In the final year of your studies you'll undertake a major project that is either industry-based or simulates an industrial situation.

Before graduating from this degree, you are strongly encouraged to complete up to 12 weeks of engineering industry experience. This allows you to gain first-hand experience in an engineering practice environment under the supervision of a practising professional engineer. The nature and timing of this engineering experience can take a range of forms.

You may choose to undertake a six-month or one-year industry placement position, commencing in the middle or at the end of your third year in either Australia or overseas with associated academic credit. You'll gain valuable industrial experience that may lead to a full-time job upon completion of the degree. This optional industry placement may lengthen the time needed to graduate by six or 12 months.

The School of Engineering has an Industry Advisory Committee which is an important link to industry.

Membership includes senior engineers from several major national companies and government and non-government organisations.

The Committee provides comments and advice on the contents of these courses.

RMIT encourages you to aspire to a global career, not just a local one, and as an engineering student you’ll have a range of global opportunities.

Globalisation is a strong trend in automotive engineering, with car companies linking up around the world, mergers and takeovers becoming common, and manufacturers producing vehicles for the world market. Engineers are increasingly expected to move around the world, and some manufacturers use Australia as the base for launching models into South-East Asia.

Reflecting this international theme, RMIT has strong links with universities and automotive companies worldwide.

As part of this degree you can elect to take courses in European universities, and student exchanges and industrial placements have taken place with Germany, Switzerland, France, the UK and the USA.

Years 1 and 2 are conducted on the City campus and years 3 and 4 on the Bundoora campus.

The knowledge and skills you will acquire throughout this degree and how they can be applied in your career are described in the learning outcomes.

In the first two years of your automotive engineering degree, you will learn the fundamentals of engineering sciences, mathematics, engineering design, and engineering professional practice.

As you progress, you'll customise your degree by focusing your studies in automotive engineering or other areas such as manufacturing, mechanical, business, mathematics or computing.

In the first two years, you'll study basic mechanical and automotive engineering and science courses at the City campus. These are aimed at developing competence in essential analytical problem-solving skills and design capabilities.

All engineering students also study an Introduction to Engineering course, incorporating a humanitarian-focused Engineers Without Borders Challenge. You’ll have the opportunity to extend this aspect of your studies by completing an Engineers Without Borders elective, enabling you to experience humanitarian engineering first-hand later in your studies.

In these two years, you will be exposed to the fundamentals of engineering sciences, mathematics, engineering design, and engineering professional practice.

In the final years of the degree, specialist automotive courses are offered in our Bundoora East Campus. You will undertake in-depth study of vehicle design, mechanical vibrations and vehicle handing and control and vehicle noise and vibration. You will also develop your technical skills in complementary mechanical engineering fields.

Your final-year (capstone) project will develop and reinforce the skills and knowledge you need - as defined by Engineers Australia - to commence your professional engineering career. You may have the opportunity to present your project at EnGenius, an end of year student showcase event. 

You’ll also have the opportunity to complete a work-integrated learning (industry experience) elective in Year 2, 3 or 4 of your degree.

Project-based subjects in your final year provide a capstone experience in which you’ll conduct an independent research project. The nature of this project may be analytical, experimental, design, computational or any combination of these.