Student review [#5370] for Mechanical Engineering
at VIA University College - VIA

In general, the education I got there was on a semi-level.
Like every place, they are strong in a few things, but lack in others …
One of the great things about my study like (Mechanical engineering) is that it was problem-based and we actually did projects every semester which is the time people actually apply all this theory from the classes. There were a few practical laboratories which give the really good inside of the small details that nobody gets to see in the textbooks, which came in very handy at my work after graduation.
They do have specialists in some fields and you can learn a lot extra than the curriculum if you are interested enough. <<<< This is important!!!
You get the possibility to use the laboratories and equipment that the school has. Nothing is state-of-the-art equipment, but its good enough to teach you basic things and to actually produce very decent results if you know what you are doing with it.
Good thing is that there are many labs, not only the ones relevant for mechanical engineering, so you get to have a lot of opportunities to work on almost any imaginable project.

Now the bad sides of my study line:
Lack of fundamental mechanical engineering related courses! Cant stress this enough… there is a problem with that. Thermodynamics is only 1 module, FEM is on so basic level, that you are left to fend for your own if you want to learn something other than static cases in extremely simplified models. (Had to ask once for a problem I had while working with CFD, and there was nobody at the whole uni that knew anything about CFD, which in my eyes is completely unacceptable, especially if you offer FEM courses!)
The diploma is not really recognized in Germany for example. Major German universities do not recognize the diploma from VIA, therefore you need to take many extra courses in order to qualify for a masters degree in automotive engineering for example. (I believe this is not only VIA problem, but in general German unis require many extra courses when coming from Denmark)
The school is not keen on funding projects. When I started my studies we had about 10 people who wanted to do formula student (major competition with lots of knowledge to be obtained from it) – the school did not help in any way so we had to drop the project. (But after my graduation they did start with a small formula student team)