Overview
The modern world depends upon electronics, from mobile phones and digital broadcasting, to GPS navigation and robotics; and it is electronic engineering which has driven these inventions and more. This is a subject where you can exercise your imagination, using skills from both traditional communications and digital systems to resolve existing problems, and to create new products.
On the four-year MEng version of this course, you cover the same wide spectrum of topics as those on the BEng in order to provide you with the foundation to become an electronics designer:
- Mathematical skills and software tools for problem-solving in engineering
- Wireless Communication technology
- The building blocks of complex digital systems
- Analogue systems and circuit techniques
- Computer simulations
In addition to these areas, you also achieve a masters-level qualification and have the opportunity to investigate more advanced topics in electronic engineering, including:
- Mathematics and modern communication systems
- The development of software for embedded systems and robots
- The design simulation and production of complex electronic circuits
Our School is a community of scholars leading the way in technological research and development. Today’s electronic engineers are creative people who are focused and committed, yet restless and experimental. We are home to many of the world’s top engineers, and our work is driven by creativity and imagination as well as technical excellence.
We are Top 25 for electronic engineering (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020), and more than two-thirds of our research rated “world-leading” or “internationally excellent” (REF 2014).
You graduate as a creative, experimental, and focused engineer ready to explore further how electronics can impact the people and world around you.
Programming at Essex
Teaching someone to programme is about opening a door. In your first year at Essex you will study a module that introduces you to programming using C. We assess your ability to think in a programmatic way in the very first week of term and if you require additional support, we offer classes which will boost your skills and confidence with programming.
Our expert staff
We have been one of the leading electronics departments in the country throughout our history, and in recent years, our prolific research staff have contributed to some major breakthroughs.
We invented the world’s first telephone based system for deaf people to communicate with each other in 1981, with cameras and display devices that were able to work within the limited telephone bandwidth. Our academics have also invented a streamlined protocol system for worldwide high speed optical communications.
Specialist facilities
- We have six laboratories that are exclusively for computer science and electronic engineering students. Three are open 24/7, and you have free access to the labs except when there is a scheduled practical class in progress
- Students have access to CAD tools and simulators for chip design (Xilinx) and computer networks (OMNet++)
- Software includes Java, Prolog, C++, Perl, Mysql, Matlab, DB2, Microsoft Office, Visual Studio, and Project
- All computers are dual boot Windows 10 and Linux. Apple Mac Computers are dual boot MacOS and Windows 10
- We also have specialist facilities for research into areas including non-invasive brain-computer interfaces, intelligent environments, robotics, optoelectronics, video, RF and MW, printed circuit milling, and semiconductors.
Your future
Demand for electronics and telecommunications engineers is high; the IT and engineering sectors are growing at a rate that outstrips the supply of fresh talent.
The profession offers a range of careers from design and development to marketing, management, production engineering and applications engineering. An incredible 92% of our School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering students are in employment or further study (Graduate Outcomes 2020). Graduates also find employment in other disciplines because of the highly numerate nature of the subject.
Our department has a large pool of external contacts, ranging from companies providing robots for the media industry, through vehicle diagnostics, to electronic system design and circuit design and manufacture, who work with us and our students to provide advice, placements and eventually graduate opportunities. Read more about computer science and electronic engineering career destinations here.
Our recent graduates have gone on to work for a wide range of high-profile companies including:
- National Instruments
- Circad Design Ltd
- The McClaren Formula One Team
- B&W Group
- BT
- IBM
- Visa
We also work with our University’s Student Development Team to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.
Why we’re great
- We are home to many of the world’s top scientists and engineers in their field.
- Become part of the next generation of industry professionals and academic researchers to help drive the economy, and push the frontiers of knowledge.
- We are Top 250 for Computer Science in THE World University Rankings by Subject 2021.
Structure
Course structure
We offer a flexible course structure with a mixture of core/compulsory modules, and optional modules chosen from lists.
Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The course content is therefore reviewed on an annual basis to ensure our courses remain up-to-date so modules listed are subject to change.
Teaching and learning disclaimer
Following the impact of the pandemic, we made changes to our teaching and assessment to ensure our current students could continue with their studies uninterrupted and safely. These changes included courses being taught through blended delivery, normally including some face-to-face teaching, online provision, or a combination of both across the year.
The teaching and assessment methods listed show what is currently approved for 2022 entry; changes may be necessary if, by the beginning of this course, we need to adapt the way we’re delivering them due to the external environment, and to allow you to continue to receive the best education possible safely and seamlessly.