Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology (Electronics and ICT Engineering Technology)
This Engineering Technology programme is organised by the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture. Electronics and ICT Engineering Technology focuses on many aspects of modern society: mobile phones, chatting, autopilots, hospital equipment, robots, ... .
What
The impact of science and technology on modern society is greater than ever before. Sophisticated machines take over difficult or dangerous tasks, medicine evolves at high speed, new techniques reduce our mountain of waste, ... In all of the above, engineers have a crucial role to play. They come up with solutions to existing problems and develop new products and technologies. In short, engineers contribute to a better and more sustainable future for everyone.
The Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes in Engineering Technology (in Dutch: industrieel ingenieur) offer an application-oriented knowledge by means of basic course units. You then use that knowledge to improve existing designs and systems and to apply new concepts in the professional field. Characteristic of the programme are the many exercises and practicals in labs and the regular contacts with the professional field during project work and work placements.
The Bachelor’s curriculum introduces you extensively to the electronics as well as the ICT domain. Both have become indispensable in modern society and cover a wide range of aspects: mobile phones, chatting and Skyping, autopilots, hospital equipment, car engine injection, robots, railway traffic monitoring and many other things that still need inventing.
The ensuing Master's programme has three main subjects, i.e.: Electronics, ICT and Embedded Systems. The Electronics main subject covers advanced electronic circuits and systems design, analogous as well as digital. The ICT main subject covers systems development for the information and communication industry.The Embedded Systems main subject offers a practical and interdisciplinary approach on the technological aspects of embedded systems. Your designs enable computer scientists to make their software products operational. An ICT Engineering Technology graduate mediates between the disciplines of computer science and electronics.
For whom
Needless to say, an outspoken interest in mathematics, sciences and technology is indispensable for all those wishing to start any engineering programme. Other important assets are motivation, perseverance and creativity. Prospective students with a secondary school education in engineering technology (in Dutch: industriële wetenschappen), mathematics or science come to the programme well-prepared. Our prospective students can test their prior knowledge by means of a self-assessment and the benchmark test. During the first three terms of the curriculum we cover the mathematical topics from the secondary school curriculum in a more in-depth manner, as well as introduce new topics. A solid basic knowledge of mathematics is a prerequisite for most of the other course units, too. Prior knowledge of course units such as mechanics, electricity and chemistry is useful to have but not a prerequisite.
Structure
The Engineering Technology programme is staggered across four academic years: three Bachelor’s and one Master’s year. Programme content (of the Bachelor’s as well as the Master’s programme) is built on five learning pathways: Mathematics and Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Project and Research, Communication, and Business Management. Mathematics and the sciences are covered in the first two years. They are the bedrock of what follows in later years. The other learning pathways are integrated into each year’s curriculum, with progressive depth and complexity. Our choice of electives allows you to tailor the curriculum to your interests.
The first year offers a common curriculum for all study programmes (Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology). We introduce you to the different engineering disciplines. Later on in your career, this will allow you to communicate with colleagues across disciplines. This is what distinguishes an engineer from a professional Bachelor or a ‘pure’ (theoretical) scientist. The second-year curriculum offers a choice of Civil Engineering, Electromechanics, Electronics-ICT or Informatics. Your choice of discipline becomes your field of specialization. We illustrate theory by means of exercises and in labs, which allows you to put the acquired knowledge into practice. After all, Engineering Technology graduates (in Dutch: industrieel ingenieurs) do not stop at theories and concepts. They are satisfied only when their application actually works. In addition, the curriculum also contains projects and/or work placements (either at home or abroad). This is a way for you to familiarize yourself with the profession during your studies.
Labour Market
Our alumni end up in a variety of sectors: in electronics, with suppliers of information and communication technology (incl. radio, tv, phone, internet and multimedia applications), software development, speech recognition, computer vision, sensor technology, micromachines, medical electronics, electronics for physics and optics, transportation, energy production and distribution, etc... . You are immediately employable in technical jobs as well as jobs that require a high degree of independence and creativity. You know how to initiate, plan and lead projects as a design engineer, an ICT engineer, a software engineer, an R&D engineer, an automation engineer, a systems engineer, a maintenance engineer, a service engineer, a quality engineer, as research staff, as high-ranking civil servant, as manager, as technical-commercial manager, or as study programme manager.
Be sure to check out these interesting testimonials at ikbenindustrieelingenieur.be (in Dutch).
Quality Assurance
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
More information:
Unique Selling Points
- Theoretical foundation: our programme offers a practical training with a solid theoretical foundation. In so doing, we prepare our students for a successful career as a future “industrieel ingenieur”.
- Integration of theory and practice: our curriculum contains many hours of tutorials and practicals, during which we use our well-equipped infrastructure to apply the theoretical knowledge covered in the lectures. We hone our students’ critical thought and problem-solving skills and bring them the newest technological developments in the discipline.
- Broad curriculum in the first Bachelor’s year: the first-year curriculum covers basic scientific course units but also includes teasers to introduce students to the various main subjects. Students make their final choice of main subject at the end of the first year, allowing for an early specialization in Electronics-ICT Engineering Technology.
- Our relation with the professional field is an important element of professional development for our students. Thanks to our contacts with entrepreneurs and researchers in the business world, we increase their opportunities on the labour market. Our students participate in company visits, fairs, work placements, Master’s dissertations, lecture series and other training initiatives.
- International project-based education: from the first year onwards, various course units introduce students with the CDIO network's project-based education. This is an international collaboration of reputable universities and university colleges abroad led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Strengths
- Preparation: we offer summer courses and an introduction day so that our students can start the programme well-prepared. An information session for students and their parents is organized during first term.
- Study Counselling: students are welcome to contact our study track counsellors with all their questions related to their study career. Content-related questions are addressed by the lecturers during counselling sessions. After the exams, we offer our students individually tailored feedback. Students with a learning disability can apply for additional support.
- Teamwork: the curriculum of each study year (Bachelor and Master) contains a group project by means of which students can immerse themselves in an Electronics-ICT-related topic. In so doing, we train our students to become excellent team players.
- Education and Research: our lecturers are experts in the fields of analogous and digital electronics, information and communication technology (ICT), data processing and multimedia. They integrate their own research expertise in their course units.
- Participation: we encourage everyone - lecturers, students and prospective employers - to think with us and to contribute to the day-to-day management of our study programme, now and in the future.
Challenges
- Internationalization: although we do try to encourage our students to undertake a study abroad experience, only a relatively low number of students actually does so. On a voluntary basis, our students can spend a term at a university abroad in the context of Erasmus+, embark on an international work placement or participate in our international study trip. We offer stay-at-home students a series of international guest lectures.
- Professional field experience: our curriculum currently does not include a mandatory work placement. We do, however, closely monitor the balance between the academic and application-oriented character of our programme by offering Master's dissertations in collaboration with the industry, guest lectures and/or company visits.
- Student Involvement: at this point, too few students find their way into formal consultation bodies. We place great store by informal contacts with our students but at the same time, we want to ensure that the students’ point of view is heard in formal meetings and education-related surveys.
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organization of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here and here.
This information was last updated on 14/02/2023.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.