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Self-evaluation Report of Doctoral Study Program ELECTRONICS
2003
SELF – EVALUATION REPORT OF DOCTORAL STUDY PROGRAM IN
ELECTRONICS
RIGA TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
Faculty of Electronics and Telecommunications
Riga, 2003
CONTENTS *)
CONTENTS *) 2
1. Aims and Objectives 3
2. CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CURRICULA 5
3. CHARACTERIZATION OF THE PROSPECTS OF THE CURRICULA 7
4. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 8
5. Financial support for the study program 9
6. TECHNICAL RESOURCES OF THE STUDY PROGRAM 10
7. QUALIFICATION OF STAFF 10
8. RESEARCH 11
9. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION 12
10. STUDENT EVALUATION SYSTEMS 13
11. comparison with similar curricula in OTHER UNIVERSITIES 13
12. SWOT Analysis of the situation of the program 14
13. Summary 14
Contents of the supplements[1]
1. Supplement 1. Study programs and regulations
2. Supplement 2. Subject curricula
3. Supplement 3. Elaboration of bachelor's, master's and doctoral theses in electronics
4. Supplement 4. Comments of students and employers on the study program
5. Supplement 5. Curricula vitae of the academic staff and lists of their publications
6. Supplement 6. Advertisements and information on study opportunities
*) Index of information items required by Clause 19 in the Regulations on Accreditation and in which parts of Report or Supplement information is included
19. 1. - Supplements 2 and 3
19. 2. - Supplement 5
19. 3. - Self-evaluation Report Chapter 2
19. 4. - Self-evaluation Report Chapter 2
19. 5. - Self-evaluation Report Chapter 2 and supplement 3
19. 6. - Self-evaluation Report Chapter 3 and supplement 1
19. 7. - Self-evaluation Report Chapter 4 and supplements 1 and 4
19. 8. - Self-evaluation Report Chapters 5 and 6
19. 9. - Self-evaluation Report Chapters 6 and 7
19. 10. - Self-evaluation Report Chapters 7, 8, 9 and supplement 1
19. 11. - Self-evaluation Report Chapters 7, 8 and supplements 1 and 5
19. 12. - Self-evaluation Report Chapter 8 and supplement 5
19. 13. - Self-evaluation Report Chapters 2 and supplement 1
19. 14. - Self-evaluation Report Chapter 2
19. 15. - Supplement 3
19. 16. - Self-evaluation Report Chapter 2 and supplements 1 and 2
19. 17. - Self-evaluation Report Chapters 11 and supplement 2
1. Aims and Objectives
The RTU academic program "Electronics" provides for studies in bachelors', masters' and doctoral programs in electronics. The bachelors' and masters' study programs were accredited for six years. Only the doctoral study program is being submitted for a repeated accreditation since it was not accredited for a full term.
Pointed out in the experts' report as the main weaknesses were:
· The Faculty has no development plan that would provide for training new academic staff members to relieve in due time the now working aging ones. It has not envisaged renovation of the laboratories and raising the funds needed for achieving these ends.
· The requirements laid down for the doctoral study program do not correspond to the real possibilities of the students to manage within 3 years time to elaborate their scientific work, to publish their results in 5 internationally refereed specialty journals and to report on them at two international conferences (it was recommended to lower the demands regarding the number of international publications.)
· The number of doctoral students planned was low and even those did not intend to link up their future activities with the University because the remuneration offered is incapable of competing with what is offered by business companies.
Careful analysis of suggestions made in accreditation report by experts was made. Based on this and repeated analysis of situation we started drafting of strategic development plan already in 2001. It foresee:
· cancellation of complicated branching of study programs with numerous options of realization,
· attraction of additional financing,
· attraction of new academic staff members,
· improvement of cooperation with industry,
· improvement of conditions and indicators of study process and research activities,
· broadening of international cooperation.
The present self-evaluation report on the doctoral study program reveals both:
what has been accomplished during the last two years and also presents a strategic plan for development to improve preparation of highly- qualified specialists for a such rapidly growing branch of industry in Latvia as electronics.
In the global scale electronics has been marked for its rapid and incessant development now for many decades. In Latvia the situation in this field is more complicated. It had a very bright history starting in the twenties and thirties when radio sets produced by the factory VEF (State Electrotechnical Factory) received international recognition (Grand Prix in International World Trade Exhibition in Paris in 1937). In the fifties until the seventies Riga was one of the Soviet Union's most developed centres in professional and household electronics with large enterprises like "VEF," "RRR" (radio sets and communication tools) and "Alfa" (microelectronics), different development teams and various research institutions.
Also at the institutes of the Latvian Academy of Sciences there was a high demand for highly qualified specialists in electronics. At that time the Faculty had contracts with the central institutes of the Soviet Union whose worth exceeded a million roubles a year, for working out scientific projects in the fields of electrodynamics, microwave technologies and the science of ferrite materials. On a smaller scale scientific research was done into filter synthesis and noises in semi-conductor devices, carrying out orders placed by the local enterprises.
In the 1990s, alongside with the collapse of the USSR, also large-scale electronics industry in Latvia collapsed. The funding of scientific research is disastrously reduced (currently it constitutes 0,24% from the domestic gross product). This resulted in a considerable number of electronics specialists losing jobs in their specialty and being forced to re-qualify. Notwithstanding all these changes, the Faculty of Electronics and Telecommunications has managed to win financing grants from the Latvian Council of Sciences. The number of publications did not decrease substantially and doctoral theses in electronics were presented (Nikitins, Zeltiņš).
Today electronics industry in Latvia is experiencing a rebirth. On a more up-to date basis many new small and medium-sized enterprises have cropped up. They are using, designing and manufacturing electronic goods. There are also several small and medium-sized enterprises which trade in foreign electronic devices, use them and also manufacture them. All this requires highly qualified specialists, the demand for whom cannot be met immediately. The financial resources of the small and medium-sized enterprises are too short to enable them to maintain scientific research teams or to support their training.
According to this situation the Institute of Radioelectronics of Faculty of Electronics and Telecommunications responsible for study program Electronics sets its aims and objectives.
Following are the goals of the doctoral program in electronics:
· To prepare qualified specialists in electronics with relevant theoretical knowledge and practical skills in electronics and the ability to do independent scientific research and pedagogical work, and to contribute creatively to national economy;
· To lay a solid scientific basis for the students' further self-education to enable them to follow the further developments in electronics on the basis of fundamental knowledge acquired in mathematics, physics and the basic courses in electronics.
Proceeding from these aims the Institute of Radioelectronics implements the following program objectives:
· To impart the necessary theoretical knowledge and practical skills in electronics to the doctoral students;
· To pass on to the young generation of scientists the knowledge of our professors in fields of science, in which experience has been accumulated in the Faculty and to initiate them in the more recent directions of research;
· To instil in the doctoral students the necessity to follow the development of electronics as well as to apply its latest achievements in their work;
· In the course of implementing the doctoral program to coordinate the work of the structural units so that their technical facilities and equipment could be used by doctoral students in doing their research work;
· By means of varied study directions and elective courses to provide the doctoral students with opportunities to acquire specializations that might be needed in their future career;
· To provide the study process with qualified teaching staff and a training measuring up to contemporary demands and requirements.
2. CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CURRICULA
The "Electronics" curriculum for the Doctoral degree lays out the contents and a plan of the "Electronics" studies, it specifies detailed requirements and procedures for student evaluation and the academic, material and financial resources available to the "Electronics" program (See: Supplement 1). The course description of the program is given in Supplement 2.
The doctoral study program "Electronics" has been developed in accordance with the regulations of the Senate, the Studies Department and the Study Profile of Computer systems, Electronics and Power engineering of the RTU. The curricula have been approved at the Councils of the Institute of Radioelectronics and at the Senate of the RTU. At the RTU, credit points (CP) are used to evaluate the amount of studies necessary for obtaining a degree. The number of CP in one study year is 48.
Doctoral Study Program in Electronics
Doctoral Studies at the RTU are determined by the RTU Senate decision "Regulations of Doctoral Studies in RTU" on 27.03.1995 and its latest supplements. The aim of the doctoral studies is to provide theoretical and practical basis for an academic and scientific career in electronics.
The goals of the Doctoral Study Program are achieved by:
· teaching sciences related to Radio Electronics;
· asking the doctoral students to formulate and solve independently scientific and practical problems;
· including methods of experiment and processing their results into the study process;
· involving the doctoral students in pedagogical work.
Contents of the Doctoral study program
The distribution of the study subjects into groups is determined by the "Resolution of the RTU Senate on the Doctoral Studies" approved on 30.10.2000 and by its subsequent supplements. The Promotion Council approves the compulsory study subjects.
The Doctoral study program in radioelectronics envisages mastering the theoretical subjects related to the appropriate course (Basics of Solid State Electronics, Electrodynamics for Radio Engineering, Signal Processing Theory, Analysis Methods of Microwave Systems), specialization subjects for managing experimental work in Electronics and Computer Applications, humanities (foreign language, philosophy), and subjects determined by the Institute of Radio Electronics and approved by the Promotion Council. A more detailed description of program subjects is given in Supplement 2.
The duration of studies and credits for the subjects
The overall amount of academic credits for the Doctoral degree at RTU is 144 CP, and the normal duration is 3 years.
The proportions between course categories
The subjects of the Doctoral study program are divided into the following groups:
A Compulsory electronics-related study subjects 15 CP (10.4 %)
B Limited Electives in specialization 15 CP (10.4 %)
C Optional specialization study subjects 6 CP (4.2%)
D Humanities Electives 6 CP (4.2 %)
E Doctoral Thesis 102 CP (70.8 %)
The specialization subjects can be regarded as limited electives because the doctoral student chooses them from all the possible subjects on the recommendation of the scientific supervisor of his Doctoral Thesis. The list of specialization study subjects can be supplemented according to need. Subjects determined by the Council of the Institute of Radio Electronics are included in the same category since by the decision of the scientific supervisor they can be replaced by some other specialization subjects.
Doctoral students have their individual plan where all the tasks to be accomplished are included. As a rule, pedagogical practice has to be included there, too.
Doctoral Thesis
In order to receive the Doctoral degree in Electronics one has to accomplish the study program and present successfully the Doctoral Thesis. The Doctoral Thesis gives 102 CP.
In the process of completing the Doctoral Thesis students have access to the necessary scientific and study laboratories, they can use the computers and software of the Institute of Radio Electronics and scientific literature from different libraries.
The State Scientific Qualification Commission (SSQC) determines the requirements and evaluation principles of Doctoral Thesis. The criteria concerning the approval of the Doctoral Thesis are formulated in special regulations elaborated by the SSQC and approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia (06.04.1999.). A doctor's scientific degree is conferred for very significant, original, independently elaborated scientific qualification work, evaluated as a substantial contribution to the development of the respective science field. The results of Doctor's Thesis have to be published in at least 5 recognized scientific journals (approved by the Council). Also, the results of the Doctor's Thesis have to be presented to at least 2 international conferences. The doctoral work can be presented as a Thesis, as part of a thematically united series of scientific publications or a monograph. The doctoral work has to be submitted to the SSQC and after its positive evaluation it is forwarded to an international expert. If the evaluation is negative, the doctoral work has to be revised. Only then does the Promotion Council (list of the Council is approved by the Latvian Council of Sciences according to proposals of the Senate of the RTU) appoints 3 official reviewers and organizes a public presentation. Apparently, the decision is not completely entrusted only to the University. The evaluation and defence of the work is determined by the "Resolution on Conferring a doctor's scientific degree at the RTU" that is based on the decrees of the Cabinet of Ministers of the LR and the Science Council of Latvia and was approved in March 2003. The Faculty of Electronics and Telecommunications has a Promotion Council in Engineering Sciences "Electronics and Telecommunications."
To facilitate for the doctoral students' compliance with the above requirements, the RTU has taken the following measures:
· it has allowed the doctoral students to take academic leaves twice during the study period, thus increasing the time of doctoral studies to 5 years;
· it arranges for RTU international scientific conferences and regularly issues Scientific Proceedings of RTU in which the doctoral students can publish the results of their work;