Starting Your Degree

We've redesigned first-year engineering at USask to help you succeed and make engineering more fun. We call the new first year RE-ENGINEERED. It’s the only program of its kind in Canada. It will get you excited and inspired about engineering.

In RE-ENGINEERED, instead of high-stakes exams, you will do more assignments and quizzes so you can improve your mark if you stumble early. Daily tutorials are part of the schedule so you can get help when you need it. And instead of final exams, you will explore the different branches of engineering in hands-on courses.

You will choose your engineering specialty – known as your major, or discipline – at the end of your first year. This is the area you will study in-depth in your upper-years classes.

Majors

You will choose your engineering major near the end of your first year. You will specialize in this area of engineering for the rest of your degree.

Each of our eight majors are accredited by Engineers Canada, which requlates engineering education in Canada.   

• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Computer Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Engineering Physics
• Environmental Engineering
• Geological Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering

Your junior humanities/social science elective, science elective or commerce class will not be used in the average calculation.

Professional Communication

These certificate programs prepare you for a professional career by cultivating communicative judgment in professional practice. They can be completed in conjunction with a degree or on their own.

• Professional Communication - Leadership and Negotiation
• Professional Communication - Persuasive Communication
• Professional Communication - Technical and Professional Writing

Technological Innovation

This certificate program introduces you to business fundamentals and to the processes necessary to design and commercialize technologically-innovative solutions. When you complete the program, you will have the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to identify good problems involving tech innovation opportunities, to design solutions to those problems, and to commercialize your innovations.

• Technological Innovation

You can further enhance your education by taking additional specialized training in the following options:

Bioprocessing Option

This option is available to students pursuing the B.E. in Chemical Engineering program. It provides specialization in sciences/engineering courses that deal with food and biomaterial processing and biotechnology-based production.

Mineral Processing Option

This option is available to students pursuing the B.E. in Chemical Engineering program. It offers students the opportunity to take 6 courses within their Bachelor of Science in Engineering (B.E.) Chemical Engineering program that gives them a focus on the discipline of Mineral Processing.

Petroleum Option

This option is available to students pursuing the B.E. in Chemical Engineering program. It provides students the opportunity to take courses within the Chemical Engineering program that give them a focus on petroleum engineering, oil/gas engineering and bitumen upgrading.

Geological Engineering Mining Option

This option equips students pursuing the Bachelor of Science in Engineering (B.E.) Geological Engineering program with a foundational knowledge of mining operations. Curricular emphasis is placed on process engineering, mine design, excavation techniques, and mineral deposits. 

Mechanical Engineering Mining Option

This option offers students the opportunity to take a set of courses, plus complete a mandatory twelve-month internship, within their Mechanical Engineering program, that gives them a focus on topics of relevance to the mining industry.

The Engineering Co-op Internship Program is a great way for students to kickstart their engineering careers. In this optional program, students gain valuable engineering work experience through paid work terms between four and 20 months long. Participating in the co-operative internship program may extend your degree completion time by a minimum of one year.

• More about Co-op internship

If you are interested in engineering, but are missing a high school science class or if your high school average is below the minimum required for engineering, there are dedicated programs for Indigenous students at USask to help you meet those requirements before you start your engineering degree.

• Engineering access programs