Information for schools

The School of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering is very happy to provide a growing range of activities and resources for students and their teachers in schools, colleges and in home education.


Information for schools

Email us at uga-eece@bham.ac.uk if you have any questions about our activities.

For directions to the School of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering please see the University maps and directions page.

If you have taken part in the PIC LED Light Chaser project offered by the school and want to further modify your light chaser details are here.

Open days

The date of the next open day is here.

We will have displays of undergraduate project work and demonstrations of some of the research work going on in the school along with tours of the facilities and presentations about the programmes available. An open day is an excellent opportunity to gain an idea of what study at the University of Birmingham is like.

Recent events

Year 12 Academic Enrichment Programme

  • 24th August 2011
  • Activity TBA
  • For further information or to book, please contact Mohammed Ansar, +44 (0)121 414 7693

A week long residental course at the University of Birmingham which gives an opportunity to gain first hand experience of the academic learning to be expected from a research-led institution whilst offering support with raising students academic grades through two study skills sessions and e-mentoring.

Visit the Year 12 Academic Enrichment Programme for further information


Masterclass; The elusive radio wave – can you catch it?

  • Dr Costas Constantinou
  • 23rd March 2011 2-4pm
  • 15-20 students Years 11-12, lecture room NG15, Gisbert Kapp building

This session started with a talk on the basic principles of radio wave propagation and their application to radio direction finding, and was followed by an interactive discussion on the practical challenges in finding the location of radio transmitters. A hands-on practical session saw groups of three or four students competing against each other to see which could locate and identify up to five hidden radio transmitters on campus, each transmitting its identity as a morse code signal. Each group was equipped with a suitable purpose-built radio receiver for this task.

Masterclass; Build your own microcontroller circuit

  • Dr Tim Collins
  • 23rd March 2011 2-4pm
  • 20 students Years 10-11, introductory talk in lecture room NG16, Gisbert Kapp building

Students soldered and programmed their own light-flashing microcontroller circuit in the Univeristy of Birmingham’s Electronic Engineering laboratory.   This practical exercise gave an opportunity to make a working light-flashing circuit students can take home.

Students learned about electronic components and how microcontrollers are programmed.


Masterclass; Design and testing of an antenna for wireless communication

Students designed, built and tested simple antenna using the University of Birmingham's Communications Engineering laboratory and anechoic chamber. This project uses state of the art technology to test a working microwave antenna which students can take home.

Students learned about radiowaves and antenna patterns along with radio transmission and reception.


Masterclass; Rescue robots - exploring different means of control for robots

Robots can be used in emergency situations and environments where humans cannot go. This project uses ROVIO robots to pit two teams against each other as they attempt to complete tasks against the clock (and each other) using a variety of control methods including text, voice, SMS message and mouse.

For details of other masterclasses, or to book onto these activities, please see information on the University of Birmingham Subject Enrichment Programme online.