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UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY
Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha
Template 2: Qualification Change -2014
Proposal Description
R Purpose of the proposal
To remove options in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering programme at 300-level by consolidating
the teaching of a suite of six courses: ENEL370, ENEL371, ENEL380, ENEL381, ENEL391, ENCE362 and minor
changes in content to the Mechatronics and Computer Engineering programmes.
To semesterise the courses: ENEL300 and ENEL301; leading to an improved student experience for those
students in the Mechatronics and Software Engineering programmes who currently have unbalanced
workloads.
Justification
Canterbury has a proud history of teaching electrical engineering with the first courses dating back to 1902.
In 1990 the Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) programme moved sub-discipline specialisation
down from the final year (3rd Professional) into the final two years (2nd and 3rd Professional Years). Such a
change, common internationally at the time, was driven in part to deal with the complex problem of
sufficient depth of understanding in a topic (such as Communications Engineering) but constraining the
programme within the normal 4 year framework. Breadth was maintained in the course offerings, but
individual students would not necessarily graduate with knowledge covering the broad set of topics
encompassed by electrical engineering, completing instead with a more focussed set of skills in a particular
sub-discipline. Such a move was generally popular with staff, students and industry.
The end point of this further specialisation, together with a need to allow for cross-disciplinary skills in
either mechanical engineering or computer sciences, saw the creation in the early to mid 2000’s of the
separate discipline majors of Mechatronics Engineering (MT), and Computer Engineering (CE).
Consequently the University of Canterbury offers three programmes within the BE(Hons) degree with
significant relationship to the electrical engineering discipline: EEE, MT, CE programmes. These
programmes have now reached a point of maturity, with a number of years of producing graduates and full
accreditation by the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ).
At the time of the creation of the new discipline programmes there was little re-evaluation of the core EEE
programme from which they had come. The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) has
over the last 18 months undertaken a strategic evaluation of its teaching, and together in mind of the
University strategy of “Challenge, Concentrate and Connect”, has concluded that a return to a compulsory
2nd Professional EEE programme is the right course of action at this time, with sub-discipline specialisation
occurring in the final year of study.
The teaching and course consolidation in the proposal meets the “Concentrate” component of the
University strategy; students will exit the EEE programme with a broad understanding of electrical
engineering, electronics and embedded computing rather than a deep specialisation in just one subdiscipline area. The specific course mergers are:
1. ENEL370 Electronics and ENEL371 Power Electronics will be merged into a single new course
ENEL372 Power and Analogue Electronics
2. ENEL391 Electronic Devices and ENCE362 Digital Electronics will be merged into a single new course
ENEL373 Digital Electronics and Devices
3. ENEL380 Power Systems 1 and ENEL381 Electrical Machines will be merged into a single new
course ENEL382 Electric Power and Machines with some content moving as appropriate into higher
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400-level courses: ENEL480 Power Systems and ENEL481 Electrical Machines. The department may
consider offering a further 400-level or 600-level course in the subject area due to its importance
and our national and international reputation in the field.
In identifying these mergers (particularly in 1. and 2.) we have identified overlapping content that can be
exploited. The net result of these changes is that all choice at the 300-level will be removed for the
Electrical and Electronic Engineering students. This will improve access and availability to all ENEL 400-level
courses, due to prerequisite changes and slight modification to our courses at this level. The department
may choose to offer further courses at the 3rd Professional year to ensure that sufficient sub-specialist
depth is maintained where important, but because these will be elective options these are not covered in
this document.
Consequently, an EEE graduate will have a broader understanding and with this mobility to be employed in
the broadest contexts of the discipline and with a level of understanding to effectively work with engineers
in other disciplines. Canterbury has always been noted for its graduates having highly practical skills, due
to our emphasis on project based learning, and generalist knowledge. This proposal ensures the generalist
knowledge of the EEE graduate is achieved.
The “Connect” component of the strategy is ECE’s continued support of the MT and CE programmes, and
our connections to the Mechanical Engineering programme and its department and the Computer Science
and Software Engineering programmes and its department. There are core courses delivered by ECE into
all three programmes and now also into the newly established Software Engineering programme. With the
course consolidation there is some net loss in course choice for students in MT and CE at the 2nd
Professional year, however these are compensated for in two ways: firstly, some of the content of these
courses will not be lost as they are absorbed into changes in the new replacement compulsory courses for
these students (ENEL372, ENEL373); secondly they too will have an expanded list of potential options at the
3rd Professional level.
The semesterisation component of this proposal also relates to the “Connect” strategy. In terms of student
experience, for the Mechatronics and Software Engineering students, this should be self-evident; removal
of the current workload imbalance due to these students having one semester with a full 15pt workload
greater than the other. This change is unlikely to lead to a loss of course selection options for this group of
students. The combined student enrolment in these two programmes is now greater than that of the
Electrical and Computer Engineering cohorts. In terms of the Electrical and Computer Engineering cohorts
the changes are more related to the teaching of our ENEL300 Design course in a compressed time frame
than workload related. While offering some challenges it is felt that these can be accommodated.
The “Challenge” component of the strategy is always about the delivery of high quality teaching that is also
relevant to the students and mindful of the graduate profiles to which these relate. We also believe that by
restricting the number of courses we offer that we are in a better position to ensure that teaching effort is
put into maintaining these courses to the best teaching standard.
Finally, there is a minor change to the Computer Engineering programme to include SENG201 Software
Engineering 1 instead of COSC261 Formal Languages and Compilers at the First Professional Year. This
reflects changes that have occurred in COSC261 and that this change gives better alignment with the
Graduate Profile for Computer Engineering and employment expectation of these students. This particular
change is not conditional on the issues addressed above, but because it is a change to a compulsory
component of the programme it needs to be captured in a formal change process.
The transition plan required under these changes includes the following:
1. Minor change in content and prerequisite in 2016 for 400-level ECE courses to reflect the changes
proposed here with respect to the degree of preparation for those courses. This will take place in
2015.
2. Current students who have failed one of the current optional courses will need to retake the
appropriate compulsory course.
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3. Students who have suspended their studies and are resuming under the new structure may be
required to resit courses as specified in Regulation 5 of the BE(Hons) as directed by the Dean after
consultation with the Director of Studies EEE.
Calendar Form
Qualification Regulations
Computer Engineering
21. First Professional Examination
1. COSC 264 Data Communications and Networking
2. EMTH 210 Engineering Mathematics 2
3. EMTH 211 Engineering Linear Algebra and Statistics
4. ENCE 260 Computer Systems
5. ENEL 200 Electrical and Computer Engineering Design
6. ENEL 220 Circuits and Signals
7. ENEL 270 Principles of Electronics and Devices
8. SENG 201 Software Engineering 1
22. Second Professional Examination
1. ENCE 360 Operating Systems
2. ENCE 361 Embedded Systems 1
3. ENEL 300 Electrical and Computer Engineering Design 2
4. ENEL 301 Fundamentals of Engineering Economics and Management
5. ENEL 320 Signals and Communications
6. ENEL 321 Control Systems
7. ENEL 373 Digital Electronics and Devices
8. Sufficient courses selected from:
(a) SENG 301 Software Engineering 2
(b) COSC 363 Computer Graphics
(c) COSC 364 Internet Technology and Engineering
(d) COSC 368 Humans and Computers
(e) Any 15 point 300-level option to be approved by the Director of Studies
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
26. Second Professional Examination
1. ENCE 361 Embedded Systems 1
2. ENEL 300 Electrical and Computer Engineering Design 2
3. ENEL 301 Fundamentals of Engineering Economics and Management
4. ENEL 320 Signals and Communications
5. ENEL 321 Control Systems
6. ENEL 372 Power and Analogue Electronics
7. ENEL 373 Digital Electronics and Devices
8. ENEL 382 Electric Power and Machines
Mechatronics Engineering
35. Second Professional Examination
1. ENCE 361 Embedded Systems 1
2. ENEL 301 Fundamentals of Engineering Economics and Management
3. ENEL 372 Power and Analogue Electronics
4. ENME 302 Computational and Applied Mechanical Analysis
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5. ENME 303 Controls and Vibrations
6. ENMT 301 Mechatronic System Design
7. Sufficient courses selected from:
(a) ENME 204 Introduction to Thermo-fluids Engineering
(b) ENEL 373 Digital Electronics and Devices
(c) Any 15 point 300-level option to be approved by the Director of Studies
Software Engineering
41. Second Professional Examination
1. SENG 301 Software Engineering 2
2. SENG 302 Software Engineering Group Project
3. SENG 365 Web Computing Architectures
4. COSC 368 Humans and Computers
5. ENEL 301 Design and Management
6. Sufficient courses selected from:
(a) COSC 362 Network and Data Security
(b) COSC 363 Computer Graphics
(c) COSC 364 Internet Technology and Engineering
(d) COSC 367 Computational Intelligence
(e) ENCE 360 Operating Systems
(f) ENCE 361 Embedded Systems 1
(g) Any 15 point 300-level option to be approved by the Director of Studies
ENEL 372: Power and Analogue Electronics
15 points
Analogue electronics is necessary for signal sensing, amplification and filtering before digital techniques can
be applied. Power electronics is necessary where efficient manipulation of electrical energy is required, for
power supply, motion control and other applications. This course covers the basic principles of both
analogue and digital electronic circuits, and the constraints that real components and devices place on
these circuits. Emphasis is placed on circuit analysis and design skills.
Semester 2, ENEL372-15S2 (C)
ENEL 373: Digital Electronics and Devices
15 points
This is an in-depth course that takes logic theory and applies it to the analysis, synthesis and simulation of
digital logic circuits; and the application and theory of implementing electronics devices. The course also
covers the implementation of circuit designs using a hardware description language with specific
application to the design of ALUs and simple microprocessors. We also cover the digital assumption made
of switching analogue circuits, look at the physical implementation of transistors, circuits based on them
and interconnecting components. Assumed knowledge in basic computer architecture and electronics.
Semester 1, ENEL373-15S1 (C)
ENEL 382: Electric Power and Machines
15 points
Electric power systems encompasses the concerns of bulk electrical energy, its production or generation,
the bulk transmission, local area distribution and final consumption (the load) as needed by industry,
commerce and households. This course covers these topics from the component level and up through the
system as a whole including layout. Analysis techniques for the power system under both steady-state and
transient conditions are developed. High voltage engineering is introduced and machine level concerns are
also covered, including: generators, transformers and motors.
Semester 1, ENEL382-15S1 (C)
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