Learning & teaching

Our approach

You will be taught by academics at the cutting edge of their field who are research active and have extensive knowledge and expertise accumulated over time, many of whom are leading experts in their fields of specialisation. Our research feeds directly into our teaching, which means you'll learn about the latest developments within your subject from world-class academics who will challenge, encourage and support you.

The field of electronic and electrical engineering is exceptionally dynamic and
technological change is rapid. Research based teaching is an important feature of our degrees, the syllabus is updated every year, with new techniques from our research activities directly influencing the content.

Members of staff maintain close links with industry to ensure that our courses are up to date and in-line with employer needs. Our close links with industry also means that you will benefit from industrial input into design projects at a variety of levels, from setting projects through to more direct involvement in discussions and consultancy and arranging plant visits.

All new students are given a welcome pack to support their academic studies and project work. This study support package includes tools, development kits, student versions of a range of industry-standard commercial software, electronic components and access to hundreds of e-books.

You will benefit from our integrated style of learning and teaching. Practical laboratory classes and project work allows you to gain hands-on experience investigating and applying material from your lectures and tutorials to real life work situations. You will also have access to specialist facilities and laboratories that are equipped with the latest technology.

You can choose from our range of flexible modules, to reflect your interests or career plans and with practical work being a core part of your study, you can really get to grips with your subject and prepare yourself for a career in this varied and exciting industry.

Our personal tutorial system will help you to integrate quickly and settle down easily into university life. You will also be assigned to a tutorial group and you’ll have one-to-one time with your personal tutor. The School has a student support team located close to where you work and study, ensuring personalised and direct contact.

All our degrees are accredited which will help you become a Chartered Engineer after graduation.

You will be assessed via a number of different methods.

A Project in every year of study
Our current students regularly cite that project work is one of the most satisfying and challenging aspects of their course. It is an excellent opportunity to explore and develop essential skills such as problem solving, communication skills and teamwork, all vital to help you succeed in your chosen career.

In your first year you will be involved in working in a team to design, build and test an autonomous robot or radio-controlled tank to steer around a track. The project ends in a competition to see which team has the fastest, longest running or most fun design. In your second year, the project focuses on programming and will include an iPhone application and a microcontroller based
embedded system design.

If you are an electronics student you can choose a project from any theme you like, whilst mechatronics students select a project from the Robotics theme and Music, Multimedia and Electronics take a music theme. A typical project might be to design a microcontroller-based music synthesiser, a hand held game, or a robotic arm using an embedded control system.

In the third year you will undertake either an individual project (BEng) students
or a group project (MEng) students that is in a specialist topic area related to your chosen degree.

In your fourth year (MEng) you will undertake an individual project.

The Group Design Project is a key requirement for the accreditation of the degree, and so required for Chartered Engineer status. As a team you will define the project requirements, divide the work and generate a detailed time plan of events and critical milestones. As well as being technically challenging, these MEng projects encourage team working skills and facilitate the development of a strong group identity.

Examples of some recent third and fourth year projects include:
• Car security systems
• Robotics for volcanic exploration
• Electronic guitar tuners
• Electronic golf scorecards
• Wireless Braille interpreters
• OFDM for 4G mobile communications
• Wireless personal property locators
• Mechatronic modelling of the spinal column
• Test equipment for tunnel radio propagation
• Applications of Terahertz time domain spectroscopy.

"Electronic Engineering gives you a good overall foundation and offers you a variety of career options when you graduate. Electronic Engineering gives undergraduates the ability to be innovative and creative in revolutionary
areas of Technology."
Daniel - Electronic Engineering

"I chose the course because it suits who I am and what I’m about. I have played the piano most of my life and I work quite closely with audio engineering on a weekly basis. I have a great passion for music and this course was everything I needed."
Chris - Music, Multimedia and Electronics

"My final year project was to design a receiver board for an ultrasound research platform for the Ultrasound Research Group at Leeds. It involved researching what the system needed to have, designing the circuit boards on a computer, and sending them off to be manufactured. It was a lot of hard work but exciting to be trusted with such a large (and expensive!) project. The system is now being used to investigate several new ideas, such as the potential to use ultrasound for drug delivery, for example in treatments for cancer."
Paul - MEng Electronic Engineering

"By doing the Masters year of my degree, I feel that I have gained a number of different things. Firstly, I have gained an easier entrance into a job than most other Bachelor degree entries would allow. Also, the experience of working as part of a team on a project work will be extremely important throughout my future career."
Philip - MEng Mechatronics and Robotics