On Adequacy of Electrical Engineering and Computers Curriculum to Current and Future Technological Challenges - A Case Study Elena Helerea, DănuĠ Ilea, Beatrice Moaúa Transilvania University Braúov, Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics helerea@unitbv.ro, ilea@unitbv.ro, costela.moasa@unitbv.ro Abstract- Nowadays, the current global socio-economic challenges offer new opportunities for engineering. Advances in electrical engineering have been central to human progress ever since the discovery of the electromagnetic field. In the last hundred and fifty years, electrical engineering has transformed the world we live in, contributing to a signiｿcantly longer life expectancy and has enhanced life quality for large numbers of the world’s population. If engineering’s role were more visible and better understood, more people would be attracted to it as a career. The mission of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from “Transilvania” University of Brasov is to fulfil the needs of Romania’s emergency region, as EU Member State, by providing undergraduate technical education in Electrical Engineering and Computers to diverse groups of students. The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science strives to continually update its curricula in order to qualify its students for positions in main global industries located in the region and beyond, while providing sufficient breadth and depth in its programs, so as to provide its graduates with successful practice in the profession. Using the Graduate Employment as a performance indicator for higher education has been applied and reprocessed within “Transilvania” University. The present paper provides an examination based on a case study into the effectiveness of the policy-driven approach in enhancing the electrical engineering curricula after Bologna reform. I. INTRODUCTION The technological progress, which has accelerated during the second half of the twentieth century, has led to changes in the curriculum of the academic study in electrical engineering, with a view to anticipating and complying with the challenges of current technology [1]. If, in the first half of the twentieth century, electrical engineering was perceived as engineering for the production, transmission and utilization of electricity, during the second half of the century, as a result of technological advances in the field of electrical and electronic components (transition from vacuum tubes to transistors and then integrated circuits) in electrical engineering, the emphasis was directed from converting energy equipment (motors, generators and power systems) to computer systems (computers and communication systems). The current period is characterized by increased communication capacity, whose support consists of more compact and faster electronic components, which will accomplish multiple functions - wireless phone, personal digital assistant, digital camera, GPS - global positing system etc., which are already embedded in a single portable device. This period moves towards the so called “pico-Terra” society [1], in which the electrical engineer should be able to interpret processes, to use and create operational devices, which transfer and manage the quantities of level of pico- meters, terabits, picoseconds, terahertz. In order to meet these opportunities and challenges, the study program named Electrical Engineering and Computers (EEC) has been developed, with a dynamic curriculum, in which the study disciplines have been more or less adequate, but with the same goal: to ensure for electrical engineers, the adapting ability to the transformational technologic changes throughout their whole career [2], [3]. This paper aims to analyze the current state of art regarding the education in electrical engineering and, as a case study, to analyze the curriculum of the Bachelor study program Electrical Engineering and Computers (EEC) developed within “Transilvania” University of Brasov (UTBV), Romania. Some possible ways for developing a modern and flexible education curriculum are shown, accompanied by specific disciplines, appropriate to present and future needs. As an illustration, the syllabi of « Energy sources» and « History of technology » disciplines are described, as introductory subjects in the first year of study, as a domain discipline, and respectively, complementary discipline. II. SHORT ANALYSIS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BOLOGNA SYSTEM IN TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN ROMANIA In Romania, the higher education in the area of engineering was restructured in the year 2004/2005, when the Romanian system adopted the “Bologna education system”. Thus, the technical higher education structure consists of: - Bachelor's degree programs- 4 years, 240 EUCTS - Master's degree programs - 2 years, 120 EUCTS - PhD studies - 3 years, 180 EUCTS. Unfortunately, the study structure has been found to display weaknesses for students of technical universities. The Bachelor degree programs were built, in most cases, by compressing the courses from the previous five-years study program of engineering, with the insertion of several disciplines and, as a result, they have a high volume of work for the students [4], [5]. A large volume of courses means a great learning effort for the students, with the possibility of their not being able to  l -))) 