Welcome to the Mechanical and Production Engineering Department (MPED) at the Faculty of Engineering! It is a huge pleasure for me to present to you our department, which over time has offered degree programmes to provide engineering knowledge and skills that have contributed to advancement of key sectors in Mauritius, while adapting to the needs of our economy. Indeed Mechanical Engineering being one of the most traditional engineering practices can be found in any sector of the economy, including textile, tourism, manufacturing, automotive, food production and infrastructure to name a few. The MPED has, since its creation, a long history and tradition of education and research excellence with the support from a fully dedicated team of academic and technical staff. You can get more information on our staff from the department website as well as other information on the undergraduate and postgraduate degrees we offer, research interests of colleagues in the department and their experience in past research and consultancy projects.

The undergraduate programmes currently being offered by the department are: BEng(Hons) Mechanical Engineering, BEng(Hons) Mechanical Engineering (minor: Industrial Systems), BEng(Hons) Mechatronics Engineering (in collaboration with Electrical and Electronic Engineering department) and BSc Operations and Supply Chain Management. The taught Masters programmes offered by the department are MSc Total Quality Management & Performance Excellence, MSc Building Services Engineering and MSc Operations & Logistics Management. A Diploma in Industrial Engineering and Operations Management is also offered in part-time mode. It has been a major milestone achieved by the department in getting the BEng(Hons) Mechanical Engineering programme provisionally accredited by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), meaning graduates of this degree programme will be recognised in countries signatory of the Washington Accord. The BEng(Hons) Mechanical (minor: Industrial Systems) and BEng(Hons) Mechatronics Engineering programmes have already embarked on the accreditation process as well and are expected to be accredited when the current cohort of students have gone through the four years of study.

The accreditation process has enabled to formally establish the competences needed by an engineer to go for formal registration as a professional engineer after developing on-the-job experience. A special focus of our degree programmes is geared towards supporting sustainable development as engineers are expected to understand the impact of their work on the environment and people in addition to contributing to economic growth. Our students learn a range of sustainability tools and techniques to assess the impact of their work, and which they implement in their projects. With the knowledge gained, they are expected to think innovatively and holistically in their future work as engineers so that they can better engineering practice and find means to overcome pressing societal problems such as pollution, global warming and climate change. To succeed in this endeavour, they learn a range of engineering principles, methods and tools, including the crucial communication and inter-personal skills as well as ability to work in a multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary team. Students are exposed to these key skills in a practical work environment through industrial placement and seminars delivered by industry professionals.

The department has a wide range of laboratory facilities which are key in offering hands-on experience to our students, and we earnestly try to align these lab-based skills to the needs of industry. In this endeavour, we welcome partnerships for developing our lab facilities with state-of-the-art equipment for enabling an enhanced learning experience as well as research in emerging areas such as innovative and sustainable materials, precision engineering, automated systems, including robotics, Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing. We rely on your valuable support and look forward to partnering with you to co-create the key solutions needed to innovate industrial practices and address the pressing challenges facing our society.

Dr Mahendra Gooroochurn

March 2022