TECHNICAL ENGLISH PROGRAM – THE FIFTH YEAR OF DEVELOPMENT

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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)

4. 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

5. CAUGHT: IEEE Membership TOOL: Technical English TEP AS A TOOL TO INCREASE IEEE MEMBERSHIP

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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?

10. 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 conferencesand seminars, etc.)

11. 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 students • May 24, 2008: Renaissance Hotel34 students • December 20, 2008: Radisson SAS Hotel23 students

12. TECHNICAL ENGLISH PROGRAM IMPACT

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. MAIN ST.PETERSBURG TEP FEATURES – 7,8 • The IEEE and small student tuition fees cover all TEP expenses • Local TEP teachers obtain hourly pay

18. 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 ofa Technical English Program training

19. ACKNOWLEGEMENT We are grateful to Moshe Kam, Evangelia Micheli-Tsanakou, Douglas Gorham, Charles Hickmanand other IEEE volunteers and officers for the permanent support of our Technical English Program activity

20. TECHNICAL ENGLISH PROGRAM THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME Alexander Mikerov e-mail: a.mikerov@ieee.org