The efficient matrix structure of the Scientific-Technical Center (CTC) at PUC-Rio results in every Department acting in different undergraduate courses.
All engineering courses at the CTC are divided into two phases: Basic and Professional Cycles.
The Basic Cycle is the first step within the curricular structure of the Scientific-Technical Center undergraduate courses, concentrating subjects common to all undergraduate courses. In the basic cycle, the student receives extensive scientific training in the areas of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Informatics, with intense laboratory practice, experience in engineering projects and humanistic education.
The Basic cycle is presented in two curricula for new students. Those with lower classifications in the entrance exam are offered introductory courses in physics and mathematics, which show less content, with the goal of working on logical and abstract reasoning, applying the basic concepts of these two fields of knowledge.
The Introduction to Engineering course belongs to the common curriculum, and is a discipline with a hands on approach, i.e., learning from practical problems, providing students with the opportunity to work in teams around a common problem.
The choice of a common core system implies that the initial career choice (course option) is made after the 3rd crediting semester, thus allowing the student to obtain a better understanding of the career that he/she wants to pursue.
The Professional Cycle of the Mechanical Engineering course at PUC-Rio has a very flexible curriculum and no emphasis options. The course is structured formally in four lines:
- Mechanical Design
- Manufacturing and Materials
- Dynamics and Control
- Thermosciences and Energy
The four discipline lines end in a Discipline Project, allowing for the knowledge acquired in each line to be integrated and assessed. A large number of elective subjects allows students to direct their training into their areas of interest. The large number of elective subjects also allows for the simultaneous acquisition of two majors, for example, Mechanical Engineering and Automation and Control Engineering or Mechanical Engineering and Production Engineering or Mechanical Engineering and Petroleum Engineering. Importantly, this flexibility allows a tight integration between the courses of the different CTC departments, expanding CTC student universes.
In order to ensure good teaching practices, the Mechanical Engineering Department at PUC-Rio has the support of an infrastructure for teaching and research composed of workshops and well-equipped laboratories. These laboratories and workshops promote a modern environment for conducting practical experiments and numerical and computational simulations. Some of these laboratories are used by the Graduate Program, which recently obtained the highest CAPES qualification among all the Mechanical Engineering Departments of the country. In addition to these laboratories, students have all the infrastructure at PUC-Rio at their disposal, such as libraries, an internet network available within the whole campus and agreements with U.S. and European universities. The academic excellence of the courses is also due to the faculty team, consisting of 22 full-time teachers, all with PhD’s, obtained from reputable universities in both Brazil and abroad. Several part-time teachers further complement the faculty.