Kettering University Catalog

Kettering University is a national leader in STEM education. Founded in 1919 by a group of Flint, Michigan leaders with a vision to transform the automobile industry, the polytechnic institution offers 13 undergraduate degrees, six graduate degrees, and a variety of concentrations and minors that allow us to deliver an education that brings theory and practice together better than any other institution in the world.

The University's programs and Return on Investment (ROI) are consistently ranked in the top tiers within Michigan and nationally because of its unique and proven approach to experiential education. All undergraduate students alternate between terms on campus that include hands-on classroom and lab experiences and co-op terms in which they are employed in paid professional positions with one of our more than 500 industry partners or work full-time on intensive applied research alongside faculty.

Facilities include the nation's only autonomous vehicle proving ground on a college campus, a crash safety center, and high-tech lab and research equipment that undergraduate students have access to from the moment they arrive on campus. Kettering faculty have received more Major Research Instrumentation grants from the National Science Foundation than any university in Michigan since 2012 and are among the leaders in the United States in being awarded these grants, which have dramatically enhanced the institution’s applied research capabilities.

Kettering University’s applied education model has resulted in graduates who are in high demand. More than 98 percent of our graduates are employed in their fields or are accepted to graduate school within six months of graduation.

Recent rankings and designations include:

No. 1 in the country in career preparation in a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal.
Designated a “Best in the Midwest” university by the Princeton Review in its 2020 “Best Colleges” edition.
No. 1 in Michigan and 32nd in the nation (above Princeton and Notre Dame) on lifetime return on investment (ROI), according to 2019 Georgetown University analysis of federal data ranking 4,500 public and private schools nationwide.
No. 1 in Michigan and the Midwest on Return in Investment by PayScale’s 2019 “College ROI Report: Best Value Colleges.” On average, Kettering University graduates see a 20-year return on investment of $766,000.
No. 13 nationally among non-Ph.D granting engineering universities in the 2020 U.S. News and World Report “Best Colleges” edition.
No. 5 nationally among Mechanical Engineering programs, according to the 2019 U.S. News and World Report “Best Colleges” edition.
No. 1 in Michigan and No. 4 in the U.S. as Best College for Mechanical Engineering based on median salary one year after graduation, according to gradreports.com's 2020 rankings.
In 2019, received Silver level status with Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency.
In a 2018 study profiled in The Economist, Kettering University was No. 4 in the country in producing alumni who hold patents.
In 2018, the Mechanical Engineering program was No. 6 nationally by College Factual.

For more about Kettering's unique co-op education model and the latest news from campus, visit kettering.edu.