Electronic engineering

skytop

Hey, I'm starting electronic eng and wireless comms in AIT next week and was looking over their website and course timetable which seemed to show 41 hours per week. Seems very high to me. Has anyone done this course or one similar and could you give me an idea of hours per week
Thanks

jimmi10

They are fairly standard hours for first year of an engineering course, most of the following years too. 9-5 most days is typical.

skytop

seems like very little time for study

dahamster

thats sound like standard enough hours alright. You study in your own time:)

davey101

Were you not told that your life ends while studying engineering?

CatFromHue

I did Mech Eng there and Mon to Thurs it was 9 to 5 or thereabouts and on Fri 9 to 1.

token56

Yep certainly sounds like normal to me. It might lighten up in later years to around 30ish hours a week but first and second year are general around 40 hours a week. However that most likely includes labs and tutorials which you might not have every week. So some weeks you might get a morning or afternoon off here and there. You're right that it doesn't leave much room for studying during the day so a lot of work will have to be done outside that unfortunately. Engineering is a fairly intensive course in terms of hours and you'll find the majority of other students will have a lot more time off during the day than you but you get used to it.

listermint

skytop wrote: »

seems like very little time for study

Most of the work is done in class and on Continuous Assessment, Study ive found occurs pre exam time...

Shiny

Just don't make the mistake of sitting near windows while in the lab, lectures or study......

If you do, you will notice (and loath) the Business/Arts students all heading home every day after their 2/3 hour day.

The way it was for me:
9-5 - Lectures, Labs, Tutorials
6-9 - Continuous Assessment (Mainly concentrated in last 6 weeks of semester)
2 Week study period (Time when actual study & revision took place)

(This was Electronic Engineering)

skytop

Glad to say guys ive started and it seems that i'll have no more than 26 hours a week as some of the classes only run every second week and some are for a different electronics class! Thank Robbie Fowler!!

djpbarry

skytop wrote: »

Glad to say guys ive started and it seems that i'll have no more than 26 hours a week...

That sounds pretty light weight for an engineering degree?

skytop

I guess but even the software engineers are only hitting the 25 hrs mark per week! ive got to say im glad but intend to put the other hours in in a study capacity! Thanks Everyone

badgerbaiter

Doing 1st year electronic eng. too. Even though its 25hrsish class time theres easily another 15/20hrs work needed at hme to do well :-)

[Rasta]

Hmm electronic and computer eng do same course for 2 years here in UL.
I'm second year and find it really relaxing, only about 20 hours max a week.
You barely have to do any work outside college to do decent.
Only maths and electrical science part take a bit of effort for me, cause I'm not the best in those 2 modules.

A Primal Nut

djpbarry wrote: »

That sounds pretty light weight for an engineering degree?

Nah, 26 hours is about right. When I went to DIT I had a half-day on Fridays, and about 5 or 6 hours the other day. With assignments and everything else ya'd end up doing your 40 hours anyway, particularly in later years.

djpbarry

A Primal Nut wrote: »

Nah, 26 hours is about right.

Not when I did mine it wasn't - 9 to 5 or 6, five days a week, with the odd free lecture period here and there. We'd have got nothing covered if we were only in for 26 hours per week and I find it quite worrying that course content has dropped so significantly.

gnfnrhead

djpbarry wrote: »

Not when I did mine it wasn't - 9 to 5 or 6, five days a week, with the odd free lecture period here and there. We'd have got nothing covered if we were only in for 26 hours per week and I find it quite worrying that course content has dropped so significantly.

There are different levels of the course. You may have done a higher one that the OP is doing. I'm doing one in Tallaght now and it's only 23 hours a week including labs and what have you. Not even in on Tuesdays.

djpbarry

gnfnrhead wrote: »

There are different levels of the course. You may have done a higher one that the OP is doing.

A degree is a degree. While course content is obviously going to vary from place to place, lecture/lab time shouldn't vary that much. I'm really struggling to understand how an electronic engineering degree could be covered in ~25 hours per week. It doesn't add up.

badgerbaiter

djpbarry wrote: »

gnfnrhead wrote: »

There are different levels of the course. You may have done a higher one that the OP is doing.

A degree is a degree. While course content is obviously going to vary from place to place, lecture/lab time shouldn't vary that much. I'm really struggling to understand how an electronic engineering degree could be covered in ~25 hours per week. It doesn't add up.

Course content shouldn even be that dif. I mean we all have to come out wit the same skills anyway. If your only doing 25 hrs a week then u really need to put in alot of your own time

gnfnrhead

If I think of it I'll have a look at the other timetables tomorrow. I glanced at them when looking for mine and they didnt seem all that much more but I wasnt really paying attention. The only thing I did notice was they didnt have any days off but they still had the few late starts and early finishes like I do so maybe about 30-35 hours at most.

Shane L

I'm doing Chemical and Bio-process Engineering and I have roughly 22 hours of lecs+tuts+labs a week.....My hours in first year were a bit more but I don't think I know anybody doing a engineering course with 40 hours.

Kavrocks

I'm studying an accredited Electronic Engineering Degree and I have on average 22 hours a week for 24 weeks in second year.

Each year of the course requires you to complete 60 ECTS credits which means you should be putting in 1500 hours each year (125 hours per every 5 credits). All the Engineering Degrees in my college require the same amount of hours to be put in per year but they all have varying amounts of hours in lectures, tutorials and labs per week.

djpbarry

gnfnrhead wrote: »

If I think of it I'll have a look at the other timetables tomorrow. I glanced at them when looking for mine and they didnt seem all that much more but I wasnt really paying attention. The only thing I did notice was they didnt have any days off but they still had the few late starts and early finishes like I do so maybe about 30-35 hours at most.

There’s a big difference between 25 and 35 hours per week. My first year consisted of about 38 hours per week of lectures and labs, which dropped marginally to 35 in second year (if I recall correctly). But there’s no way it ever got anywhere near as low as 25 – there is simply no way the course could have been covered in that time.

Kavrocks wrote: »

I'm studying an accredited Electronic Engineering Degree...

What do you mean by “accredited”?

Kavrocks

djpbarry wrote: »

What do you mean by “accredited”?

Accredited by Engineers Ireland.

"Engineers Ireland’s programme accreditation process assures the quality of engineering and engineering technology education programmes in Ireland in line with international norms."

http://www.engineersireland.ie/services/programme-accreditaton/

Gurgle

"Engineers Ireland’s programme accreditation process used to assure the quality of engineering and engineering technology education programmes in Ireland in line with international norms."

fyp

djpbarry

Kavrocks wrote: »

Accredited by Engineers Ireland.

Dude, Engineers Ireland's raison d'être is to raise funds for Engineers Ireland. The fact that a course is accredited by EI is meaningless. Besides, a good engineering course will stand on its own two feet.

Turbulent Bill

djpbarry wrote: »

There’s a big difference between 25 and 35 hours per week. My first year consisted of about 38 hours per week of lectures and labs, which dropped marginally to 35 in second year (if I recall correctly). But there’s no way it ever got anywhere near as low as 25 – there is simply no way the course could have been covered in that time.

+1, I remember doing 9-5 for the first 2 years in lectures/labs, very few free periods. The timetable was easier after that but with more project work, so the overall study time was pretty much the same.

djpbarry wrote: »

Dude, Engineers Ireland's raison d'être is to raise funds for Engineers Ireland. The fact that a course is accredited by EI is meaningless. Besides, a good engineering course will stand on its own two feet.

EI are still the gatekeepers for international accreditation though (where foreign companies do care about this stuff). The plane-loads of new grads leaving the country need something to show that there education is up to scratch, and EI are the only show in town for that.

djpbarry

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

EI are still the gatekeepers for international accreditation though (where foreign companies do care about this stuff). The plane-loads of new grads leaving the country need something to show that there education is up to scratch...

Do they? I can’t say I’ve needed anything of the sort.

Even if they do, I find it hard to believe that too many people outside of Ireland have heard of Engineers Ireland. If it’s a professional affiliation that people are after, organisations like the IEEE and IET are light-years ahead of EI and of far greater benefit to their members.

Turbulent Bill

djpbarry wrote: »

Do they? I can’t say I’ve needed anything of the sort.

Even if they do, I find it hard to believe that too many people outside of Ireland have heard of Engineers Ireland. If it’s a professional affiliation that people are after, organisations like the IEEE and IET are light-years ahead of EI and of far greater benefit to their members.

EI has international bilateral agreements to recognise degrees across different states. For example, a grad emigrating to Germany will have their degree recognised as being equivalent to a German degree (or whatever the appropriate level is) and vice versa. This might be crucial for chartership (for example) as an approved degree is a prerequisite.

In terms of professional affiliation EI aren't at the races (I'm an IEEE member myself), but they do have a role for someone planning on working abroad.

djpbarry

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

EI has international bilateral agreements to recognise degrees across different states. For example, a grad emigrating to Germany will have their degree recognised as being equivalent to a German degree (or whatever the appropriate level is) and vice versa. This might be crucial for chartership...

Fair enough - I hadn't considered that. But, I would still question whether a course is of a high standard just because it is EI-accredited.

Kavrocks

djpbarry wrote: »

Dude, Engineers Ireland's raison d'être is to raise funds for Engineers Ireland. The fact that a course is accredited by EI is meaningless. Besides, a good engineering course will stand on its own two feet.

I'm well aware of their raison d'être but with so many saying you need to do 35 - 40 hours per week to effectively study an Electronic Engineering degree with nothing to back it up except here say at least I put forward some of the standards that I know of which Engineering degrees are put through.

At least Engineers Ireland provide an International Standard for Engineering degrees.
The ECTS system can be used to determine how many hours are needed to effectively study an Electronic Engineering degree.

If you also look at the need for a ME instead of a BE from recent times onwards to gain chartership it could also be used to explain why hours now are less than they used to be. It also should come as no surprise to anybody that the education system in Ireland is getting easier and easier every year. The best example I could give to show this trend would be the LC Honours Level Applied Maths course.

Turbulent Bill

djpbarry wrote: »

Fair enough - I hadn't considered that. But, I would still question whether a course is of a high standard just because it is EI-accredited.

I agree, from what I understand the accreditation is pretty straightforward - I'd worry about existing courses that didn't (or new courses that weren't due to) pass the evaluation.

In my own head it's a necessary but not sufficient feature of a course - theres a lot more you need to consider before signing up.

gnfnrhead

Had a look at some of the other timetables today and one (fifth year) would be about 40 hours. 10 am - 8 pm on Monday and 9/10 to 4/5 every other day. That looked like the worst one. Everything else was somewhere in between the mid 20's and mid 30's*.


* I didnt actually count, but thats what they looked to be based on mine and the one mentioned above.