Stellenbosch University School of Engineering Courses or Programme Offered
Civil Engineering
Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Industrial Engineering
Mechanical & Mechatronic Engineering
Process Engineering
Undergraduate
Engineering
The four-year Bachelor of Engineering programmes (BEng) equip students with a broad knowledge base. In the first year all students take the same compulsory subjects; thereafter they start specialising in the specific programme in which they are interested. Since the first year of study is largely common to all BEng programmes, students that have passed all the first-year subjects in their first year of study may change to any other BEng programme at the start of their second year of study. In the first two years, a foundation of mathematics and the natural and engineering sciences is laid, and in the third and fourth years, students learn how to apply their knowledge to solve technical problems and how to develop business opportunities. With this broad knowledge base, BEng graduates can take up a variety of occupations both within and outside the engineering industry. They often establish and manage their own companies as entrepreneurs.
Professional accreditation and international recognition
All our BEng programmes are accredited by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA), giving our graduates access to registration as Professional Engineers after acquiring the relevant experience in practice. In line with the Washington Accord, our BEng degrees are recognised world-wide in such countries as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, to name a few.
Language of instruction
The University adopted a new language policy in 2026, for implementation from 2026 onwards. According to this policy the University wants to revise the English offering upwards so as to achieve full accessibility to SU for academically deserving prospective and current students who prefer to study in English. At the same time the University wants to sustain access to SU for students who prefer to study in Afrikaans and to further develop Afrikaans as a language of tuition, where reasonably practicable.
Details of the undergraduate language offering in the BEng programmes for 2026 can be obtained here or via the Faculty’s webpages. All postgraduate programmes are offered in English.
Minimum admission requirements for BEng
Selection criteria
Extended degree programmes for Engineering
Postgraduate Programmes
The Faculty of Engineering is one of South Africa’s major producers of high-level engineers. Established in 1944, it currently has five engineering departments, namely Civil, Electrical and Electronic, Industrial, Mechanical and Mechatronic, and Process Engineering.
The Faculty is housed in a large building complex and has excellent teaching and research laboratories and an extensive support infrastructure. Its mission is to serve as a cost-effective source of excellent technical proficiency and professional leadership through teaching, research and service to industry and the community.
The Engineering Faculty has a long tradition of close cooperation with industry, where both contract research and consultation for industry are facilitated by various internal organisations.
The Faculty currently has several international cooperation agreements in place, enabling postgraduate students to do part of their postgraduate studies and projects in a foreign country. More information regarding these international partnerships is available from the chairs of department.
All students who do not have South African citizenship potentially have access to all the postgraduate programmes offered, provided that an official study permit is obtained and that all the requirements of admission are met.
The medium of instruction at the postgraduate level is English.