Automobiles are an integration of advanced technologies, including machines, electronics, and communications, and art. The level of automobile technologies of the country is a measure for the development level of the country’s technologies. In addition, the automobile industry not only creates jobs but also brings technological ripple effects more than any other industry.
The department provides both theories and practices in a balanced way to transform students through education into the engineers who are needed in the field. To help students understand functions of each element of vehicles and the relations between the elements, the department provides basic and general knowledge such as general mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. At the same time, students are provided with application software education, including CAD, structural analysis, fluid-flow analysis, heat transfer analysis, and experiment & control in line with the development trend of the industry.
On top of that, the department is equipped with the labs and facilities where students can fully practice what they have learned either in theory or with software. In this way, students can learn to be experts with hands-on background experience.

Graduates have opportunities for positions in automotive companies, such as manufacturing, research, testing, and maintenance or at the Transportation and Safety Authority.

The next generation automobile technologies will be developed to meet the needs of consumers who gradually want eco-friendly vehicles with better fuel efficiency, safety, and convenience. In addition, vehicles will be rapidly reduced in size for environmental and economically reasons through various methods such as the application of new lightweight materials. On top of that, the current acceleration in technology development for electronics and communication skills will be applied to intelligent vehicles in the near future.
Even though the future automotive industry requires various technologies like machines, electronics, communications, and materials, the foundations of such basic technologies are not firm in Korea. Currently, most colleges in Korea are only focused on theories in textbooks rather than giving students hands-on experience. As automotive engineering graduates are lacking in automobile-related research and practice, the automotive technologies in Korea are falling behind.
Seoul National University of Science and Technology, for the first time as a four-year college, opened the Automotive Engineering major and has continued to develop with classes that could complement the problems pointed out earlier. As a result, the department provides well-balanced programs, putting continuous efforts into educational course development and student learning in line with the current trend of the automotive industry.