Pavlenko O. Professional training of electronics engineers in US higher education institutions

This thesis for the first time justifies the organizational and methodological principles of training specialists in electronics in the US higher education institutions i.e. organization and network of higher education institutions; content, forms and methods of training; organization and commercialization of R&D activity at state and university levels; prospects for implementing and application of the US experience in professional training of Ukrainian electronics specialists with regard to the legal (in particular, establishing of an independent structure in higher education institutions responsible for legal, administrative and financial support of knowledge and technology transfer), organizational and procedural (in particular, ensuring interdisciplinarity), and comprehensive training of electronics specialists, flexibility of educational programs content, providing a wider choice of courses in related specialties, implementation of interdisciplinary research projects), and content and methodological (in particular, strengthening fundamental training, creating conditions for forming the core competencies; introduction of new types of educational programs i.e. coterminal) aspects; the thesis outlines the following leading trends in professional training of specialists: transition from training in workshops to specialized educational institutions; focus on finding the optimal relationship between the practical and theoretical components of educational programs; continuous revision of accreditation criteria by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology in the field of engineering sciences; shifting the focus of learning to outcome-oriented; paying considerable attention to the core component in educational programs for electronics specialists; the study introduces unknown and less known in Ukraine contexts works of American researchers, documents, educational materials, educational programs, theoretical ideas and approaches to the training of bachelors and masters in electronics in US higher education institutions; specifies the theoretical essence and content of the concepts "electronics", "professional training of electronics specialists" and "electronics specialist" in American educational contexts; explains the essence of the concepts "capstone project" and introduces the notions "coterminal" type of program and "recitation"; implements best US practices in programs, content, forms and methods of professional training in electronics in order to improves them; revises the content of professional development training for educators from higher education institutions with regard to the US experience in training electronics specialists, namely the content, forms and organization of education; introduces the future research directions in the areas of the development of Ukrainian engineering education, quality assurance in professional training of electronics specialists considering US best practices.