SUBMITTING A DISSERTATION PROPOSAL

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
2013-2014

Students following the

Industrial and Materials
Engineering stream in the
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
DEGREE COURSE
Students following the ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERING DEGREE COURSE
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FINAL YEAR PROJECT TITLES

3rd year students will be requested to submit final year project
proposals by the 31st of March.
This is NOT compulsory later during the year the final year project
titles proposed by lecturers will be published, and students in year 3 will
be requested to list in order of preference 5 titles.
Allocation of titles is applied according to students choices; if more
than one student chooses any one title, then the student with the
required prerequisites (if any) and the highest overall grade obtained
over the course will be assigned the title.
Students can propose their own titles, and this presentation describes
the procedure to be followed.
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DEFINING A PROJECT
A one-page project proposal form will be sent by email to all 3rd year
students. This is to be filled in by those students who wish to present
their own proposals.
A project proposal has to:
be relevant to engineering
have a level of difficulty commensurate to the undergraduate degree
have an extent of content which is sufficient for an undergraduate
dissertation
have suitable depth and breadth of content
A proposal is to have some detail for example, stating you want to
work on laser surface engineering is not considered to be a proposal.
More detail such as the material, the specific process, and the
expected outcome is required.
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DEFINING A PROJECT
It is STRONGLY recommended that students intending to submit
proposals browse through previous dissertations, available in the
Library or Faculty (contact Faculty Office), to obtain an idea of what a
final year project consists of. A project proposal should include the
problem which will be tackled, and the resources required.
Lecturers and other staff can be consulted, HOWEVER student
proposals are not projects proposed designed by staff and assigned to
students, sidestepping the selection process. A proposal made by a
student has to be the students own work.
A student will NOT name a potential supervisor. A supervisor with
proficiency in the area of the proposal will be assigned by Faculty.

RESOURCES
A project proposal includes the required resources, so it is essential for
a student to familiarise herself or himself with equipment available in
the Faculty.
It is recommended that systems engineers in the relevant departments
as well as technical and academic staff are consulted on equipment
capabilities and availability.
Projects in collaboration with industry will also be considered, provided
that support by the institution(s) indicated by the student confirm their
collaboration.

SUBMISSION & ALLOCATION

A deadline will be indicated for proposal submission this is usually
around mid-March.
Student proposals will be considered by the relevant department, which
would consider the quality and suitability of the proposal, and the
availability of resources including a supervisor willing to supervise the
proposed project.
The proposing student would be informed of acceptance of her/his
project or otherwise by Faculty.
Students will be requested to submit their choices of five titles around
April.
The allocation of titles will be published by Faculty, usually directly after
the second semester exams are over.
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ANSWERS TO FAQs
A full project proposed by a student WILL NOT be offered as a title to
other students.
Students who have submitted a proposal will still be expected to
present a list of five titles, including titles proposed by supervisors. The
title proposed by the student would be included as one of the
preferences generally the first, although this is not a strict guideline.
Academics are NOT paid extra for supervising projects this rumour,
which has persisted for several years, is false!
Queries should be addressed to the Dean by email; please include
Final Year Project Proposal Query in the subject of your email.

Students following the

Structural Mechanics
and ThermoFluids
Stream
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FINAL YEAR PROJECT AREAS

In the second half of March the Faculty of Engineering will be

issuing a list of subject areas for Structural and Thermofluids
Engineering Final Year projects for the academic year 2013/2014.
Each student is to choose 3 areas out of the published list. The
deadline for the student preferences will be 31st March.
Students are then assigned to academics, preference to student
choice areas being given on order of academic merit. The aim is
to share the number of students equally between academics.

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FINAL YEAR PROJECT TITLES

Each academic will then individually meet with the students
allotted to him/her and come up with a project title suitable for the
student. (this could also be a proposal from the student himself).
At this point the Facultys Final Year Project form is filled in by the
academic.
In the Final Year Project form an indication of budget
requirements, resources requirements and any ethical issues are
defined.
If a project requires the use of equipment from another
department, the academic needs to liaise with the HOD which
owns that equipment to check availability.
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FINAL YEAR PROJECT TITLES DEADLINE

Project titles and corresponding supervisors and students are to

be finalized and accepted by the Department of Mechanical
Engineering by the 15th of July and submitted to the Faculty office.

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Any queries should be addressed to the Dean by

email.
Please include Final Year Project Proposal Query in
the subject of your email.

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