Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 26-1 - 30

educationI&M continued
in
centered on one type of institute: the traditional university
where research and teaching are carried out. However, in
many advanced countries there are different kinds of HEIs. For
example, there can be universities mainly focused on teaching
aimed at professional skills, often called applied science universities
that are limited to mainly professional training and
bachelor's degrees, while the traditional universities provide
master's and doctoral degrees too.
The number and distribution of differences in HEIs
changes from country to country, and it is related to public
policies and/or the demand of higher degree levels. The number
of students continuing studies until the master's degree or
even to the doctorate depends also on general economic scenarios,
on the field of study and on cultural aspects. These
conditions affect the spread of I&M knowledge, since that
discipline is basically present only in STEM courses, with particular
importance in EEE courses. Moreover, the most specific
I&M topics are presented more often in master and doctoral
courses than in undergraduate ones.
In general, the population of the undergraduate students of
all the majors and disciplines is much bigger than that for master's
students, which, in turn is bigger than those continuing to
the doctorate level. This depends on the labor market demand
and on the student expectations from the higher-level degrees
to obtain a better job.
By looking at some numbers: in Brazil with a registrant
population of about 8.7 million students, about 1.3 million
obtain first level degrees and licenses, about 250,000master
degrees (around 15%) and 125,000 (around 7%) doctorates. A
similar degree of diversity can be found in the USA, where 75%
of all degrees awarded in 2021 were associate's degrees (2-year
degree programs) or bachelor's degrees, 21% were master's
degrees and only 5% were doctorate or professional degrees.
In Mexico, from 10,000 students finishing the high school, 3450
enter to some HEI, 700 obtain a bachelor's degree, 35 obtain a
master's degree, and only six earn the doctorate. In New Zealand,
about 10% of domestic students will go on to do master's
courses and only about 2 to 3% will enroll for a doctorate. The
majority of the students pursuing a doctorate are international
students. In Sweden, 16 universities have degree rights up to
the doctorate level in all subjects, and 31 universities have degree
rights in a limited number of subjects. All of the Chinese
and New Zealand universities are research and teaching ones.
Focusing on STEM and EEE studies, the percentages of students
leaving the education system with a bachelor's degree
tend to increase and the numbers of graduated students tend
to decrease, due to the higher demands of STEM expertise and
the consequently higher salaries starting from the lower degree
level.
The different higher education systems deal with EEE and
I&M topics in different ways, of course. In Sweden the approaches
numbered 1 to 3 in the Introduction of the column
30
are followed in the degree programs that involve I&M topics,
mostly the electrical engineering ones but also energy
engineering. The first approach is quite common, with I&M
subjects offered in the first or second year of a bachelor's degree
program, although there are specific subjects proposed in
the last years and in doctorate programs. Laboratory exercises
adopting measurement instrumentation are included in several
'main' subjects.
In Mexico, the bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical
engineering, electronics, mechatronics, computer science,
usually include basic courses covering I&M topics. Some of
them have I&M topics in their titles, like metrology, sensors
or instrumentation, while others are 'main' disciplines like
electronics, circuits design, microwaves, communications,
antennas, instrumentation, digital systems, microelectronics
design. In bachelor's degree programs, the I&M subjects are
offered usually in the second and third year. In master's and
doctoral programs there are no fixed rules to include courses
related to I&M.
In Brazil, the situation is extremely varied among the different
universities that have only general rules to follow and
are free to design their specific programs. At the Federal University
of Rio Grande do Norte, for example, I&M subjects are
taught in the third year of five in degree programs in for electrical
engineering, computer engineering and mechatronics. In
New Zealand, the I&M topics are mainly covered in the bachelor's
programs within 'main' disciplines like physics and
analog electronics, while design of experiments and statistical
analysis of measurement data are covered in a course in the
third year and also in a research methods course at the postgraduate
level.
The bottom-up degree program design followed in other
countries is reversed in China, where there is a centralized
approach in the degree program design within the all-public
education system. In China one of the 'main' disciplines is
" measurement control and instrumentation, " whereas in other
countries control and measurement are considered different
disciplines. As a consequence, " measurement control and instrumentation "
is a specialty developed into a broad-range
discipline involved with optics, mechanics, electronics and
computer technology. 297 HEIs in China have this specialty,
developed in undergraduate programs under the recommendations
of a dedicated national Instrumentation Education
Steering Committee.
Diversity is often richness; however, the particular diversity
described above causes greater difficulties to students or
professionals moving from one country to another. Many companies
expect the graduates to have specific skills referring to
the higher education system of their country. Universities have
specific knowledge requirements for students enrolling into a
master's or a doctorate program that are based on the subjects
provided in their country's bachelor or master's courses. As a
IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
February 2023
Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 26-1

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