Medical Engineering is an exciting subject in which the professional practices of clinicians and engineers are combined to produce a new kind of expertise. Medical Engineers have sufficient knowledge of human biology to understand the problems of people suffering from accidents and illnesses, and the engineering skills to help clinicians in designing hardware and software to overcome some of these problems. They also fully understand, because of their engineering background, the operating principles and limits of the numerous engineering devices which help doctors to diagnose and cure problems of trauma and ill health. These include the wide range of biomaterials developed for different medical purposes, tissue engineering products, prostheses such as hip, knee, shoulder and finger joints, artificial hearts, cardiac pacemakers, micro-electro-mechanical drug delivery systems, and diagnostic imaging systems such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Computer Tomography, and Ultrasound techniques.

The Bachelor of Engineering in Medical Engineering course is a three-year degree course jointly offered by the Faculties of Engineering and Medicine. In this course, students will learn the engineering and biological principles needed to understand the design and operation of a wide range of advanced medical engineering systems. Through group and individual projects, they will participate in state-of-the-art research projects in this discipline. In the third year of the degree, in addition to some core subjects, students can opt for a wide variety of subjects offered by the contributing departments with guidance from the course tutors to ensure a balanced curriculum.

Subject to approval, students may opt to minor in Business, Economics or Finance.

PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION

Provisional accreditation for the programme from the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers has been granted.

CAREER PROSPECTS

The course is designed to prepare students for both professional and scientific developments. Currently, large investment sums are being injected into Medical Engineering research programmes worldwide. Graduates can work as scientists and engineers in hospitals and research institutions, or as sales engineers specialising in medical, healthcare or sports equipment. They may also opt for further studies by joining the numerous research programmes in bioengineering or related areas both locally and around the world. Graduates are also bona fide electronic and mechanical engineers, and can compete in the job market as such.