Broaden your practical skills and professional awareness by spending a year in industry as part of your degree. Our staff have excellent industry contacts to help you secure the ideal placement.
Gain a real career advantage on this exciting degree which will put you at the forefront of future technologies. With the BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering on your CV, you can join one of the UK’s most in-demand professions.
100% of students said that they were satisfied with the overall quality of BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering, according to the National Student Survey, 2019
Ranked 2nd in the UK for satisfaction with teaching in the Guardian University Guide 2020
Prepare for rewarding careers in areas as diverse as avionics, medical electronics, automotive electrical and electronic systems, electrical power generation, the rail industry or music and entertainment
Choose a course accredited by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET)* and start your journey towards Chartered Engineer (CEng) status
Include an optional industry placement year as part of your studies to gain vital insights into professional practice
Study in an inspirational learning environment at our Markeaton Street site, home to our impressive new STEM Centre and fully equipped with laboratories, workshops and the latest technology
Learn from an expert teaching team experienced in the different branches of electrical and electronic engineering and who have produced many influential research publications and textbooks
Take the chance to get involved in far-reaching projects such as the ALICE experiment, on which we are working in partnership with leading organisations at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research
Enhance your career prospects: 91.7% of our Electrical and Electronic Engineering graduates are now in graduate level employment (DLHE 2015/16)
Choose a university with a focus on employability: we are ranked 15th highest among all UK universities and 12th for English institutions, with 96% of graduates in work or further study within six months of completing their degree (HESA 2016)
BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering is accredited for partial CEng by IET.
If you have the potential and ambition to study with us, but feel you’re not quite ready to join the BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering right now, why not consider taking this course with a foundation year?
Electricity lights our homes, runs many of our domestic gadgets, and keeps the wheels of industry turning. We often take it for granted, yet it remains a fascinating and developing field of study – all captured in our distinctive BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Build a broad set of skills
On this course, you will study both electrical engineering - where electricity is used to transport and deliver energy - and electronic engineering, where electricity can be used to process, transmit and store information.
Electrical engineering deals with the study of motors and generators and their control, power transmission and distribution systems, as well as the principles that underpin them.
Electronic engineering depends heavily on semiconductor technology, which has advanced significantly since the invention of the transistor, leading to the so-called microchip, the world of mobile phones and laptops, and the Internet of Things. Both electrical and electronic engineering are underpinned by the same fundamental scientific laws, but diverge widely beyond those basics.
Your studies will feature practical learning and experiments in our specialist laboratories dedicated to electrical and electronic engineering.
I'm very excited that I've already secured a role as a control and instrumentation engineer, designing control systems for other businesses once I graduate. I used the careers service at the University who helped me to write my CV.
Georgina McWilliams
BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Vital practical experience
We give you the opportunity to take a placement year in industry as part of this degree. This experience, which takes place between the second and final stage of your studies, will greatly enhance your career prospects after graduation. A large number of companies seek placement students each year.
In addition, we offer extensive support to boost your employability while you are studying with us: for more information, contact our Careers and Employment Service team.
BEng vs BSc – what is the difference?
We offer both a BEng (Hons) and a BSc (Hons) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Each provides an excellent route into professional practice and recognition as a qualified electrical or electronic engineer. The two courses are similar, but the BEng features more analytical study and deeper scientific underpinning.
While the BSc provides the educational requirement for registration as an Incorporated Engineer, the BEng provides part of the educational requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer (CEng). The full educational requirement for CEng is met by completing accredited postgraduate study.
Advanced standing
One of the accreditation requirements of the BEng, as laid down by the IET, is that students must normally complete at least their final two years at the awarding institution, in this case the University of Derby. We therefore cannot offer direct entry to the BEng for the final year of study only. If you want to enter the BEng "with advanced standing" – by carrying academic credit over from another institution – you can only be considered for entry into Year 2.
Part-time ‘top-up’ study
The final stage in the BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering, often taken as "top-up" from HND or Foundation Degree qualifications, takes two years of part-time study. The programme is delivered on a day release basis and teaching may take place any time between 9am and 9pm.
Electronics pervades almost every aspect of our society today, and is an essential aspect of the industrial, music and stage technology worlds. This module aims to introduce and develop knowledge and understanding of analogue and digital electronic principles and their application in a variety of industrially relevant circuits enabling you to predict and analyse the performance and function of both analogue and digital circuits. Analogue and digital circuit design techniques will be investigated resulting in you being able to design circuits to a given specification and function.
This module prepares you for the technological and professional challenges you are likely to face in your chosen careers. Graduate employment is highly competitive and employer expectations are high, behaving without professionalism is not an option. The module highlights those skills that are considered essential and desirable by employers and will help you to fully engage with your subject and personal career development.
This module gives an introduction to the design, fabrication and commissioning processes of a basic electrical/ electronic engineering product. Basic electronic engineering skills such as soldering, wiring and use of electronic test gear are practiced leading on to printed circuit board (pcb) design, build and commission. These skills will then be used throughout your later studies culminating in the Independent Engineering Project in the final year.
Sustainable Energy Systems is a module that addresses the scientific, engineering and technical aspects of global concerns about the availability of energy sources, sustainability of these sources and environmental concerns. Environmental concerns have been highlighted as the greatest challenge facing the world in this century. The module has been designed to provide the necessary knowledge and information of renewable energy resources, technology and their industrial demand. It presents a wide-ranging introduction to the field of renewable energy systems.
It is mainly focussing on natural green sources of energy which can be easily converted to electrical form, energy in transport, energy and buildings, and energy in various industrial process and applications. It is expected you will gain a clear understanding of the technical implications of providing sustainable electrical energy. The module prepares you for further studies in renewable energy systems, electrical power systems, electrical and electronic engineering.
Electromagnetism plays a significant role in electrical and electronic engineering. Understanding the principles of electric and magnetic fields and their interrelation in the form of electromagnetism is vital for understanding the field of electrical and electronic engineering. This includes capacitive and inductive components, radio communications and electrical power generation and transmission as well as physical artefacts such as loudspeakers, motors, CRT displays and relays. This module provides an analytical introduction to the principles of electric and magnetic fields, electromagnetism, and certain key mechanical principles, and investigates how they relate to engineering applications.
Signals and circuits, and physical systems in general, are represented and analysed by a range of techniques which combine an understanding and visualisation of the physical system with an appropriate mathematical technique. This module aims to develop knowledge and understanding of electrical principles, and the mathematics used in their analysis. This module explores how the physical and mathematical worlds are inter-related, and how the latter can be used to represent and analyse the former, using both mathematical modelling and computer-aided design techniques.
This module is designed to develop your competence and confidence in advanced mathematical and circuit analysis techniques. Building on Level 4 studies it will deepen your understanding of circuit theorems, of the underpinning mathematics that is necessary, and of the simulation tools that can be used. The emphasis will be on developing fluency in these mathematical and circuit analysis skills, and increasing the level of complexity and sophistication with which you are able to engage.
Electrical machines provide an interface between mechanical systems and electrical systems and allow the conversion of mechanical energy to electrical energy and the reverse. This module provides opportunity to understand the principles, analyse the characteristics and predict the performance of electrical machines and transformers and discusses their practical operation and disposal.
Electronics pervades almost every aspect of our society today, and is an essential aspect of the industrial, music and stage technology worlds. With the widespread availability of sophisticated and customisable integrated circuits, most electronic design is now done at the system, rather than the component level. This module aims to give you the ability to recognise and apply important electronic sub-systems, and to combine them together to create useful and effective electronic systems.
The module aims to build from a clear understanding of electronic principles, showing how these are implemented in current electronic technology. There will be a high dependence on exploring circuit characteristics through simulation. You will however also experience the building and configuring of physical circuits.
A successful graduate will almost inevitably work on projects and in teams. He/she is likely to move to a team leadership and then project management role within years of graduating. Part-time students may already be in one of these roles. Engineering tasks and projects need to be delivered to meet client expectations with respect to cost, time, and quality. Participants in the process may be drawn from a variety of disciplines and trades. The success of any project depends on effective management of activities and co-ordination of interdisciplinary efforts. By using innovative and creative project management techniques and working on either current case studies or a live brief this module aims to provide a sound and practical introduction to team work and project management ensuring students are 'real world ready' when they graduate.
Computers pervade every area of the modern world. As engineers we are likely to be engaged with specifying and designing computer based systems at a low level of abstraction. This module aims to develop knowledge and understanding of modern computing systems and programming languages. You will be able to discuss and compare the various solutions to a number of hardware and software computing problems and be able to write computer programs. Good programming practices will be emphasised, promoting software reusability, reliability, modular design and maintainability.
Control and instrumentation play an important role in many areas of science and technology. Instrumentation is the cornerstone for automatic control applications. It comes in many forms ranging from domestic water heaters, automotive and to space applications. In all cases one or more variables, such as temperature, pressure and displacement, can be sensed and fed to a microprocessor or a controller to perform a control operation. Due to the rapid developments in technology and instruments more efficient measurement techniques are constantly being introduced resulting in more accurate and efficient control systems.
This module presents a structured introduction to the application and development of such systems. System elements are introduced, and overall system behaviour is considered. The systems perspective used will provide a good base for analytically solving control and instrumentation problems over a wide range of applications.
This module provides opportunity to experience professional practice related to a programme of study. This may be achieved either through an industrial placement or a by engaging with a defined project related to the professional practice of an industrial sector. The precise nature of engagement will be defined by the student in consultation with the Module Leader.
This module aims to provide a firm theoretical and practical understanding of the principles of electronic communication engineering. The approach to this subject will be ‘engineering first, mathematics second’, providing a thorough grounding in the fundamental ideas and design issues involved in communication engineering.
This module provides a framework for the development of “lifelong learning” skills appropriate to all areas of professional practice; including objective setting, planning, negotiating, implementing, demonstrating and reflecting. The emphasis in this module is on the analysis and evaluation of the work completed within the organisation.
This module also gives students an opportunity to relate their academic knowledge to the work environment.
Students need to be aware of the commercial realities and external factors that influence the success of an organisation. This module provides opportunities for students to acquire an understanding of contemporary issues that may impact on industrial and professional practices relevant to a career within their chosen discipline. During this period of work experience, students can gain a deeper appreciation of the responsibilities arising from both corporate and individual responses to such issues, thus enabling them to relate to the wider world when exploring a personal direction for potential career development.
This module addresses the main design, architecture, and elements of electrical power systems and its industrial utilisation. It explains in depth the basic structure of power systems, generation, transmission, distribution, fundamentals of AC power circuits, three-phase systems balanced and unbalanced, per unit systems, the main components of power systems, include generators, transmission lines, transformers and protection units, symmetrical components and short/open circuit calculations. Power flow load problems and techniques are discussed.
The module concludes with some industrial case studies of sustainable power systems industrial applications and power system stability. Industrially relevant hardware and software design skills are developed; including the use of industrial power systems test rigs and MATLAB/SIMULINK, Power World Simulator and PSS SIGNCAL tools.
A major practical and computer simulation assignment adopts a Problem Based Learning approach, with student teams being required to develop electrical power applications, to meet given tasks design specifications. There will be also a series of industrial visit to gain the practical sense of the actual system in power station.
The Independent Engineering Project is a major element of accredited engineering or technical degree. It provides the necessary evidence that you are technically competent and capable of entering the world of work as a professional engineer.
The aim is to develop your ability to work independently, showing innovation in a chosen topic, using relevant technical research and design concepts, and analytical, test, measurement, and evaluation techniques, in order to produce a finished artefact or product.
You will be expected not merely to collect, analyse and apply information, but also to exhibit other skills such as the ability to plan, manage and produce a significant technical piece of work.
DSP technology is at the core of many new and emerging digital information products and applications that support the information society of today. The ability of DSP technology to handle real-world signals, digitally, has made it possible to create affordable, innovative and high quality products and applications for large consumer markets (eg digital cellular mobile phones, digital television and video games). Digital Signal Processing is one of the most powerful technologies that is shaping science and engineering in many fields including; communications, medical, military, entertainment, automotive, sound, image and video applications.
This module aims to make use of the knowledge and analytic skills developed throughout the course to design modern digital signal processing systems. This module will introduce the concepts of digital signals, systems and filter designs.
Additionally, this module aims to provide you with practical experience of designing and realising real-time digital signal processing algorithms. You will use a CAD package to support theoretical considerations of the systems design process to make performance predictions. A hardware DSP environment with supporting assembly and debugging software will be used to produce a real-time implementation of the FIR/IIR filter algorithm being studied.
The control and conversion of electric power using solid-state techniques are now commonplace in both the domestic and industrial environments. Power electronics is the enabling technology to efficiently use and distribute electrical energy. Many market segments such as domestic and office appliances, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, digital consumer, communication, factory automation and drives, traction, automotive and renewable energy, can potentially benefit from the application of power electronics technology. Power electronics influences and enables systems for power quality and energy saving, for intelligent automation and motor control, for efficient and clean automotive and transportation systems. Knowledge and understanding of the diverse disciplines encompassed by power electronics: devices, converters, control theory, and motor drive systems, is now essential to all power engineers.
This module provides the current development in power electronics and drives techniques covering key fundamental principles along with modern applications and current practices. A project-based assessment is used, in which you will use appropriate design techniques, components and software tools to design a suitable converter system to meet requirements of industrial applications. This will develop industrially relevant hardware and software design skills and integration of real time sub-systems.
Sensors and control techniques play a key role in many applications. As the input to many processes, the quality of information sensors provide and the appropriate control techniques used have a crucial effect on overall system performance. This module covers elements and theory of modern control systems. It covers the fundamentals of sensors and associated circuits. It provides you with the tools to design simulate and analyse complete practical systems. In this module you will undertake an individual major practical assignment to design, build and evaluate a complete working system. This requires the knowledge of both hardware and software design to implement practical control systems which is provided in this module.
This module provides knowledge and understanding of electrical grid technology and the processes of network management and applies them in order to design and manage a smart integrated electrical power network.
Embedded Systems are products or sub-systems in which tiny computers are hidden in order to undertake a control function. They appear in a wide variety of forms today, including the motorcar, domestic appliances, stage, office and medical equipment, the sound studio, and industrial machinery. Embedded systems often exist in networked configurations and are a key feature of the Internet of Things phenomenon
This module teaches the main elements of embedded systems hardware and software, using a current commercially available microcontroller as a focus of study. Industrially relevant hardware and software design skills are developed, including the use of C programming. A major practical assignment adopts a Problem Based Learning approach, with student teams being required to develop an embedded system to meet a given design requirement. A taught introduction is given to some of the wider contexts with which embedded devices are developed, for example relating to real time, low power, or high reliability.
Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.
Open Days
Register your interest for a future Open Day and we'll be in touch as soon as we are able to welcome you on campus.
The programme is taught through a mix of lectures, tutorials and laboratory work. Very popular with our students, mini-projects are also used as a hands-on way of learning real-world skills.
The timetable contains up to 16 hours of contact with staff a week, with around the same amount of time designated as "directed study".
All modules are supported through University of Derby Online (UDOL), so you have access to essential support materials at any time of the day or night.
How you are assessed
Assessment is through a careful blend of assignment and examination. Assignments may relate to work at the computer or in the laboratory, or may involve a piece of written or analytical work.
Personal academic tutoring
Your personal academic tutor will work with you to help you get the most out of your time at university. Having someone to talk to about your academic progress, your university experience and your professional aspirations is hugely valuable. We want you to feel challenged in your studies, stretched but confident to achieve your academic and professional goals.
At least a C in Maths at A-level (or equivalent qualification), and at least one other Science or Technology A-level
Specific requirements at GCSE
GCSE Maths and English Grade C/Grade 4 (or above) or equivalent qualification
IELTS
6.0 (with 5.5 in each skills area)
Interview / Audition
N/A
Portfolio
N/A
Alternative entry qualifications:
BTEC - DDM
Access to HE Diploma - 60 credits: 45 at level 3 with a minimum of Dist: 15 Merit: 24 Pass: 6
We usually consider an A-level in General Studies as a supplementary qualification. A good application/performance will be taken into account if you do not meet the criteria/offer conditions.
Our entry requirements for this course should be read together with the University's general entry requirements, which details subjects we accept, alternative qualifications and what we're looking for at Derby.
Academic Achievement Scholarship
We’re offering eligible students a £1,000 scholarship to celebrate your hard work and success.
* The fees stated above are for the 2019/20 academic year; fees for 2020/21 have not yet been confirmed by the UK government. We will update this information as soon as it is available.
Full-time students applying to start in September should apply for this course through UCAS or you can apply directly to the University for an undergraduate course if you’re not applying to any other UK university in the same year.
Full-time students applying to start in January should apply directly to the University.
Part-time students should apply directly to the University.
Full-time students applying to start in September should apply for this course through UCAS or you can apply directly to the University for an undergraduate course if you’re not applying to any other UK university in the same year.
Students applying to start in January should apply directly to the University.
When you graduate, a wide range of employment opportunities will open up for you in electrical and electronic engineering. You could move into areas as diverse as avionics, medical electronics, automotive electrical and electronic systems, electrical power generation, the rail industry or music and entertainment.
Recent students have moved into roles involving electrical or electronic system design, installation and commissioning, programming, maintenance, and related activities. Derby graduates can now be found developing embedded systems in cars, electrical power distribution systems, railway signalling systems, or rolling stock enhancements. They are also managing major industrial processes, from breweries to assembly lines.
The numeracy and problem-solving skills you develop during the BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering will broaden your career scope further still, with alternative options including teaching, banking, accountancy, technical sales or management.
If you need any more information from us, eg on courses, accommodation, applying, car parking, fees or funding, please contact us and we will do everything we can to help you.
Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.
Additional costs and optional extras
We’re committed to providing you with an outstanding learning experience. Our expert teaching, excellent facilities and great employability prepare you for your future career. As part of our commitment to you we aim to keep any additional study costs to a minimum. However, there are occasions where students may incur some additional costs.
Included in your fees
Use of resources such as computer rooms, workshops and laboratories
Software to install on own devices such as NI suite including Multisim, Ultiboard and Labview and the student version of Matlab
Student membership of IET
Study trips to places such as power stations, NPL, Mitsubishi etc
Mandatory costs not included in your fees
Any cost for final year project over £75 Printing (£100)
Please note: Our courses are refreshed and updated on a regular basis. If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.
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