Electrical and Electronic Engineering with a Year Abroad

Modules shown are for the current academic year, and are subject to change depending on your year of entry.

You will study core modules in your first year, before a combination of core and optional modules in the second year and a complete choice of seven modules in the third year.

The fourth year is spent on studying at a leading partner institution abroad.

In each year you will complete a project, adding a vital practical element to the course.

You follow a core pathway of 11 modules, supported by study groups and experiments in the electrical and computer laboratories. The modules are assessed by written examinations in the summer term.

The first year project establishes the basis of the engineering design process. You begin by deconstructing a simple electronic toy and using a circuit simulation program to understand how it works. You then propose and design some enhancements to the toy and try them in the circuit simulator. Finally, you build your chosen design and test it in competition with other groups.

In order to pass the first year, you must achieve 40% in each of the examined modules, and an average of 40% across practical work.

• Analysis of Circuits
• Digital Electronics 1
• Semiconductor Devices
• Analogue Electronics 1
• Energy Conversion
• Introduction to Signals and Communications
• Software Engineering 1: Introduction to Computing
• Mathematics I
• Professional Engineering
• Electronics Lab
• Design and Build Project

You take 12 compulsory and two optional modules, which are assessed by written examination in the summer term.

The second year group projects are on ideas proposed by you, and lead to the solution of a current socio-economic problem by technical means.

In order to pass the second year, you must achieve 40% in each of the examined modules, except Mathematics II where the pass mark is 55%. In addition you must average at least 55% in examinations and in practical work.

Additionally, there may be a minimum level of language ability specified for placements in particular universities abroad appropriate to their teaching language.

• Digital Electronics II
• Analogue Electronics II
• Power Engineering
• Communication Systems
• Signals and Linear Systems
• Control Engineering
• Mathematics II
• Algorithms and Data Structures
• Computer Architecture I
• Computing Lab
  
• Electronics Lab
  
• Design and Innovation Project

You will choose two modules from the below list:

• Devices
• Fields
• Algorithms and Complexity

In the third year you start to design your degree course to fit your interests and skills, in consultation with your personal tutor, by choosing seven advanced optional modules, and undertaking a six-month industrial placement.

In order to pass the third year, you must achieve an average of 40% across the academic year.

The third year of is structured to include a six-month industrial placement as part of your degree (as an alternative to an internal project). It runs from April to September, allowing you to tackle significant industrial projects that help develop skills in solving real engineering problems, and provide invaluable experience of engineering as it is really practiced.

The industrial placement is supervised by a member of staff from the company you will be working for and a member of staff from the Department. It must be related to your degree in technical, business or commercial content. Departmental staff will help you set and agree objectives for your placement, which is assessed by a written and oral report.

Students have previously enjoyed placement opportunities with:

• Altera
• Bang & Olufsen
• Dialog Semiconductors
• Goldman Sachs
• IBM
• Ocado Technology

You can choose to complete an individual project as an alternative to the industrial placement.

You will choose four modules from the first group, and three modules from the second, as well as taking one humanities or business-related module.

• Communication Systems
• Digital Signal Processing
• Control Engineering
• Mathematics for Signals and Systems
• Advanced Electronic Devices
• Artificial Intelligence
• Communication Networks
• Analogue Integrated Circuits and Systems
• Optoelectronics
• Electrical Energy Systems
• Microwave Technology
• Biomedical Electronics

• Digital System Design
• VHDL and Logic Synthesis
• Advanced Signal Processing
• Instrumentation
• Power Electronics
• Real-time Digital Signal Processing

• Imperial Horizons
• Business for Professional Engineers and Scientists

The fourth year is exclusively made up of your year abroad at a leading partner institution.

On your year abroad, at your host institution, you will complete modules, an individual project and a dissertation.

Students have had excellent exchange experiences with the following leading institutions abroad:

• Ecole Polytecnique, France
• ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
• KU Leuven, Belgium
• National University of Singapore
  
• ParisTech, France
• RWTH Aachen, Germany
• TU Delft, the Netherlands
• University of California, United States
• University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Italy

In order to pass the fourth year and graduate with an honours degree, you must acheive at least 40% across the academic year and at least 40% in the group project/ industrial placement, module average and individual project.