In 1844 Samuel F. B. Morse dispatched the first telegraphic message over an experimental line from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore. Now, 160 years later, 63 students representing 18 countries across the globe - from Kenya to Kuwait - are studying to become the brains behind the mobiles, laptops and communications networks of the future on Leeds’ MSc in modern digital and radio frequency wireless communications.

Dr Des McLernon from electronic and electrical engineering believes the driving force behind one of the most multi-racial courses on campus is the rapid expansion of cellular and wireless services: “Within India’s one billion population, mobile usage is huge - one student told me that ‘even the rickshaw man has a mobile!’ They need engineers to provide the infrastructure and services,” he said.

The original MSc course was redesigned to respond to this huge range of needs and interests with almost £500,000 funding from the engineering and physical sciences research council and input from University staff steeped in the latest research relevant to the field. Consultation with companies including Motorola, Agilent Technologies (formerly Hewlett Packard) and Filtronic plc has helped create an MSc which meets the needs of the UK’s communications and cellular mobile industries - particularly their shortage of skilled engineers. This year the course had almost 700 applications and is one of the largest engineering MScs in the country.

Students said they chose the course because of its links with industry and research, and the school’s reputation for a high-quality student experience and academic excellence. “Our students could go on to work in areas ranging from speech and image recognition systems to the broadband services of the future,” said Dr McLernon.

For more on learning and teaching success at Leeds see pages six and seven.

Photo: MSc students