DTU offers an interdisciplinary study programme that focuses on the broad and general engineering competences. The programme provides you with a solid grounding in mathematics, physics, and chemistry, and simultaneously teaches you to work across disciplines and apply them to solve actual problems.
Engineers find answers to some of the questions surrounding us daily – from the big challenges to the small but significant details. They learn to break down issues and find specific and practical solutions. They work with wind power, AI, medicine, infrastructure, and many other areas influencing our daily lives.
As a student in the bachelor programme in General Engineering at DTU, you learn the skills it takes to help shape the future.
Studying General Engineering, you gain a list of general competences across the engineering field and can specialise within your chosen topics. This combination allows you to gain a thorough understanding of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biotechnology while diving into your favourite subject. That way, you get the best starting point for a career as an engineer.
Through the programme, you will collaborate with your fellow students as you work on several design-build projects, which are projects focused on finding diverse solutions to real-life challenges. Here, you learn to collaborate, communicate, and apply the learned technical skills.
The General Engineering programme is international, with all courses taught in English, and approximately 40 percent of the students are Danish, while 60 percent are international.
If you love collaborating, want to gain a global perspective, and find solutions that make a difference, this could be your programme.
To find the solutions that drive change, we need to collaborate and combine different skills from across the engineering field. As a General Engineering student, you will become an expert at this.
Through the three years it takes to complete the bachelor’s degree, you will gain a thorough understanding of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biotechnology. The four subjects give you a strong foundation.
You gain a deep theoretical understanding, and during the many design-build projects, you will turn that understanding into specific solutions. The projects are practice-oriented and designed to develop your competences with working in an interdisciplinary environment and collaborating.
We recommend choosing one of the four specialisations during your bachelor’s degree in general engineering. The four specialisations are:
If you choose the specialisation ‘Living Systems’, you will work with all things living – from aquatic engineering to food and allied fields such as medicine, healthcare, and chemicals.
‘Advanced Materials’ is the right choice if you want to develop new sustainable and functional materials and envision a career in anything from manufacturing to nanotechnology, modelling, acoustics, or physics.
If you choose ‘Cyber Systems’, you will work with computers, AI, analytics, modelling, hardware, and software.
Specializing in 'Future Energy' allows you to create a more sustainable world by developing energy technologies within wind or solar power, electrolysis, applied chemistry, and entrepreneurship.
The bachelor's programme in General Engineering takes three years.
During your first year, you take different mandatory courses to create a solid foundation of engineering skills. These courses give you a basic understanding of mathematics, programming, physics, chemistry, and biotechnology.
Meanwhile, you collaborate on various design-build projects with your fellow students. For example, you will work on a project about measuring yeast cells and learning how to analyse them.
During the first year, you will also be introduced to at least two of the four specialisations, preparing you to choose your specialisation – immediately or by the beginning of year two.
For your second year, you expand your mathematic understanding and learn about more advanced physics and biotechnology. You also gain knowledge within your chosen specialisation through the suggested program-specific courses.
Your bachelor's degree's third and final year is about freedom of choice. Here you select the courses of your liking – and most students take the opportunity to spend a semester abroad while others work on a project collaborating with a company. You complete your degree with a bachelor project during the 6th semester – often in collaboration with a company.
After their bachelor’s degree, most students extend their studies by two years to become more attractive to the labour market and obtain the title of Master of Science in Engineering. You can choose between a line of different MSc programmes depending on your specialisation.
It is mandatory to choose two of the four courses 02135, 12701, 41680, and 47202.
It’s highly recommended to do a project within the industry (with a company)
The BSc project is the final project on the BSc programme. The purpose of the BSc project is to give the student the opportunity to competently formulate, analyze, and process issues within a limited subject area that reflects the emphasis of the programme.
The BSc project may be prepared either individually or as a group project with a maximum of four students.The duration of a BSc project is 9 weeks full time study (including annual leave and public holidays) for a project of 15 ECTS credits.
The BSc project must be approved by the head of studies to ensure that it falls within the programme focus area. The student normally carries out the project in a department relevant to his or her BSc programme. However, subject to agreement with the head of studies, the student may carry out the project in other departments. The student can also do the BSc project in collaboration with a company or another university.
A semester abroad
If you choose to study a bachelor’s degree in general engineering, you will be presented with different teaching methods during your courses and the design-build projects. Also, the projects will be crucial to your learning, allowing you to apply your knowledge to real-life challenges.
To begin with, you will work in groups of three and during the programme the groups will grow to ten members. This way, the complexity of the projects increases as you expand your engineering skillset.
The programme is centred around student-centred learning, meaning you will be responsible for your own learning and time management.
At DTU, we have an open-door policy, making it easy for you to reach your lecturers with your questions. The relationship between lecturers and students is based on open, tolerant, and respectful communication, emphasising the importance of constructive feedback.
Studying General Engineering means studying in an open and international environment.
You will be surrounded by young people from around the world, meaning your English skills will improve while you learn about different cultures.
After your lectures, you can hang out with fellow students – for example, at the many events arranged for and by General Engineering students.
If you want to help with the events, you can join the student council and plan everything from the annual prom to the next educational event.
The everyday life of a General Engineering student takes place at the DTU campus in Lyngby. The campus is safe and easy to navigate, and here, you find first-class classrooms and labs, modern dorms, and so much more that allow you to have a great time at the university.
For example, you can join one of the associations and spend your free time on everything from climbing to dancing, badminton, or ceramics.
You can immerse yourself in the community and meet other students at the many DTU traditions and events or in the Friday bar.
How you wish to spend your time is totally up to you, but General Engineering gives you a great starting point for a fun, social and international student life.
With a bachelor’s degree in general engineering, you can look forward to an exciting future. The inherent interdisciplinary structure of the programme means acquiring a broad range of competences, which provides a long list of options.
After their bachelor's degree, most students choose to study a master’s programme, giving them a Master of science in Engineering degree.
Depending on your choice of specialization, the BSc in General Engineering enables you to apply for admission to a wide range of MSc programmes at DTU or another university in Denmark or abroad.
The four specializations are Living Systems, Cyber Systems, Advanced Materials and Future Energy.
Please refer to the individual MSc programmes for specific admission requirements and prerequisites.
If you continue your studies with a master’s degree, you will obtain a combination of broad technical-scientific and specialized qualifications that are in great demand by high-tech companies in Denmark and abroad.
Which master you want to choose – and how you want your career to develop – is totally up to you and your interests.
If you have a passion for biological and other living systems, you can build a career developing new food sources, modern medicine, healthcare, environmental engineering or creating a more sustainable environment for the wildlife under the sea. If you are more into computers and cyber systems, consider working with groundbreaking technology and developing AI, communication, or new data analysis methods.
If you want to create the materials that will shape our future, you can find a career developing advanced materials for everything from sustainable packaging to high-tech speakers. Suppose you want to work with energy and sustainability. In that case, there’s a whole industry waiting for you to work with wind power, solar energy, or all the other sustainable energy sources of tomorrow.
If you love new beginnings, you can work in a start-up – or start your own – and if you have a passion for the latest research, you can build a research career at a university.
Independent of which specialization you choose as a General Engineering student, you can find a job within many different industries, from acoustics to transportation, entrepreneurship, or research. Whatever your desired direction is, the labour market is waiting for engineers.
There’s a need for your abilities to analyse and understand complex problems, break them down and create the right solutions.
With a degree from DTU, a world of options awaits you.
