any study field or you choose for a deepening minor offered by Automotive Engineering, Electric Drive or Motorsport Engineering. The choice is yours. Even minors outside Fontys UAS and abroad are possible. With the minor you give your study an extra boost.

Year 4 - Specialisations
In the first semester of the 4th year, the programme devotes attention to the spearheads of AutomotiveNL, the cluster organisation for the Dutch automotive industry, mobility sector and automotive education sector:
-Smart mobility (traffic safety and vehicle systems, advanced driver assistance systems)
-Future power trains (hybrid drives, electrical drives, motors with exhaust aftertreatment systems)
In the 4th year of your bachelor programme in Automotive engineering you will do your specialisation semester. Your programme will be composed of: APJ13/14 project in the field of Future Power Train or Smart Mobility / Automotive Manufacturing / Automotive Systems Engineering / Automotive Engine Systems 13 / Automotive Electric Drive / Automotive Virtual Engineering / Automotive Vehicle Systems
The second semester of the 4th year, semester 8, will be your graduation internship period. Normally you will work and study in a compnay; for the conclusion of your graduation internship period, you will write a bachelor thesis.

Career prospects
This study programme offers you excellent perspectives for finding a good job with one of the many automotive companies in the heart of the Brainport automotive sector in the Netherlands as well as in neighbouring countries. Automotive engineers are in high demand in the Netherlands and abroad.