(Entry) Requirements Minor (modules 9 & 10)

Article B2.5 point 3 of the ME EER lists the entry requirements (admission requirements) for the minor phase (modules 9 & 10). Students are entitled to start with the minor phase programme (Article B2.7) in the third year after having:

1. completed 90 EC of which at least 52 EC of the first academic year and
2. no more than 4.5 EC of unfinished courses of previous years that are delivered concurrently with the quartile of the minor.

Article B2.7 of the ME EER deals with conditions for the minor phase programme (modules 9 & 10). The minor phase programme is a structured, coherent and complete educational package of academic level corresponding to the level of a third-year student. The minor phase programme consists of several study units worth a total of 30 EC which contribute to the students’ general academic competences and/or to the enrichment of their knowledge and skills in a specialist field. 

What a student does in the minor phase programme is a free choice, but it should be approved by the Examination Board. Most of the minors offered for the minor phase programme by the UT are pre-approved by the Examination Board ME and do not require permission of the Examination Board anymore. If you wish to organise the minor phase programme differently, you must apply for permission from the Examination Board. 

Below is described which educational packages for the minor phase programmes are pre-approved and for which minor phase educational packages approval of the Examination Board is required. For getting approval ,forms are provided that need to be filled out and uploaded. This procedure also ensures that the educational activities done for the minor phase programme will be registered correctly on your study progress overview.

The UT offers a wide range of minors. Several of them are pre-approved for Mechanical Engineering students. In the OSIRIS course catalogue, you will find UT's minor offerings. By selecting the relevant academic year and programme (Bachelor Mechanical Engineering) students will only see the minors they are allowed to take for which they do not need approval of the examination board anymore.

Some of the UT minors are specially developed minors which are mainly of an in-depth nature, like the High Tech, Human Tough minors, the stand-alone minor packages or the Crossing Borders and Education minor packages. These deepening minors are mostly limited in accessibility. Not all study programmes can join these because of the knowledge you need to have in advance. In addition, the UT offers many minors that are part of an educational programme. This means you are joining a module of another study programme. 

Students who plan to take for their minor phase programme a module that is part of another educational programme that includes a mathematics course or another course they have already taken, must replace that course with another course. Replacement courses should have (little or) no overlap with the ME courses done/to be done. The replacement course can be taken in a different quartile from the minor. Options for pre-approved replacement courses and / or additional courses and their conditions are:   

• Pre-approved: Programming in Engineering, 2 EC or 4 EC (202400656). The course is divided into three parts: (1) Python, 2 EC and (2) C++ (2 EC) and (3) Matlab (1 EC).  The course is modular: it is allowed to do only the Python or C++ part for 2.0 EC, or both the Phyton and C++ part for 4.0 EC. The Matlab part (1 EC) is never allowed.
• Pre-approved: Introduction to Mathematical Analysis, 2 EC (201600166), 3 EC (201400385) & 4 EC (201600167) options. 
• Any other UT course that accepts your enrolment (ask teacher / programme coordinator of the other UT course / programme) and is approved by the Examination Board. To request for approval, fill out this form and upload here your form for approval by the Examination Board.

Transfer Minor

Students can also do a so-called transfer minor. This is a pre-master’s programme, to transfer to a master of another degree programme, done in the minor phase. Such pre-master programmes are usually approved by the ME Examination Board. However, approval is required before the start of the transfer minor. To request for approval for a pre-master's programme in the minor phase fill out this form and upload here your form for approval by the Examination Board.

Minor abroad (Exchange) 

Students can also do a minor abroad (exchange), spending a semester studying at a university abroad in their minor phase. Visit the Canvas site Study abroad for ET students for more information on what possibilities there are for studying abroad. Courses you select at the university abroad must meet the following criteria:

• The minor phase programme should be of a sufficient (bachelor’s) level;
• No or minimal overlap with the subject matter already dealt with, in case of overlap the Examination Board decides if the amount of overlap is allowed;
• Maximum of 15 EC of first year study units;
• One project is allowed in combination with their supporting project courses.

 The Examination Board needs to approve the course list before the start of the minor phase programme. The Canvas site Study abroad for ET students provides you a form that has to be filled out to get approval from the examination board. You must upload here  your form for approval by the Examination Board.

Minor at another Educational Institute

Students can also do a minor package offered by another educational institute in their minor phase programme. In that case approval of the Examination Board is required before the start of the minor package. To request for approval, fill out this form and upload here for approval by the examination board.

Free or Individual Minor programme

Instead of choosing a pre-defined minor package at the UT or elsewhere, students can do a so called free or individual minor phase programme, consisting of elective study units / course (UT courses or courses offered at another educational institute) in their minor phase programme. Minor programme packages composed of courses done in a previous programma are also considered a free minor phase programme. Additionally, the student team study units Minor Design & Technological Challenges ME - 15 EC (202001491) and Minor Design & Technological Challenges ME - Double (202500513) are considered study units that can be used to compose a free minor phase programme. 

For free minor phase programmes approval of the Examination Board of the complete (minimal) 30 EC package for the minor phase programme is required before the start of the educational activities. Although your request may concern approval for less than 30 EC of the minor phase programme, the Examination Board always assesses your complete minor phase programme of (minimal) 30 EC. See below the instructions for:

1. Composing a free minor pahse programme and the criteria;
2. How to request approval for the free minor phase programme. 

1: Instructions for composing a free minor phase programme

You could put together your minor phase programme package with UT courses. What do you need to do? You have to select courses yourself through the Osiris Course Catalogues. There you can find all UT courses which are offered every quartile. Read carefully the course descriptions and check whether you meet the prerequisite knowledge requirements and if you are allowed to follow the course from the other programme as a Mechanical Engineering student. If you are not sure ask the teacher of the course, you want to do. Finally, the most important task: take the criteria for the free minor into account: 

• The minor phase programme should be of a sufficient (bachelor’s) level;
• No or minimal overlap with the subject matter already dealt with, in case of overlap the Examination Board decides if the amount of overlap is allowed;
• Maximum of 15 EC of first year study units;
• A project is allowed in combination with their supporting project courses.

Instead of UT courses the free minor programme can also be composed of courses from an other university in the Netherlands. For those minor programmes the same criteria and the same procedure for approval apply.

2: Instructions for requesting approval for a free minor phase programme

Fill out this form completely, this includes for every course: course code, course name, amount of EC's, course level (B1, B2, B3, M), for courses outside the UT a working link to the course content and learning goals, for UT courses the programme teaching the course. Please note that:

• Approval for a free minor phase programmee can only be requested for when the entry requirements to participate in a minor are met. As long as the entry requirements are not met the request will not be considered.
• Requests for approval will only be considered for complete minor phase programmes of 30 EC or more and for completely and clearly filled out forms. If you do a free minor programme for e.g. 15 EC and a pre-approved UT minor of 15 EC (e.g. a HTHT minor or an other pre-approved minor mentioned on the UT minor overview) mention also which 15 EC minor you want to do.

Upload here your form for approval by the Examination Board.

If you have any questions, please contact your ME study adviser.