Int. J. Engng Ed. Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 532±536, 2003 0949-149X/91 $3.00+0.00 Printed in Great Britain. # 2003 TEMPUS Publications. Mechatronics Education at the Johannes Kepler University: Engineering Education in its Totality* RUDOLF SCHEIDL, HARTMUT BREMER and KURT SCHLACHER Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstrasse 69, A-4040 Linz, Austria. E-mail: [email protected] A fully academic mechatronics engineering course was established at Linz University in 1990 in response to the expressed needs of industry for this new type of engineer. Mechatronics is taught here in a balanced way, emphasizing mechanical and electrical engineering as well as computer sciences, equally. More than six years working experience of graduates in industry confirm the validity of this concept. A study with such a broad scope combined with a sound scientific depth can only be achieved by an articulated well-balanced curriculum. INTRODUCTION . Basic sciences (such as mathematics, the relevant disciplines in physics), nowadays computer THE SPECIFIC CONCEPT of mechatronics sciences, technical knowledge and even some education at the Johannes Kepler University in practical skills (manufacturing or technical Linz is the result of the leading industrial position drawing) have to be attributed appropriate of the province of Upper Austria, its strong shares. Discussions about the appropriate orientation towards mechanical engineering (as share of the different categories of knowledge shown in Fig. 1), and its tradition in higher already date back to the origin of higher engin- education. The explicit request of industry for eering education at Universities in Europe in the academic engineering courses in mechanical and 19th century. For instance, we refer to [3, page electrical engineering in Linz were not satisfied till 46] and [4, page 57], in which pioneers in engin- 1990, when Prof. P. Weiss [1, 2] founded the eering stress the relevance of a sound scientific mechatronics course. His survey of the topical basis in engineering. The authors believe that needs of industry clearly had pointed towards there is no principle limit to the amount of useful mechatronics, reflecting the decisive role which theoretical training other than available time for automation, electronics, and system thinking had study, intellectual capability of students, and the gained in many mechanical engineering branches. space that must be dedicated to technological Thus, the foundation of Mechatronics in Linz knowledge. As students' comprehension of was characterized by the following specific facts: such theoretical knowledge is quite different, the compulsory part of a curriculum must be . The existence of a strong `market pull' for this adopted to a manageable amount for the type of education because of the overwhelming average student. role mechanical engineering played in Upper . The overall technical knowledge increases tre- Austria's industry. mendously. We have to find a reasonable solu- . In the design of the curriculum, the needs of tion to the trade-off between basic knowledge industry could be taken into account. (of a certain technological discipline) with its Since no traditional engineering disciplines had long-term validity and the knowledge of the been established in Linz, the program could be latest state of a particular technology that is designed right from scratch. subject to changes. Keeping track with fast technological changes as is required for profes- sional activity is mainly a matter of training BASIC CONCEPTS OF THE during the professional career. The role of MECHATRONICS CURRICULUM basic university education is to provide the ability to rapidly acquire the actually required General rules in engineering education detailed knowledge. Nevertheless, it is also Engineering education always was and is a necessary to train students in a few technological compromise in several respects: fields in order to make them confident with the attitude of engineering work, with basic methods for problem solving, and with additional means * Accepted 12 December 2002. necessary in engineering work. 532 Mechatronics Education at the Johannes Kepler University 533 Fig. 1. Industrial production in Upper Austria in 1995 (Upper Austria shares 16% of Austria's population). Engineering education should also provide some profile than research people in a big company. knowledge in economics and management. Nonetheless, even engineers in SMEs should be First, the engineer must be aware that economic able to go into depth if necessary, for instance, aims and constraints are part of his work. when co-operating with experts of a research Second, for certain types of jobs he needs some institute. A mechatronics education should meet elementary knowledge in business sciences. these needs quite exceptionally. Graduates from the University should also act Mechatronics is a change of paradigms, both in the as `technology pushers', both on a short and on a design of certain technical systems in (industrial) long time basis. There is always some sort of new practice and in engineering education. We see the technology or scientific method which the young following main (partly trade-off) problems in the graduate can introduce to a company. Nowadays, design of a mechatronics curriculum. this typically regards to computing in some way. The long time aspect is related to the engineer's The `start problem' and long-time perspectives ability to keep pace with the technological devel- In mechatronics education the problem of the opment. The broad education stressing the foun- tremendous increase of technical knowledge is dations and some scientific curiosity are the best resolved by a concept which might be called basis for that. `laying foundations'. Basically, these foundations are all the knowledge and abilities the graduate needs in order to start a career and he can improve Unifying view and modeling by training on his job by life-long learning. Modeling is basic for the understanding and A graduate from a mechatronics course will quantitative analysis of technical systems. Unfor- quite often start his career complying with existing tunately, no clear rules exist what foundations and job profiles, in which he is expected to perform what models are most relevant. Every engineering comparable to graduates of classical engineering discipline has worked out its own treatment of disciplines. Is this realistic? It is, if the particular the relevant physical knowledge, e.g. technical knowledge required to master such first tasks can mechanics in mechanical engineering or the be acquired efficiently from literature, company theory of electricity in electrical engineering. Part documents, and know-how transfer from experi- of this specialized knowledge can be omitted today enced colleagues. A sound physical background, due to powerful modeling and simulation methods an engineering attitude towards problem solving, enabled by the enormous performance of com- asking the right questions, working systematically, puters. In other words, we can replace many clear documentation (reporting) of work and specialized methods by a few general methods. results, creativity in solution finding, effective But we cannot go too far. As an example we and efficient communication with others are mention beam theory in mechanics. Nowadays, it important for success in this phase. could easily be replaced by a much more refined Such abilities are typically requested in R&D analysis of the three dimensional problem by using work. But there are many other positions young Finite Element Analysis. But the comprehensive engineers might start at: as a sales engineer or for insight provided by adequate models of beam the engineering of machine systems. Primarily, theory will remain indispensable, particularly in such work needsÐbesides the sound understand- the conceptual design phase. ing of a given technical systemÐcommunication There are attempts to unify modeling in and administration. mechatronics, e.g. [5], mostly promoted by In small and medium enterprises (in short people engaged in the simulation of discrete SMEs) engineers generally have a broader job dynamical systems. Despite the outstanding 534 R. Scheidl importance of such models in studying mecha- Design education tronic systems it should not dilute the physical Design is a big challenge in any type of engin- differences of the various engineering disciplines eering education. Although successful design in which are reflected by the different nature of industry is the result of proper product planning, mathematical models. creativity, experience, and physical and techno- Although we don't recommend an exceptional logical knowledge, proper education plays an unified modeling approach, we stress a teaching important role. We can neither create the experi- attitude towards `thinking in models'. This should enced designer at the University nor will we make incorporate the ability to set up models, to know everyone of our graduates a successful designer. the qualitative solution of at least some generic However, we have to promote design as a crucial cases and ways for obtaining quantitative solutions part of successful product development and we by at least numerical methods. should motivate those who have the proper talents by challenging design projects. Mechatronic aspects should be included in this project work. Width of technical knowledge versus depth What is pointed out in Section 2.1 for engineer- THE NEW CURRICULUM OF ing education in general is