'This offers our students a lot of flexibility as they can take classes from each of the other programmes and learn from and network with a wide range of students.'

Professor Shi said the Electronic Engineering course covered a broad range of technologies and also focused on recent developments in the field.

'There is such a broad spectrum of consumer technologies that are constantly changing. For example, mobile phones now incorporate far more functions than simple voice calls. They have wireless data functions, digital cameras and dual displays, all encapsulated in a single device. As such, students will cover a wide range of technologies,' he said.

The telecommunications course provides students with 'up-to-date and in-depth technical knowledge based on the latest topics in wireless systems, optical networking, broadband multimedia communications and convergence protocols'.

'The telecommunications course is very specialised as there has been a huge change in infrastructure within the industry,' he said. 'Modern telecommunications are now packet-based - more data is being communicated, not just voices, and this has given rise to whole new types of technologies being used in mobile phones.'

He said the course not only focused on the technological aspects of the communications industry, but also on regulatory and business aspects.

Behind the advances in electronic engineering and telecommunications lies the physical hardware needed to power the devices that consumers use today.

The integrated circuit design engineering course aims to provide students with the required knowledge to design integrated chips that form the backbone of most electronic devices.

'Integrated electronics is vital for the advancement of information technology,' Professor Shi explained.

'Chip design is complicated and due to this, people need to design them with the aid of a computer. As such, our students are trained in, and will use, state-of the-art computer-aided design tools from the beginning of the course. Later in the course, they will apply this to real design cases.'

Admission requirements for all three courses are a bachelor's degree in a related field. As the courses are conducted in English, proof of proficiency in this language is required. This can take the form of a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the International English Language Testing system (IELTS) or the National College English Test (CET) of China.

'We want fresh graduates with good academic records. The courses are also aimed at students and professionals who wish to upgrade their knowledge in the subjects,' Professor Shi said.

'Working professionals may need to update their knowledge as their job may have evolved with the changes in technology. The courses can help to plug holes in their knowledge and in other areas of the fields they work in.

'The mixture of students and experience provides students with a great opportunity to learn from those who have more or different experiences than them.'

Over the past six months, the university has been recognised for various research accomplishments. 'In the field of telecommunications, our department head was recognised as founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications,' Professor Shi said. 'We also won three best paper awards at international conferences: The International Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design, the Pacific-Rim Conference on Multimedia and the IEEE International Workshop on Signal Processing Systems.

'The first was particularly relevant to integrated circuit design engineering and the second two to electronic engineering and telecommunications engineering.'

Graduates of these courses have various options. 'Recent graduates have become electronic engineers and sales and design engineers. IT consultancy is also a popular option,' Professor Shi said.

'The Chinese government has set up eight IT design centres across the mainland, including Hong Kong. Hong Kong is specifically in charge of intellectual property issues relating to technology and, as such, this will be an area that graduates can look at becoming involved with.'

Classes for all courses are held on weekday evenings, with part-time students studying two course modules per semester and full-time students taking four course modules per semester.