TECHNICAL ENGLISH PROGRAM – THE FIFTH YEAR OF

DEVELOPMENT

Alexander MikerovRussia Northwest IEEE Section Vice ChairProfessor of the Control Department, Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University

Saint Petersburg, RUSSIA

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov2

FIRST PROPOSAL

April 2005 – IEEE R8 Meeting in Paris October 2005 – IEEE Section

Congress in Tampa, USA Incitement: Poor English in the

former Soviet Union

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov3

ENGLISH LEARNING IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION

• Non obligatory in a secondary school• Non obligatory in technical

universities• Not useful in engineering practice:

• International contacts not encouraged• All literature in Russian (translated

IEEE magazines)

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov4

POOR ENGLISH – LOW IEEE MEMBERSHIP

• Russia• IEEE membership 710 (2005)• Population 145 mil• 1 IEEE Member for every 180,000 population

• Finland• IEEE membership 969 (2005)• Population 5.3 mil• 1 IEEE Member for every 5,500 population

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov5

TEP AS A TOOL TO INCREASE IEEE MEMBERSHIP

CAUGHT:IEEE

MembershipTOOL: Technical English

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov6

TEP – THE FIRST PLAN

• Free Electrical Engineering training in English for all by Russian IEEE volunteers (one semester)

• Tutorial (once per a semester) by a visiting lector from the DLP

• Final student presentation in English at a Conference

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov7

TEP EXPENSES: Vilnius’s R8 meeting (April 2006)

• Pilot project: one group - $1,486• Region 8 project: 10 groups per year - $13,470• Main items:

• Additional expenses for a visiting DLP lecturer • English textbooks in electrical engineering

(Shaum’s outlines)• One $1000 student grant for visiting an IEEE

Conference• Assigned to Russia Northwest Section:

$2,000 per year

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov8

PILOT TEP PROJECT(St. Petersburg – RUSSIA, Sept.-Dec. 2006)

• Entry contest: 30 LETI students for 10 positions

• 11 students passed 32 h course “Basic Electrical Engineering” of Professor Alexander Mikerov”

• Tutorial of Prof. Kurt Richter (Austria) “Development of Leadership Skills”

• Final student presentation in English at the Annual IEEE Students Conference

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov9

FIRST RESULTS

• Best student Sergey Miropolski submitted the paper at the Eurocon2007 ($1000 Grant)

• One year student IEEE membership for 5 students

• IEEE R8 Certificates to all students

• Impact on students Membership:

2006 - 52 ; 2007 – 57?

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov10

TEP: NEW INITIATIVESat R8 Meeting in Sofia (April 2007)

• IEEE Membership should be obligatory• Small Tuition fee (TEP trainers

remuneration)• Training period 3 semester (General English,

Basic EE, Advanced course)• Students involvement into an IEEE activity

(“Spectrum” as a textbook, guide service, IEEE conferences and seminars, etc.)

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov11

MOSHE KAM’S TUTORIALS

Professor Moshe Kam - Drexel University (Philadelphia, USA) and 2005-2007 IEEE Vice-President for Educational Activity

November 24, 2007: St.Pb Electrotechnical Univ.

23 studentsMay 24, 2008: Renaissance Hotel34 students December 20, 2008: Radisson SAS Hotel23 students

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov12

TECHNICAL ENGLISH PROGRAM IMPACT

November 24, 2007

May 24, 2008

Number of student attended tutorials

23 34

Number of presentations in English at a final TEP student conference

12 20

Number of TEP graduate certificates

12 20

Number of students trained in all TEP groups

29 62

Number of St. Petersburg active IEEE Student members

57 72

Number of students entered in the LUT

8 11

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov13

MAIN ST.PETERSBURG TEP FEATURES - 1

1. Technical English Program training is providing only for IEEE members and including three one semester steps:- General English- Basic Electrical Engineering- Advanced Course

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov14

MAIN ST.PETERSBURG TEP FEATURES – 2,3

2. General English lessons are conducted by professional English linguist teachers

3. Second and third step lessons are conducting by Electrical Engineering professors selected by the local IEEE Section amongst its members

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov15

MAIN ST.PETERSBURG TEP FEATURES - 4

4. As a rule every TEP semester course includes three components:- 2-3 hours every week lessons in a technical field with English textbooks and local teachers - One day tutorial during 5-8 hours with invited foreign lecturer from a country with native English- Concluding student conference with every student presentation in a selected EE subject

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov16

MAIN ST.PETERSBURG TEP FEATURES – 5,6

5. A special IEEE certificate identifies every TEP step graduation

6. Every year best TEP graduate is granted to visit any IEEE Region 8 Conference with a paper

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov17

MAIN ST.PETERSBURG TEP FEATURES – 7,8

7. The IEEE and small student tuition fees cover all TEP expenses

8. Local TEP teachers obtain hourly pay

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov18

CONCLUSION

1. Technical English is the prerequisite of any IEEE activity

2. 2005-09 St. Petersburg experience may be useful for a Technical English Program planning

3. Tutorials of visiting professors is the important component of a Technical English Program training

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov19

ACKNOWLEGEMENT

We are grateful to Moshe Kam, Evangelia Micheli-Tsanakou,

Douglas Gorham, Charles Hickman and other IEEE

volunteers and officers for the permanent support of our

Technical English Program activity

IEEE TEP Seminar-October 2-3, St.Petersburg, Russia Alexander Mikerov20

TECHNICAL ENGLISH PROGRAM

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME

Alexander Mikerove-mail: a.mikerov@ieee.org