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 fourth 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 ZEIT) and courses taught by other Schools within UNSW Canberra. 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.

Plus 2 x General Education courses. Students must select one General Education course from each of the following groups:

Group 1:
 ZGEN2222 Introduction to Strategic Studies, OR ZGEN2801 Strategy, Management and Leadership;

AND

Group 2:
 ZGEN2240 Introduction to Military Ethics, OR ZGEN2215 Law, Force and Legitimacy

Students must undertake 18 UOC of technical electives. These electives can be selected from the courses listed below. 12 UOC are permitted to be taken in courses outside this program, subject to approval of the SEIT Undergraduate Coordinator.

Elective Courses for Fourth Year Students

1. 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. 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. 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.

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:

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.)

Army Cadets, 30 days for the year spent at Royal Military College between third and fourth years.

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. All rules in this Handbook apply to each student who enters an undergraduate program in 2014. 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.

Please refer to Faculty Regulations information