The Communication Course as a Requirement for Undergraduate Electrical Engineering Degree

Electrical engineering programs have progressed and expanded to a multitude of branches and stand alone disciplines that a general degree in electrical engineering consisting of many unrelated courses is no longer practical. Presently, past the sophomore year electrical engineering majors, in some programs, may enroll in unrelated courses to satisfy the graduation requirement. This approach is neither beneficial to the student’s graduate education nor to the potential employers. A student who would like to pursue a degree in power systems or electrical machines may discover that taking required courses in communication or design, layout, and fabrication of integrated circuits are not beneficial to the pursuit of his interest. The time may be appropriate to specialize the degree of bachelor science in electrical engineering to stand alone disciplines. This paper discusses the present status in some electrical engineering programs with respect to the requirement of the communication course and suggests different specialized degrees in electrical engineering.