Aerospace Engineering encompasses Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. In the current technological advancement, this sector is a very important aspect to the Nigeria economy as it supports the interest in communication and satellite technology. This means knowledge in Aerospace Engineering through Nigerian University will help to enhance the National Space Research Development Agency [NASRDA] in the fulfillment of its mandate. A research report on “Aerospace Industry Forecast to 2013” reveals that the Aerospace industry has emerged as a high potential market in the world despite the drawback in finances. Reasonable hike in military budget and growth in air traffic have given the necessary impetus to the industry in hard times. There has been an increase in civil aviation expenditure and the military transport budget has also continued to increase over the last few years. The Nigerian aviation currently spends huge amount of foreign exchange on the maintenance of a fleet of aircraft, as a result of insufficient local capability to effect the different categories of industry-specified aircraft maintenance schedules.
The Aerospace Engineering Department [AED] in AFIT until December 2017 was awarding an HND and OND, before it metamorphosed to a full-fledged degree awarding institution. This was possible with the intervention of the NUC and COREN. AED is one of the Departments in the Faculty of Air Engineering [FAE] in AFIT. The Department now runs a programme leading to the award of Bachelors in Engineering.
The Department inherited all the facilities of the Defunct Polytechnic, thereby giving the Engineering students additional technical advantage over those in conventional Universities. The pioneer degree students are in their 200 level at the moment with excellent academic performance of over 10% of the students being within a CGPA of 4.5 and above. The second badge of 100 level students will be resuming in January 2020. The Department also runs PGD and M. Eng. degree with 35 and 221 students respectively, having over 53 academic staff, 5 technologist and 6 administrative staff.
The Department is engaged in both excellent teaching and quality research. It requires the scientific control and use of human resources to achieve optimum results in his/her activities. In this view, aspect of industrial engineering application and management science form an integral part of the courses given in the programme.
In addition, each student will undergo about one year industrial training to be spread across the 5 year period as follows: 2 months at the end of 200 level course work, 3 months at the end of 300 level course work and the entire second semester of 400 level which is slated to be 6 months and attracts 2, 3 and 6 credit unit respectively.
Aerospace Engineering program in AFIT is organized to enhance versatile career opportunity of prospective graduates in all sectors such as aeronautics, aerospace, automotive, aviation, control and instrumentation engineer, maintenance, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, textile, processing paper and wood processing industries and power generation. Other areas include oil and gas, solid materials, construction companies, agricultural mechanization, defense/security, public utilities, government services, management and engineering consultancy, teaching/research, hospital and biomedical engineering sectors.
The creation of the department is most appropriate and beneficial to the Military, the state and the nation’s economy at large. This has happened at the period when the nation is striving towards technological independence. This development will go a long way in assisting the military, state and others in advancement of the national economy.
Philosophy
The philosophy of Aerospace Engineering programme in AFIT is to produce high level professionals with deep design skills, theoretical and practical academic background to cope with broad range of challenges of self-reliance. The curriculum is designed to prepare Aerospace Engineering graduates for further career. We strive to accomplish these goals by providing a rigorous and demanding curriculum that incorporates lectures, tutorials, laboratory and design projects in basic sciences, mathematics, engineering science and design as well as the humanities and social sciences. Aerospace Engineering graduates should be able:
- To demonstrate knowledge of Aerospace Engineering materials, technology and processes.
- To design and manufacture Aerospace Engineering components, machines, equipment and allied systems;
- To install and maintain complex Aerospace Engineering systems so that they can perform optimally under diverse operating conditions;
- To demonstrate understanding of the appropriate Information and Communications Technology [ICT] associated with Aerospace Engineering;
- To be abreast with numerical and computational tools for solving Aerospace Engineering problems;
- To demonstrate leadership and management techniques related to Aerospace Engineering for exercising original thought, professional judgment and taking responsibility for direction of important tasks;
- To adapt and adopt exogenous technology in order to solve domestic Aerospace Engineering problems;
- To demonstrate knowledge of safety, quality and reliability of Aerospace Engineering systems and components including airworthiness of Aerospace vehicles;
- To demonstrate innovation and entrepreneurship in Aerospace Engineering;
- To improve on indigenous technology to facilitate the development of the Aerospace Engineering sector in Nigeria;
- To apply knowledge of mathematics, science and engineering;
- To design and conduct experiments as well as interpret data;
- To design a system, component or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environment, health and safety, manufacturability and sustainability;
- To function effectively in multidisciplinary teams;
- To demonstrate understanding of professional and ethnic responsibility;
- To identify, formulate and solve engineering problems;
- To communicate effectively;
- To use the techniques, skills and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.
Aim and Objectives
The primary aim of Aerospace Engineering training in AFIT is to develop engineers with skills in presentation of scientific and engineering philosophies to cultivate necessary technological tools (machines, skills and techniques) for the provision of needs of material goods and services for sustainable development. Hence, the specific objectives of the programme are to develop highly trained Aerospace Engineers who can;
- Design components, machines, equipment and systems with locally sourced materials towards global applications.
- Design and develop new production techniques, modify the existing ones for effective operation in the industry and other sectors of a nation.
- Be able to install and maintain engineering system that will perform optimally in our local environment.
- Provide leadership guidance and supervision of complex engineering projects.
