Bachelor of Engineering – Electrical - BIELE

Short description

Studies published by the Norwegian Society of Engineers and Technologists - NITO (www.nito.no), the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration - NAV (www.nav.no) and the National Bureau of Statistics Norway - Statistisk Sentralbyrå (www.ssb.no) have shown that there is a pressing need for electro-engineers (and other branches of engineers) in the coming years.

”Electro” is a collective term for electronics, telecommunications, automation and electric power engineering. GUC offers two study programmes covering these engineering areas.

The Bachelor of Engineering – Electro-Engineering programme is suitable for students aiming for an education looking to the future and who have the appropriate entry qualifications:

• Highere Education Entrance Qualification with specialization in Physics-1 and Mathematics R-2;
• Passed technical college in electro (but must then follow the Three-Semester Plan www.hig.no/studietilbud/tresemester or the Y-VEI scheme www.hig.no/studietilbud/yvei)
• General admission (followed by the Y-VEI Three-Semester Programme), or
• Trade Certificate from high school in Electricity and Electronics (followed by the Y-VEI scheme).

Sales of consumer electronics in 2013 totalled some 30 billion kroner just in Norway (www.Elektronikkbransjen.no) in addition to the professional electronics market. All these products are developed by electrical engineers.

Norwegian industrial revenue amounts to around 600 billion kroner annually (www.norskindustri.no). All Norwegian industry is dependent on a high degree of automation to survive competitively. These industries need electrical engineers with automation skills.

The telecommunications industry is doing well while more and more mobile technologies are emerging. The future will be even more wireless with new sensors built into new products that will communicate with each other. The wireless community, tele-medical solutions and mobile communications will require many electrical engineers with knowledge of telecommunications technology in the years ahead.

Modern society is extremely dependent on electric power in order to function. Norway imports and exports large amounts of electric power (www.statnett.no). Electric power production is by means of regulated rivers and waterfalls – hydro-electric power. Developing and maintaining this essential infrastructure is the work of the electrical power engineer.

The electrical engineer has a very important place in today's digital society. The electrical engineering course of study at GUC gives a good basic grounding before specialising in power engineering or in electronics engineering. Students following electronics will obtain wide competence in electronics, automation and telecommunications. These skills will prepare students for job opportunities in local, national and international companies.

Electric power engineering studies are presented in collaboration with Østfold University College (HiØ) and Karlstad University (KaU) (see below under Programme Content and Structure).

Completing this Bachelor degree programme qualifies students to apply for further studies at master’s level at, for example, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) or other similar institutions at home and abroad. The degree also qualifies for admission to the Master in Sustainable Manufacturing programme at GUC.

Duration

The nominal length of this programme of studies is three years.

The programme consists of individual courses giving a total of 180 credits, and leads to the degree of "Bachelor of Engineering – Electrical".

The programme follows national requirements given in the "Regulations on the Curriculum for Engineering Education." (http://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/2011-02-03-107).

Expected learning outcomes

On completing this study programme students will have acquired a solid grounding in electric power or electronics, providing a good basis for developing and acquiring additional knowledge and skills in a working career.

The programme will make students eligible to work in a variety of industries both nationally and internationally, and provides skills to work in areas such as:

• The electronics industry – development, testing, marketing, operation and maintenance;
• Consultancy – planning, construction, commissioning;
• Government – operation and maintenance, projects monitoring, solution development;
• Smaller electrical companies – development, testing, installation, training and sales.

In accordance with the NKR (National Qualifications Framework), the successful candidate will achieve the following knowledge, skills and general competence during GUC’s electrical engineering programme:

Knowledge

• Extensive knowledge providing an overall system perspective on engineering in general, with specialization in electrical discipline.
• Knowledge of electrical and magnetic fields, broad knowledge of electrical components, circuits and systems.
• Basic knowledge of mathematics, science – including electromagnetism – and relevant social sciences and economics and how these can be integrated in electro-technical problem solving.
• Knowledge about the technology's history and development with emphasis on electromagnetic technology, the engineer's role in society and the consequences of the development and use of technology.
• Knowledge of research and development within their field, as well as relevant techniques and working methods in the electrical trade.
• Ability to update their knowledge in the field, both through information gathering, networking and practice.

Skills

• Ability to apply knowledge and relevant results from research and development for solving theoretical, technical and practical electrical issues including providing justification for choices made.
• Using professional digital engineering skills, ability to work in relevant laboratories using measurement methods, troubleshooting methodology, relevant instruments and software, all as a basis for focussed and innovative work.
• Ability to identify, plan and implement technical electrical engineering projects, assignments, tests and experiments both independently and in teams.
• Ability to find, evaluate, use and refer to information and technical material using it to explain problems.
• Ability to entrepreneurially contribute new ideas and innovation by taking part in the development, quality assurance and implementation of sustainable and socially beneficial products, systems and solutions

General Competence

• Knowledge of environmental, health, social and economic impacts of products and solutions, with the ability to put them in an ethical and lifetime perspective.
• Ability to convey electrical professional knowledge to wider audiences, both in writing and orally and in both Norwegian and English, and able to help visualize electromagnetic technology's importance and consequences.
• Ability to reflect on personal professional performance, as well as in a team and interdisciplinary context, adapting their technical practice to the different project environments.
• Ability to contribute to the development of good practice by taking part in discussions within the field, sharing knowledge and experience with others.

Internationalization

It is possible for students to take their fifth semester, ie the autumn semester in the third year, at one of the faculty’s partner institutions overseas. These are, currently:

• Sweden - Karlstads Universitet
• Australia - University of Wollongong
• Germany - Fachhochschule Schmalkalden
• England - University of Newcastle upon Tyne

Over the last five years several students have carried out their Bachelor Project at the CERN international research center in Geneva in Switzerland. GUC also has agreements with a number of other universities and colleges abroad that can be appropriate for a stay as part of the course. Contact the International Office (Internasjonalt kontor) for more information.

Internationalization for students who elect not to travel overseas is by means of using English text books for some subjects. Meanwhile, the electrical engineering lecturers come from a number of different cultural backgrounds, in addition to the international aspect of joint courses with Karlstad University. Additionally, representatives of major international concerns are regularly invited to give lectures, while overseas research students based at GUC are working in the field of wireless systems.

Target Group

This course of study is aimed at applicants seeking an engineering programme directed towards interesting and challenging tasks either in automation, electronics development, telecommunications or power electricity. This is covered by two course specializations – electronics and power electricity. Candidates can have just completed high school, or be with work experience seeking an electrical degree aimed at one of the above mentioned categories. The Y-VEI programme is designed to prepare applicants who have appropriate trade certificates.

Independence and the ability to plan personal learning is important because of the interaction between theory and practice and between individual and team work. The course is thus suitable for persons who either already have these characteristics, or who aim consciously to develop these aspects for themselves.

Admission Criteria

The following are eligible for admission to this programme in accordance with the rules on access to higher education (Forskrift om opptak til høyere utdanning):

• Applicants with Higher Education Entrance Qualification (generell studiekompetanse) including Mathematics (R1 + R2) and Physics 1.
• Applicants with recently approved two-year vocational training in technical subjects (2-årig fagskoleutdanning i tekniske fag) must document equivalent knowledge of mathematics and physics.
• Applicants who have completed a two-year technical college course as specified by the Education Ministry up to and including the specifications issued in 1998-9 meet the admission requirements without separately having to document equivalent knowledge of mathematics and physics as above.
• Applicants who have passed the one-year preparatory course for engineering and maritime college education fill admission requirements for without separately having to document equivalent knowledge of mathematics and physics as above.
• Applicants who have Higher Education Entrance Qualification and have completed a one-semester science course of further mathematics and physics meet the requirements for admission without having to document equivalent knowledge of mathematics and physics as above.
• TRES: For applicants with Higher Education Entrance Qualification that are admitted to the Three-Semester Plan (treterminordning), the above named special admission requirements for mathematics and physics are not applicable.
• Y-vei: Applicants who are admitted to specially designed engineering programme (spesielt tilrettelagt ingeniørutdanning), see § 3.3, on the basis of having a trade certificate and a minimum of 12 months relevant experience, do not need to separately document their knowledge of mathematics and physics as described above.

Course Structure

The programme is structured to follow the national requirements given in the "Regulations on the Curriculum for Engineering Education”.

Electro engineers learn to be independent, responsible and adaptable by means of a range of advanced specialised teaching courses which closely integrate theory and practice. Modern electro laboratories are used for practical tasks and skills training with emphasis on creative problem solving that demonstrate the connection between theory and practice. The laboratories are well equipped with a range of different signal and measuring systems.  There are also special laboratories containing highly sophisticated measuring equipment that few other colleges in Norway have available to their students. Much effort is made to ensure that students enjoy stimulating learning experiences in the laboratories that are also available to students outside scheduled teaching hours.

Many of the electrical trades demand extensive use of computers and special software, and the laboratories are designed for laptop use with a wireless network. Teaching materials and subject matter are available via computer network based learning platforms Fronter or Moodle.

Lecturers in the Elektro Group are well qualified with many years of teaching experience, 10-15 years of industrial/business experience and publications in international journals. Some are engaged in active research within their field .

The electro course at GUC is structured so that the first two years are common to all electro students (with the exception of one subject in the 4th semester). This gives more time for selecting the later specialization discipline. Specialization choice is made at the end of the third semester, while the fifth semester optional courses are selected by the end of the fourth semester.

The electronics specialization provides knowledge and skills in the development of modern electronic systems where the use of microprocessors/microcontrollers is a natural component. The course focuses on the associated program development, and includes study of digital and wireless systems, as well as control systems with programming of PLS. Study of industrial robots is included in these courses.

The Electric Power* discipline lays emphasis on providing knowledge and skills related to the infrastructure for the production, transport and distribution of electrical energy. The quality assurance of power supply is an important topic. Optional courses on renewable energy sources and the energy market can be chosen from the Renewable Energy Study programme. A selection of optional courses may be chosen from other cooperating institutions.

* The Electric Power discipline is offered jointly with Østfold University College (HiØ) and Karlstad University (KAU). Partners’ lectures are presented on campus by video conferencing, while other contact with lecturers is online. Travel costs must be expected when carrying out obligatory laboratory tasks.

The final Bachelor Project (Bacheloroppgave) is usually conducted in collaboration with a sponsor company. The Electro Group has excellent contact with companies through the Inland Electronics Network (www.el-IN.no) and the Energy Fellowship. These contact networks provide students open opportunities for travel on business visits and to get expert guest speakers on specialist topics.

Structure and content

The first four semesters are common to all electro students (with the exception of one subject in the 4th semester). A number of general subjects are taken as well as more specialised courses. These are "Mathematics 1", "Basic Programming", "Electrical Circuits", "Mathematics 2 for Electro”, “Engineer Role for Electrical and Mechanical Engineering", "Digital Techniques and Microcontrollers", "Physics and Chemistry", "Electronics", "Statistics and Economics" and " Control Systems with PLC and robot programming". The fourth semester also includes a 10 credit technical specialization courses for each of the study disciplines. The course "Electrical Circuits" contains 5 credits of physics, which together with the course "Physics and Chemistry" gives adequate competence in physics to be able to continue on further graduate study.

The fifth semester includes 20 credits of optional courses that provide further learning relevant to the chosen specialization discipline. The aim is to ensure a depth of expertise that will provide the basis for further study within the discipline. In addition, a 10 credit optional course may be chosen freely from all bachelor level courses offered at GUC (providing the individual course entry requirements are met). It is also possible to apply for approval for courses taken at other similar educational institutions. Candidates taking courses other than those listed above, including the listed optional courses, will not have their formal course of study specified on their degree certificate, and it will not be possible to guarantee that they will thus be qualified to study for a master's degree.

The sixth and final semester is the same for all disciplines in that students undertake a 20 credit Bachelor Project and a 10 credit course in Engineering Academic System Topic. The project builds on the knowledge and skills learned and will be within the chosen specialization discipline. The project is often based on a problem offered by a business company. Many project proposals are received from companies, such that students have a large range of interesting suggestions from which to choose. Projects can also lead to later job employment offers.

The tables below show the subjects included in the study programmes together with optional subjects. Minor adjustments may however become necessary from time to time.

Teaching Methods

The educational programme is varied and uses different methods:

• Independent projects with a written or oral presentation
• Group work (rolling, fixed and self-selected groups)
• Lectures (introduction, resource, regular, with associated reading)
• Net-based learning platforms
• Calculations
• Laboratory work
• Company visits
• Guest lectures

Using relevant software tools and other instruments is emphasised in order to learn the skills that are expected of an electrical engineer.

Technical Prerequisites

Students require their own laptop PC for this programme. Computers using the Windows operating system are recommended in order to avoid difficulties in installing specialist software. Some computers are available in the GUC laboratories, while the electrical laboratories are equipped with advanced and expensive software and other measuring devices.

Good wireless networks are available for laptop PCs, both in the electrical laboratories and in the rest of the GUC campus