Product Design Engineering

Entry requirements

People who can apply for the Master’s Degree:

• Holders of an undergraduate degree or a legal equivalent in engineering and related fields, industrial design, and product design;
• Holders of a foreign higher education diploma, granted after a first cycle of studies, under the principles of the Bologna Process, by a State, which has subscribed this Process, in engineering and related fields, industrial design, and product design;
• Holders of a foreign higher education diploma that is recognized as meeting the objectives of an undergraduate degree by the Technical and Scientific Council of the School of Technology and Management, in engineering and related fields, industrial design, and product design;
• Holders of an academic, scientific or professional curriculum that is recognized as certifying the skills to attend this cycle of studies by the Technical and Scientific Council of the School of Technology and Management;
• Students who are close to completing their undergraduate degree in the field required for entering the Master’s degree, and declare it in their application.

Months of entry

September

Course content

The development of innovative products is a critical factor for competitiveness. Currently, there is a trend towards shorter product lifetimes, as a consequence of changes in consumer demand patterns. In this context, the challenges posed to companies in terms of the quality of their products are accompanied by challenges in terms of the effectiveness and efficiency of the underlying design processes.

There is an opportunity for Portuguese companies to evolve in the value chain, from producers to creators of products, with high quality, added value and taking into account sustainability principles. The Master aims to provide its graduates with an integrated set of skills, in the field of developing quality products, quickly and innovatively, with a high degree of success and added value. These are solidly grounded in knowledge and understanding capabilities of advanced level in the scientific area of Mechanical Engineering and in particular in the field of design and product development.

They are intended to be evidence of knowing how to integrate knowledge, how to apply it, how to delimit and solve problems, how to communicate, how to select and collect/produce information in a professional manner, as well as how to learn autonomously throughout life.

The course also enables professionals already in the labour market to obtain a specialization in this area that will increase their technical competencies and help the entrepreneurial and industrial dynamization of this region surrounding the Polytechnic of Leiria.

UNIQUE ASPECT OF THE PROGRAMME

An unique aspect of the Masters in Product Design Engineering is the Global Work – a work of product design and development that aims to apply and reinforce the skills acquired in all the curricular units.

The course units’ contents, as well as their sequence and placement, are designed to provide support to students in the development of this work.

The theme of the work is defined by the students, and there are specific classes for developing ideas and generating concepts. The student is thus invited to take an active part in defining his Global Work.

This approach contributes to a better fit between each student’s skills, expectations and the potential for innovation and level of development for the work. At the same time, it allows the development of very diverse works, but which retain key elements of this course, such as sustainability, in its matrix.

Information for international students

Information for international students can be found here.

Fees and funding