The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology was established in 1969. During the early stage, the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Department were under one Head of Department, Professor Jack Woodward, the founding professor of the new Electrical Engineering Department.

The Department offered the Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering in the early years. It was a five year technology course and was abolished in 1972 and the Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree program was introduced in 1970 and was still a five year degree program. The first mechanical engineering graduates under the five year Bachelor of Technology Degree program were in December 1972. They were L. Ovasuru, P.Popot and J. Chan as shown by the image below.

First 3 Mechanical Engineering Graduates, December, 1972

In 1979, the four years Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Mechanical Engineering course was introduced and is retained until present. In the final year of the four years degree program at the time, students were given options to choose in order to specialise in a particular mechanical engineering stream. They were the energy option and the production option in mechanical engineering.

The course structure has since changed to the current structure where both energy and production option were combined which means that final year students are required to study all courses offered in mechanical engineering to qualify for graduation with the bachelor of engineering degree in mechanical engineering.