Program structure

Source: https://www.tue.nl/en/education/bachelor-college/program-structure Parent: https://www.tue.nl/en/education/bachelor-college

Your course program? You decide!

Program structure

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• Program structure

  • Student-and study coaching

Facts & figures

• 3 years

• 4 quartiles per year

• 60 ECTS (credits) per year

• 45 ECTS worth of free electives in total

• 40 hours of study time per week

• Bachelor of Science Degree

Future-proof engineer

Are you thinking of doing a bachelor’s degree program at Eindhoven University of Technology? Then you are on your way to becoming a future-proof engineer. An engineer ready to create technological solutions for the challenges our world faces - not just today, but in the future as well. At TU/e, you will:

• develop a thorough technological foundation in your field
• immediately apply what you learn in practice
• learn to collaborate with disciplines outside your field and with other cultures

You will also learn how you can continue to develop yourself as a professional throughout your career. That is an essential skill, since developments are faster than ever. The technological knowledge you learn today will likely become obsolete in only a few years’ time.

Different types of courses

TU/e offers 15 different bachelor’s degree programs. Nearly all of them are taught in English. Each program consists of a core program and electives.

• Core program\ Your core program matches the field you want to specialize in. These courses take up 75% of your bachelor’s degree program. During your core program you will also learn what impact technology can have on society. For example, how can you make sure that people will actually use a care robot or self-driving car? And which ethical questions pop up when you are developing a new technology? Within each bachelor’s degree program, you will follow two Impact of Technology (ITec) courses for this purpose.
• Free electives\ During your studies, you will have a lot of elective space. Approximately 25% of your time you will spend on the subjects you choose. This could be subjects from your own department or from other departments. With your free electives, you can truly personalize your development as an engineer. Do you want to specialize in a single field? Specialize in a particular theme such as A.I, health, energy or sustainability? Or would you rather combine several fields of study to develop as broadly as possible? The choice is yours. You can also choose additional ITec courses in your elective space. Of course, you don’t have to make all decisions by yourself. Our teachers will support you whenever necessary.

Challenge-Based learning

At TU/e we work challenge based. This means that, during your education, you will work on several challenges that occur in the world around us. For example: How do we ensure clean, affordable energy? Sufficient housing and food for all? And how can we age healthy as life expectancy increases? You will search for solutions for specific challenges within these themes, together with your fellow students and a professor. Sometimes with students from your own major, sometimes with students from different majors. For this, you will receive different types of education: inspiring lectures, small-scale instructional meetings and guided self-study. In addition, you will actively seek additional knowledge.

An average week of studying

Per week, you will spend around 40 hours on studying.

• 12 to 15 hours of lectures
• About 10 hours in working groups or project teams
• 15 hours of self-study, at home or in one of the TU/e working spaces

Study load and grading system

At TU/e, the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) is used to measure study load. One ECTS credit equals 28 hours of study, including lectures, assignments, and self-study. Students typically earn 60 ECTS credits per academic year, or 30 per semester.

A bachelor’s degree program consists of 180 ECTS credits in total. The distribution of credits may vary slightly per program, but a typical structure looks like this:

Grading system\ The Dutch grading system uses a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is very poor and 10 is outstanding. A grade of 6 or higher is considered a pass. In practice, grades 1 to 3, as well as 9 and 10, are rarely awarded. Most students receive grades between 5 and 8.

Honors Academy

Are you looking for some additional challenge during your bachelor’s degree program? Then our Honors Academy may be just the thing for you. The Honors Academy gives you the opportunity to join a multidisciplinary student team and work on a project that can really make a difference. This means you not only get to work with students from your own program, but also with students from other programs. The first car that runs on formic acid, an motorcycle, house drone or a biosensor that detects disease – all innovations from Honors Academy students. The Honors tracks are in addition to your regular course load and will earn you 30 additional ECTS credits.

Come take a look!

We understand that deciding on a bachelor’s degree program is not easy. That’s why there are several ways to get acquainted with the TU/e bachelor’s degree programs. Watch a program video, visit an information day and an experience day or come be a student for a day. Would you like to be kept up to date of our information activities? Create an account on MyStart@TU/e. You will receive an email when registration opens for an activity.