The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Ben-Gurion University was among the first departments established in the University. The first class graduates their studies in 1970. It is interesting to note that a large fraction of the graduates of the first class remained to work in the Negev area.
Currently, the Department consists of 25 full time faculties in all major fields of mechanical engineering sciences. The current enrollment is 700 B.Sc. students and above 100 research students studding towards M.Sc. and Ph.D. students.
Since the establishment of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in Beer-Sheva about 4500 students have completed their studies and received certification as engineers. Most of them have been integrated into the work force of the country. Our graduates occupy leading positions in industry and in government research institutes. A number of our graduates occupy faculty positions in the Mechanical Engineering departments at Tel-Aviv University, at the Technion, at Universities abroad, and at some colleges in Israel, in addition to several who are on the staff of the department in Beer Sheva.
The aim of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is to promote the practice of mechanical engineering and mechanical engineering sciences in the broadest sense.
We promote mechanical engineering first and foremost by training engineers in our B.Sc. program. Naturally, we envision our graduates as leaders in the various activities performed by mechanical engineers: research, development, design, manufacturing, maintenance and management. To achieve this, our graduates should be innovative, creative, bright, knowledgeable and hardworking person; in addition they should possess communication skills, the ability to collaborate with colleagues and to lead them and to work in a multi-disciplinary environment.
In addition to our B.Sc. program, the objective of promoting engineering is served by the following activities of our faculty:
· consultation to industry in Israel,
· applied research carried out for industry,
· introducing inventions and patents,
· offering advanced courses to engineers on specific topics,
· organizing professional conferences and participating in conferences,
· providing advanced mechanical engineering education to working engineers in the framework of our M.Sc. and Ph.D.
· offering various educational activities for high school students including introductory courses and short visits to the Department,
· serving on various committees and occupying various positions in the Israeli science, engineering and technological education systems.
