Electrical and Electronics Engineering Education in the Middle East

Electrical and electronics engineering the subdivision of engineering often interested in with the functionality of the electricity in its all forms, along with the those of the field of electronics. Electronics engineering is the discipline of electrical engineering concerned with the application of the devices such as transistors and integrated circuits.

In practice in engineering what crates the distinction between electrical and electronic engineering is often based on the comparative power of the electric currents operated. In this sense while electrical engineering is the branch that deals with heavy current electronics engineering deals with the light current applications such as communication systems, control systems and computer hardware. Even though the line between the branches has become less thin over the years with the drastic technical progress both of the branches holds his own significance while also expanding their field on the engineering with the enlarging need for the electrical and autonomous systems.

History of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

First thoughts about the electrical phenomena extends to the early 17th century European thinkers. The noteworthy frontiers include Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert and Georg Simon Ohm of Germany, Hans Christian Ørsted of Denmark, André-Marie Ampère of France, Alessandro Volta of Italy, Joseph Henry of the United States, and Michael Faraday of England. Electrical engineering had become a discipline in 1864 with the occurrence of the Scottish physicist J. Clark Maxwell summarizing the basic laws of electricity in mathematical form and revealed that radiation of electromagnetic energy in space has the speed of light which later led to the discovery of light itself being an electromagnetic wave and Maxwell predicted this kind of waves very well could be produced artificially. In 1886 the German physicist H. Hertz fulfilled the prediction of Maxwell by experimentally producing radio waves.

The first functional application of electricity was the invention of the Samuel F.B. Morse Telegraph invented in 1837 but the necessity for the electrical engineers have not felt until 40 years later upon the invention of the telephone (1876) by Alexander Graham Bell and another remarkable invention incandescent lamp (1878) by Thomas Alva Edison with these notable inventions and Edison`s central generating plant in New York City (1882), created a large demand for people who trained to work with electricity.

The discovery of thermionic emission or the “Edison effect,” a flow of current through the vacuum of one of his lamps, was the first observation of current in space. Dutch physicist Hendrik Antoon Lorentz postulated the electron theory of electrical charge in 1892 and five years later in 1897 English physicist J.J. Thomson demonstrated that thermionic emission was indeed caused by negatively charged particles called electrons. This led to the work of Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi, Lee de Forest of the United States and many others which laid the foundations of radio engineering. In 1930 the term electronics was introduced to embrace radio and industrial applications of electric tubes, however after the invention of the first transistor by John Bardeen in 1947, Walter H. Brattain and William B. Shockley electronics engineering has been a playground for the applications of solid-state electronic devices such as the transistor, the integrated circuit and the semi-conductor diode.

History of Electrical and Electronics Engineering in Turkey

The origin of the Electrical and Electronics engineering branches can be tracked back to Mechanical and Electrical Institute of Science Faculty of Istanbul University in 1926. The institute was bounded in 1934 to Istanbul Technical University which was called Master of Engineering College, as the Electro-Mechanic Division, which was the official start of the Department of Electrical Engineering. This division produced its first graduates in 1936 with the students adopted from Istanbul Dar-ül Fünun.

“Communications Division (Muhabere Şubesi)” was established with the passing of the “Master of Engineering College” in May 25, 1935, to meet the demand for engineers by PTT Corporation. Ord. Prof. M. Emin Kalmuk was appointed as the Division Head. The Electric Division of the Electro-Mechanic Division merged with the Communications Division in 1937 and the Electrical Communications Division came into existence. The Electric-Communications Division was renewed as the Electric Department in 1938. In 1944, when the Master of Engineering College was transferred to Istanbul Technical University, the department became the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. There were two subdivisions within the faculty: High Current (Electrical Power Engineering) and Low Current (Electronics and Communications Engineering). Engineers completed five years of study to graduate with an MSc degree. The period of study was decreased to four years for BSc degrees in 1969. MSc degrees started to be given for those who completed two years of study after completing their undergraduate program. In the year 1863 Robert Collage became the first collage established outside United States in Istanbul by a rich missionary. In 1912 engineering division established with the goal of giving licences of civil, mechanical and electrical engineering and this division had this graduation in 1925.

ITU Maçka Technical School was established in 1954 and converted into the Engineering Faculty in 1972, the electrical branch of the Technical School became the Electrical Engineering Department. ITU Electrical Faculty (Electrical Engineering and Electronics Engineering programs) was joined with ITU Maçka Electrical Faculty in 1982. ITU Electrical Engineering Faculty Low Current Branch was replaced by Electronics and Communications Engineering Department and High Current Branch was replaced by Electrical Engineering Department. In addition, Control and Computer Engineering Department was established. Divisions were merged under departments and the Faculty was renamed as the “Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering” in 1983.

In 15 November 1956 ODTU established with the name of Middle East High Technology Institution and in 1959 had its current status. Firstly in 1956 and 1957 Architecture faculty and the Mechanical engineering division had started its schooling in order. And in 1958 Electrical-Electronic Division established and started serving. In 1963 university had Turkey`s first campus in its current location. After mid 1960s the raising number of electric engineering schools due to the establish of the new private high institutions settled after their bound to the various academies in 1971.