The department is celebrating its first graduating cohort of Electronic Engineers from our BEng, and a very positive first set of results from the National Student Survey.

As Royal Holloway’s youngest department, Electronic Engineering has formed a thriving community of staff, undergraduate and postgraduate students since its launch in 2016, welcoming its first students in September 2017. These first undergraduates have recently completed their degrees and go down in Royal Holloway’s records as the first ever graduates from BEng Electronic Engineering.

In July 2020 the department received its first set of results from the National Student Survey (NSS), an independent student survey carried out by the Office for Students on behalf of the UK higher education funding and regulatory bodies, used to measure and drive improvements across multiple areas of students’ academic experience. Highlights from the department’s NSS results reveal:

• 83% overall satisfaction from our students
• 100% students say their course has the right opportunities to work with other students 
• 91% students agree their course is well organised and running smoothly
• 91% students agree their course is intellectually stimulating 
• 91% students have sufficient advice and guidance on their course

Professor David M Howard, founding Head of the Department of Electronic Engineering has been closely involved with all aspects of development, from the recruitment of staff and academic developments to the process of accreditation of degree courses by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Reflecting on the department’s first graduates from the BEng Electronic Engineering, and first set of NSS results, David Howard, said,

“The Department of Electronic Engineering at Royal Holloway has graduated its first ever cohort of students with a BEng in Electronic Engineering.  This is a very special year for the department, not least because of the international circumstances we find ourselves in with COVID-19. This particular cohort started with us and have been the ‘upper’ year in the department during their first, second and third years. They have witnessed our new Shilling Building being built until they and we were able to move in to it at the start of their second year. And despite those and the current disruptions, we have this fantastic first ever NSS result of 83% Overall Satisfaction. Thank you to the class of 2020, for reflecting so positively on your experience with us!

We, students and staff, have been a particularly close-knit community over the last 3 years and speaking for the staff, we shall never forget this our first graduating cohort of professional Electronic Engineers as they enter the world of work. CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL.”

The department is based at the award-winning Shilling Building, named after pioneering female engineer, Beatrice Shilling, and an expanding portfolio of innovative degrees continues to attract growing numbers of students. An equality ethos underpins the department, drawing together a greater than UK average proportion of women students and staff within an inclusive environment right at the heart of the campus. Research and teaching connects in unique areas of communications, music and media technology, power systems, nanotechnology, systems computing, signal processing and biomedical engineering.