As a graduate of the Master’s in Mechanical Engineering with a specialisation in Smart & Sustainable Industry, you can look forward to great career opportunities. You can lead the way in modernising industrial companies as an innovation manager, smart industry specialist or automation engineer, to name just a few of your many options. You can also start up your own business. Or you can opt to further develop yourself by following a PhD- or EngD programme.
Type of degree
When you have completed this Master’s with the specialisation in Smart & Sustainable Industry, you will receive a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. Also, you can title yourself Master of Science (MSc) or use the Dutch title Ingenieur (Ir.). Your specialisation will be mentioned specifically on your diploma supplement, highlighting your specialised knowledge and skills in the field of smart and sustainable industry.
Job opportunities
The modernisation of industries as well as the urgent need for industrial companies to reduce environmental impact have led to increased demand worldwide for mechanical engineers with expertise in smart technologies, innovation and sustainability. With your specialised knowledge in digital manufacturing, you will be able to guide production-oriented industries through the next decades, by integrating digital innovations like robotics, vision, sensor systems and artificial intelligence with modern production equipment and tools.
In your future career, you could fulfil positions like innovation manager, automation expert, smart industry specialist, digital manufacturing engineer, engineering consultant, system engineer, production manager, and the list goes on. You can pursue such a career in a wide range of production industries, in companies like Philips, VDL, Apollo Vredestein, Thales, ASML, AWL, Vanderlande, or VMI group, to name some examples. Or you could find a job within consultancy or engineering firms like Witteveen+ Bos, Capgemini, McKinsey, RoyalHaskoning or Aracadis, advising organisations on topics related to digital transformation, smart industry and/or sustainability.
Start a business
At UT, we highly encourage entrepreneurship. The University of Twente is the birthplace of a large number of high-tech spin-off companies that market developed technologies. You could use your research or even inventions stemming from your master’s thesis and/or your PhD research to start up your own innovative company as well! UT has been voted the most entrepreneurial university in the Netherlands four times in a row. We have a unique approach of putting scientific knowledge to practical use and turning our expertise and yours into solutions that people and society actually need. As a catalyst for meaningful entrepreneurship, we offer you the Novel-T foundation and the start-up hub on campus.
Companies launched at UT
Did you know that the engineering firm Demcon was once started-up by graduates of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Twente? Just like EAZ wind, a start-up that designs and develops windmills and other sustainable energy packages for farms. Other examples of start-ups by ME-graduates include simulation software companies Aniform (focused on the forming processes of composite materials) and Triboform (focused on tribology, friction, and lubrication in metal-forming processes). Will you be next to start up your own company?
Post-master opportunities
Instead of pursuing a professional career right away after obtaining your Master’s degree, you can also opt for a more academically oriented career, by pursuing a PhD or EngD. An EngD programme is more practically oriented, aligned with the direct problem-solving or design needs of the industry, whereas a PhD programme is more focused on research. You can follow both types of programmes at the Twente Graduate School (TGS).
CONTINUE AS A RESEARCHER: OBTAIN A PHD
A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) involves spending four years of in-depth studying and researching in a particular area. You can do this within one of our research groups or in one of our structured PhD programmes. An integral part of a PhD is writing your PhD thesis at the end and then presenting and defending your research in public. Obtaining your PhD earns you the title of Doctor (Dr).
FOLLOW AN ENGD PROGRAMME
Other than obtaining a PhD, you can also opt to follow an EngD programme after graduation. Such a programme usually takes two years and is aimed at you becoming a high-level technological designer. Upon successful completion, you will receive a certified diploma and the academic degree Engineering Doctorate (EngD).