Civil engineering offers a flexible, well-rewarded and diverse career with the chance to work and travel all over the world.
Our society would not work without civil engineering. Infrastructure supports our daily life – roads and harbours, railways and airports, hospitals, sports stadiums and schools, access to drinking water and shelter from the weather. Because it works, we take it for granted. Only when parts of it fail, or are taken away, do we realise its value.
Today, civilisation relies more than ever on teams of inventive people to design, build and maintain the sophisticated environment that surrounds us. People who find they are drawn to civil engineering as a career look to find challenge, self-expression, achievement and personal reward through their work. If you would like to combine your technical knowledge and creative flair to solve problems, civil engineering is an excellent career choice.
Soon you will be making decisions about your career. We can’t make those decisions for you, but we can offer guidance, advice, information and the opportunity to become a professionally qualified engineer.
Have a say in what the world will look like
How many jobs affect how our environment looks and works? For many civil engineers, it is the way they can change our surroundings and improve the lives of millions of people that draws them to the profession. They see whole projects through each stage from feasibility to design and implementation.
Help the developing world
For civil engineers, solving infrastructure problems in the developing world is just as demanding – and rewarding – as solving problems in the developed world.
They are needed after earthquakes, during droughts and at times of war, to help the local population rebuild or maintain the conditions that will keep them alive. If you have a real sense of adventure and a commitment to help those in the greatest need, you could join RedR, an organisation that sends volunteers to disaster areas all over the world. www.redr.org
International opportunities
Civil engineering offers unparalleled opportunities to work overseas. By becoming professionally qualified, you will be able to enter the international workplace and work abroad for the short or long term.
Job satisfaction
The major highlight for most civil engineers is the satisfaction of seeing tangible results of their hard work, from designing and constructing Heathrow Terminal 5 to rebuilding bridges in war torn Iraq. The infrastructure civil engineers create benefits society for many years to come.
For more information on studying Civil Engineering contact: The Institution of Civil Engineers at: www.ice.org.uk
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CAREERS IN ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
( http://www.science-engineering.ne t)
Electronics is fundamental to many of the things we take for granted today. Everything from mobile phones to aircraft and medical equipment relies on electronics, and it is difficult to think of any area of life that has not been affected by developments in electronics.
Technology, and particularly electronics, is developing at a more rapid pace than ever before. This makes the job of the Electronic Engineer both exciting and challenging, but it also means that there are great rewards for engineers, both in terms of remuneration and job satisfaction.
An International Career
Today, engineering in general - and electronics in particular - is an international business. Most of the well-known companies in electronics operate not just in several countries, but across continents, and many smaller companies depend on international trade for their business. In order to compete in this situation, companies recruit engineers from around the world. To succeed, engineers need to have internationally recognised qualifications.
Qualifications themselves are only one of the benefits to be gained from study abroad. A successful career depends on who you know as well as what you know, and the people that you study with are likely to become important contacts once you leave university. If you choose a suitable course, the people who are classmates today will be the leaders of tomorrow.
Britain has long been recognised for its success in engineering and technology innovation, and this reputation is built on an excellent education system. The engineering knowledge you gain in a British university is, of course, the same as you would in any other country, but there are differences in the way these are taught and learnt from many others. You need to be aware of these differences of approach and expectation before you start to study.
In most courses in Britain, there is a lot of emphasis placed on learning to think for yourself and study on your own. This can come as a shock to students who are used to being given all of the information they need, but independent learning skills are vital once you start a real job, solving problems that have never been encountered before. Fortunately, courses develop these skills gradually, with plenty of support available to ensure your confidence is built up.
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Engineering courses in Britain are shorter than in many other countries, being three or four years in length. Most students complete the course within this time, since it is unusual for students to repeat years. So although course fees may seem high, the overall cost of study in Britain can be lower than elsewhere.
Choosing a Course
Deciding what to study and where to study it is a big decision, both in terms of time and money, and so it is vital that you choose the right course and the right university. To make the right decision you have to take account of many different factors, as outlined below.
Looking at the lists of courses available, it is easy to be confused by the wide choice, ranging from straightforward Electronic Engineering to more specialist courses, such as communications, semiconductor devices or microelectronics. There is also a wide range of joint courses, combining electronics with computer science or language studies, for instance.
An Electronic Engineering course will cover all of the key knowledge and skills required to become a successful engineer, including the skills required to rapidly become familiar with new developments, while a more specialist course may neglect some of these topics in order to cover the more specialist subjects. This can be an advantage for those wanting to follow a career in the particular specialisation, but if you do not know which specialisation would suit you best, then a more general course may be more appropriate.
Fortunately, many courses begin by covering general Electronic Engineering, but allow specialisation in later stages of the course. A typical course may be fairly general for the first two years, with specialisation available in the third and fourth years. While following a joint course will give additional skills, it will allow less time for the core electronics knowledge, and so choosing an unrelated subject can leave the graduate not fully qualified in either of the subjects contributing to the degree.
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Quality Courses
Besides deciding which type of course would suit you best, it is important to choose the right university. Each university sets its own curriculum, decides the teaching methods that will be used, and the qualifications required for entry. The facilities available within each university, the qualifications of the staff, and the specialisations available will also differ. It can be difficult to know which universities will offer the best education, especially as each institution wishes to promote its own courses. Although the reputation of a university may give an indication of the quality of education, the fact that they have a good reputation does not necessarily mean that the Electronic Engineering course will be equally good. Similarly, some of the best universities for the study of electronics are not generally recognised.
In order to help choose a suitable course, there are a number of sources of independent information. The British Government established the Quality Assurance Agency to assess the quality of education provided by each university in particular subjects. In order to make these assessments, a panel of experts visit the university to observe teaching, talk to students, graduates and their employers. They then award a grade out of 24 points. The panel also produce a report covering each of the six areas of the assessment. The assessments for Electronic Engineering, involving 76 institutions, were carried out between 1996 and 1998. The reports on each institution are publicly available on the QAA Website: www.qaa.ac.uk.
A total of ten universities gained the maximum possible grade (24 out of 24), but it is important to look at the individual reports, since these specify what the courses aim to achieve. The assessment is a judgement of how well these aims are achieved.
A second factor to consider in quality of courses is accreditation by professional bodies. In the case of Electronic Engineering, this is the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE). The IEE looks at both the subject matter and the way it is taught, and can award accreditation for three different levels of course. Accredited Master of Engineering (MEng) and Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) honours courses lead eventually to chartered engineer status, while other degree courses can lead to Incorporated Engineer status. Although accreditation of a course means that it has met the required standard, if a course is not accredited this does not necessarily mean that it is not a good course. A course can only be fully accredited once students have graduated, and so it may take four to five years before a new course can be accredited. Courses that address new technologies may be very relevant to industry, but because they are new, they may not be accredited. Courses that combine electronics with other disciplines may also not be accredited because they do not contain sufficient core Electronic Engineering material, but this does not mean they are not worth considering if the subject is what you want to study.
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The choice of whether to study an MEng or BEng (honours) course can be a difficult one. MEng courses tend to last four years, while BEng's are generally one year shorter. This does save money on fees and living expenses, but if your eventual aim is to gain chartered status, a further year of academic study is required following graduation from a BEng.
Your choice of university may also take account of the cost of living. This can vary a great deal depending on the location of the university. Although London, for example, has many attractions for students, the costs of accommodation, transport and food all tend to be higher than in other parts of the country. Worrying about money and the need to work can be a big distraction from your academic work.
With the choice of different subjects, course structures and universities open to students of Electronic Engineering, it can seem overwhelming. You should try to decide what you really want to get out of your course. Then look for independent information, try to talk to someone who has studied at the universities you are interested in and, if you are unsure about what a particular course involves, or whether a particular university would suit you, then contact the Department with your questions. You will be able to learn a lot from the way they answer, both about the courses and the way that they treat students.
Author: Dr Jim Gilbert, School of Engineering, University of Hull
Why Electrical Engineering?
Take a minute to imagine life without electricity. A lot of things that we take for granted would change out of all recognition. The basics of light, heat and transport would be provided by other sources of power, but would they be as user-friendly?
Imagine what life could be like in fifty years time if we were able to capitalise on the full potential of electricity in all of its guises. Control over the environment, instantaneous communications, more friendly computers able to provide information on and solutions for our everyday problems. If you can imagine life without electricity, electronic devices and computers, you will quickly appreciate the importance of electricity to virtually everybody.
The electrical engineering industry of the United Kingdom, which includes all aspects of electrical power systems, electrical drives, electronics, computer systems, communications, etc. has always taken an international viewpoint. In part, this can be traced to the colonial era, but in the main, it is an acceptance that the United Kingdom is in itself a small market and that there is greater satisfaction and reward to be had through servicing the wider global market.
Historically, UK engineering can demonstrate its application in almost every part of the world. As new geographical areas of engineering expertise have developed, these have often been in collaboration with British engineers, as the UK provides one of the largest concentrations of consulting engineers operating anywhere and everywhere. One of the roles of the engineering community is to provide the facilities to educate those choosing the profession. These young engineers can then provide the systems that society wants, be it to make life easier, more productive, more satisfying or simply more enjoyable.
Worldwide Recognition
In the United Kingdom, these facilities have been developed over several centuries, and have lead to both a wide spectrum of professional bodies and a powerful education system designed to satisfy the ever-changing and ever-demanding needs of the engineering community. The excellence of UK universities and their technical prowess are recognised worldwide, providing the full spectrum of education required for those needing to run and maintain the systems of today, and for those who must undertake the research and development to provide the understanding and systems for tomorrow.
The need to develop people able to work beyond the limits of current knowledge and to cultivate a medium and long-term perspective has led to well-established research education programmes leading to Masters and Doctorate degrees. The premise for UK universities is that the most effective method of research learning is achieved by working in the field, and that the best educators are experts practising their subject. The academic staff in electrical engineering departments of UK universities are invariably engineers, and most are heavily engaged in state-of-the-art research.
Students are given access to this work at a variety of points in the educational process. Taught degrees will invariably include a project, many of which consist of elements of the supervisor's research work. Research degrees, either at Masters or Doctorate level, will be based on exploring a new area of study, allowing students the opportunity to learn the disciplines of the research world as well as making a personal contribution to the field. For their Doctorate, the student is expected to make a unique contribution.
Electrical engineering in all its guises is both essential for the future and rewarding for those involved. Opportunities abound for those interested in getting involved, and the spectrum of activities ensures that personal satisfaction is guaranteed.
Author: Dr Miles A. Redfurn, Universty of Bath
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