The aim of the schools offering engineering degrees within The University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy is to provide an outstanding engineering education to future leaders in the Australian Defence Force and to pursue excellence through contributions to research, the profession, industry and the community.

The BE program is of four years duration, and the degree may be awarded as a pass or an honours degree. The engineering programs have been granted full accreditation by the Engineers Australia and in addition the Electrical Engineering program has been recognised by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

All Engineering degrees lead to a Bachelor of Engineering degree, with the type of engineering specified.

First-Year engineering students enrol in separate programs in Aeronautical, Civil, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering. There is, however, considerable commonality in the first year within the engineering programs. More than half of the programs are devoted to mathematics, physics and computer science.

The BE program in Electrical Engineering is built on a foundation of mathematics, computing science and physical science. A small component of electrical engineering is introduced in the first year, with progressively larger components in second and third year. The final year is devoted exclusively to electrical engineering courses. Each year of the program comprises a number of discipline-based courses and courses taught by other discipline areas. Most courses in the first three years of the program are common for all electrical engineering students. In the third and fouth year students have the option to select specialty topics in areas such as communications, surveillance and radar, computer engineering and guided weapons electronics.

The Electrical Engineer in the Navy is known as a WEO – a Weapons Electrical Officer, and is responsible for electronic systems associated with gun and missile control systems, navigation systems, air and ground communications, radar and sonar systems and data systems. WEOs are not only responsible for technical matters but are a vital link in management: they may become involved also in personnel, financial and resource management.

RAAF Electrical Engineers usually are employed to manage a wide variety of operations including the repair and maintenance of modern radar, navigation, communications and computing equipment. They may be posted to a squadron in charge of an avionics section, or to a development area working on technical problems associated with new equipment. As they gain experience they can be expected to be posted to one of the commands, usually as a project officer concerned with the management and funding of projects.

Army Electrical Engineers usually pursue a career either in the Royal Australian Corps of Signals or the Royal Australian Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. New graduates may be involved in such areas as the operation, management and repair of state-of-the-art communications equipment or the management of guided weapons systems, laser designation and range finding equipment and radar.

Electrical Engineering is one of the newer branches of engineering. It has its origin in the turning to practical use of the discoveries of Faraday, Ampere, Maxwell and a number of other eminent 19th century physicists. It has remained the most strongly science-oriented branch of engineering.

At first it had its major impact by providing the means for the generation, distribution and utilisation of electric power. However, while this remains an important sub-area of the whole discipline, the last few decades particularly have seen a rapid and extensive diversification into the fields of computers and control as well as electronics and communications, and beyond them into such areas as biology, medicine and space technology. It is now true to say that there are very few areas of civilised activity that have remained untouched by the ideas and products of modern electrical engineering. The absorption of recent scientific development has been very rapid and has demanded a fully developed scientific outlook on the part of electrical engineers for a proper understanding of the problems involved. Many devices, scarcely more than laboratory prototypes a decade ago, are now in widespread use as fully engineered hardware.

The Bachelor of Engineering degrees require a prescribed program structure as determined by the engineering program chosen. Each year of the program comprises a number of School-based courses (identified by the prefix ZITE) and courses taught by other Schools within UNSW@ADFA. Completion of each year, thereby allowing progression to the next year, is normally achieved by satisfactory progress in each of the courses given in that year. At the discretion of the Head of School, students may be allowed to concurrently enrol in courses from more than one year of the program.

Second-Year Program

Two General Education courses worth 6UOC each.

Three Elective courses from the Elective listing below (6UoC each).

One Management elective from the following set:

Elective Courses

Students taking the third and fourth year Electrical Engineering program will also select a 24 UoC of courses from the following list, subject to the approval of the Head of School, to make a balanced program. Students will be allowed to take courses an additional 12 UoC in courses with may be outside this program, subject to approval of the Head of School or delegate.

1.0 Faculty Regulations for Undergraduate Students
1.1 A student must comply with the Faculty Regulations for Undergraduate Students. In the event of a conflict, the rules for the Bachelor of Engineering take precedence over the Faculty Regulations for Undergraduate Students.

2.0 Degree Requirements
2.1 The degree of Bachelor of Engineering shall be conferred as a pass degree or as an honours degree. Honours may be awarded in the following categories:
Honours Class I
Honours Class II, Division I
Honours Class II, Division II
2.2 To qualify for the degree of Bachelor of Engineering, a candidate shall normally be enrolled for a minimum of eight sessions and gain a minimum of 192 units of credit (normally 24 units in each full-time session).
2.3 A candidate completing a Standard Program shall complete courses, in the years prescribed, for all engineering students and those pertaining to one particular branch of engineering as set out in the relevant schedule.
2.4 A candidate completing a Non-Standard Program shall, subject to the requirements of Rule 2.5 (below), timetabling requirements and the approval of the appropriate Heads of School, be permitted to enrol in any one year in courses selected from more than one year of the relevant schedule.
2.5 Before a candidate’s enrolment will be accepted for any course, the candidate must have completed the relevant pre-requisite courses shown in the Course Catalogue, except where the Course Authority for the appropriate course approves otherwise.

3.0 Practical Experience Requirements
3.1 Before graduation a candidate shall complete 60 days of approved practical engineering experience which must be done in blocks of at least 20 working days each, each block being in the service of a single employer.

Note: Service Training and Practical Experience Requirements
Service training conducted during the degree program is recognised as partially satisfying practical experience requirements in the following ways:
For Naval Midshipmen, 30 days for experience gained at a defence establishment between second and third years. (Time at sea prior to arrival at UNSW@ADFA is not eligible for consideration.)
For Army Cadets, 30 days for the year spent at Royal Military College between third and fourth years.
For Air Force Cadets, 30 days for experience gained at a defence establishment between second and third years.

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/fees/FeesMainPage.html

These regulations apply to all undergraduate degrees and are to be used in conjunction with Academic Rules and Program Information, which appear in the following section. All rules in this Handbook apply to each student who enters an undergraduate program. The rules remain applicable until the student exits their program, either by discontinuation or graduation. Students who entered a program in another year should consult the rules and regulations for that year.

1.0 Meeting degree requirements
1.1 To be eligible to graduate, a student must comply with the Faculty Regulations for Undergraduate Students and specific program rules.
1.2 Every student must complete courses as part of their degree. The requirements of a course will be outlined by its course convenor.
1.3 A student will be prevented from enrolling in a course if they have not met the prerequisites specified.
1.4 A student will be prevented from enrolling in a course if they have not met the co-requisites specified.
1.5 Students are required to complete the prescribed amount of first-year courses, or be granted the equivalent credit from a recognised tertiary institution, before enrolling in Level II or Upper- Level courses.
1.6 Students are required to complete the prescribed amount of Level II courses, or be granted the equivalent credit from a recognised tertiary institution, before enrolling in Level III courses.
1.7 Each course completed or granted as credit towards a program may be counted towards only one major/minor in that program.

2.0 Multiple enrolment
2.1 No student will be admitted into a UNSW program without the approval of the relevant Head of School if they are already enrolled in another program of study at any tertiary institution.

3.0 Study required per UOC
3.1 25-30 hours of work, including face-to-face teaching sessions and private study time, is expected for 1 UOC per session (e.g. 150-180 hours of study is expected for a 6UOC course).

4.0 Directed Studies courses
4.1 All undergraduate students must complete the Directed Studies courses ZBUS2801 Leadership and Management and ZHSS2002 Introduction to Strategic Studies (12UOC) except in the following circumstances:
4.2 Students enrolled in the BTech (Aero) or BTech (Aviation) are exempt from the Directed Studies requirement.
4.3 Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Engineering are exempt from ZBUS2801 Leadership and Management (by virtue of meeting the Leadership and Management requirement through equivalent work in the engineering schools).
4.4 Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Business are exempt from ZBUS2801 Leadership and Management.
4.5 ZHSS2002 An Introduction to Strategic Studies may be taken as part of a major or minor in History or Politics. Students who choose this option must complete an additional 6UOC Upper-Level course to make up the 144 UOC required for their Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree.
4.6 Students are exempt from ZBUS2801 Leadership and Management if they complete both ZBUS1101 Organisational Behaviour and ZBUS2302 Leadership. Students who choose this option must complete an additional 6UOC Upper-Level course to make up the 144 units of credit required for their Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree.
4.7 Any student who has completed ZBUS1101 Organisational Behaviour but not ZBUS2302 Leadership is required to take ZBUS2802 Leadership and Management (Leadership) but is exempt from enrolling in ZBUS2801 Leadership and Management and ZBUS2803 Leadership and Management (Management). Students who choose this option must complete an additional 3UOC Upper-Level course to make up the 144 units of credit required for their Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree.
4.8 Students studying the Chief of Defence Force (CDF) programs may be exempt from studying one or both Directed Studies courses. Students within CDF programs should refer to their program rules for Directed Studies requirements.

5.0 General Education requirement
5.1 Most undergraduate students must include 12UoC of General Education courses in their program. These courses cannot be counted towards a major or minor in generalised degrees or core components of structured degrees, i.e. so called main-stream courses. 5.2 BA and BSc students undertaking Option 3 in their degree structure or students enrolled in a combined degree are exempt from the General Education requirement.
5.3 The General Education requirement can be met from either specially designated ZGEN coded courses; or mainstream courses called General Education Substitute courses, described below; or a combination of ZGEN courses and General Education Substitution courses.
5.4 General Education Substitute courses must not have a prerequisite nor clash with other timetabled courses
5.5 General Education Substitute Courses include:
5.5.1 BA, BBus and BSc degree students may take as a General Education Substitute course a 6UoC mainstream course from a discipline in any group listed in the General Education Schedule – which does NOT include a discipline in which they have undertaken a 6UoC mainstream Level I course.
5.5.2 All BE and the BTech (Aero Eng) degree students may take as a General Education Substitute course a 6 UoC mainstream course from the disciplines listed in the General Education Schedule from Groups 3-6 inclusive.
5.5.3 BTech (Aviation) degree students may take as a General Education Substitute course a 6 UoC mainstream course from the disciplines listed in the General Education Schedule from Groups 2-6 inclusive.
5.5.4 Chief of Defence Force Students Programs. The rules applying to General Education Substitute courses for students enrolled in CDFS Program degrees are the same as those for the standard degree program in the same discipline area.

6.0 Limit of Pass Conceded (PC)
6.1 A student cannot be awarded more than 18UOC for PCs.

7.0 Limitation on enrolment each semester
7.1 In any session, a student cannot enrol in more than 27 UOC without the approval of the Registrar's Nominee (Manager, Student Administrative Services).

8.0 Credit Cancellation Period
8.1 No units of credit shall count towards any award at undergraduate level if ten or more years have elapsed since a candidate accumulated the units of credit.

9.0 Credit for previous study
9.1 Credit may be granted on the basis of previous studies at a recognised tertiary institution provided a Credit for Previous Study form is submitted and approved within the credit cancellation period.
9.2 If a student believes their previous studies and/or work experience have given them the knowledge and skills taught within a core course, but they have not completed suitable studies at a recognised tertiary institution, they may seek approval from the relevant program authority to substitute this course for one outside their degree rules.

10.0 Variation of program or course requirements
10.1 Upon sufficient cause being shown, the Presiding Member, Academic Board may, in special cases, vary the requirements of the degree rules provided that any proposed variation shall be initiated by a recommendation from the relevant Head of School and the Registrar's Nominee.