TECHNICAL ENGLISH

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TECHNICAL ENGLISH PROGRAM THE FIFTH YEAR OF
DEVELOPMENT
Alexander Mikerov Russia Northwest IEEE Section
Vice Chair Professor of the Control Department,
Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical
University Saint Petersburg, RUSSIA
IEEE-TEP
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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

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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)

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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

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TEP AS A TOOL TO INCREASE IEEE MEMBERSHIP
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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

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TEP EXPENSES Vilniuss 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
  (Shaums outlines)
• One 1000 student grant for visiting an IEEE
  Conference
• Assigned to Russia Northwest Section 2,000
  per year

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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

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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?

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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.)

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MOSHE KAMS 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 students
• May 24, 2008 Renaissance Hotel34 students
• December 20, 2008 Radisson SAS Hotel23 students

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TECHNICAL ENGLISH PROGRAM IMPACT
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MAIN ST.PETERSBURG TEP FEATURES - 1

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

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MAIN ST.PETERSBURG TEP FEATURES 2,3

• General English lessons are conducted by
  professional English linguist teachers
• Second and third step lessons are conducting by
  Electrical Engineering professors selected by the
  local IEEE Section amongst its members

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MAIN ST.PETERSBURG TEP FEATURES - 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

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MAIN ST.PETERSBURG TEP FEATURES 5,6

• A special IEEE certificate identifies every TEP
  step graduation
• Every year best TEP graduate is granted to visit
  any IEEE Region 8 Conference with a paper

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MAIN ST.PETERSBURG TEP FEATURES 7,8

• The IEEE and small student tuition fees cover all
  TEP expenses
• Local TEP teachers obtain hourly pay

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CONCLUSION

• Technical English is the prerequisite of any IEEE
  activity
• 2005-09 St. Petersburg experience may be useful
  for a Technical English Program planning
• Tutorials of visiting professors is the important
  component of a Technical English Program training

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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

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TECHNICAL ENGLISH PROGRAM

• THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME
• Alexander Mikerov
• e-mail a.mikerov_at_ieee.org