Education and training of electrical and electronics engineers
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Both electrical and electronics engineers typically possess an academic degree with a major in electrical/ electronics engineering. The length of study for such a degree is usually three or four years and the completed degree may be designated as a Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Applied Science depending upon the university.
Scope of undergraduate education
The degree generally includes units covering
Post graduate studies
Electrical engineers can also choose to pursue a postgraduate degree such as a
Typical electrical/electronics engineering undergraduate syllabus
Apart from electromagnetics and network theory, other items in the syllabus are particular to electronics engineering course. Electrical engineering courses have other specializations such as
Electromagnetics
Elements of vector calculus: divergence and curl; Gauss' and
Network theory
Network graphs: matrices associated with graphs; incidence, fundamental
Electronic devices and circuits
Electronic Devices: Energy bands in silicon, intrinsic and extrinsic silicon. Carrier transport in silicon:
Analog Circuits: Equivalent circuits (large and small-signal) of diodes,
Digital circuits:
Signals and systems
Definitions and properties of
Control systems
Communications
Communication systems: amplitude and angle modulation and demodulation systems, spectral analysis of these operations, superheterodyne receivers; elements of hardware, realizations of analog communication systems; signal-to-noise ratio calculations for amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM) for low noise conditions. Digital communication systems: pulse code modulation, differential pulse-code modulation, delta modulation; digital modulation schemes-amplitude, phase and frequency shift keying schemes, matched filter receivers, bandwidth consideration and probability of error calculations for these schemes.
Certification
The advantages of certification vary depending upon location. For example, in the United States and Canada "only a licensed engineer may...seal engineering work for public and private clients". This requirement is enforced by state and provincial legislation such as Quebec's Engineers Act. In other countries, such as Australia, no such legislation exists. Practically all certifying bodies maintain a code of ethics that they expect all members to abide by or risk expulsion. In this way these organizations play an important role in maintaining ethical standards for the profession. Even in jurisdictions where certification has little or no legal bearing on work, engineers are subject to contract law. In cases where an engineer's work fails he or she may be subject to the tort of negligence and, in extreme cases, the charge of criminal negligence. An engineer's work must also comply with numerous other rules and regulations such as building codes and legislation pertaining to environmental law.
Significant professional bodies for electrical engineers include the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Institution of Engineering and Technology. The former claims to produce 30 percent of the world's literature on electrical engineering, has over 360,000 members worldwide and holds over 300 conferences annually. The latter publishes 14 journals, has a worldwide membership of 120,000, certifies Chartered Engineers in the United Kingdom and claims to be the largest professional engineering society in Europe.
See also
References
- Much of the above content seems to be copied from:
- Syllabus for Electronics and Communication Engineering. Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering. IIT Delhi. (updated 2012-03-22).
- General information. Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering. IIT Delhi. 2012
- Terman, F. E. (1976). A brief history of electrical engineering education. Proceedings of the IEEE, 64 (9), 1399-1407. Full article can be read here.