A Survey of Automatic Control Teaching and Research in University Mechanical Engineering Departments

This article describes the results of a questionnaire survey taken within the last two years of the state of control education in university mechanical engineering departments. The results of the analysis showed in general that control per se is not regarded as a subject of singular importance in engineering curricula. For instance, 13.25 percent of the replies indicated no control courses at the undergraduate level; 42.1 percent of the replies indicated control as an elective, and 42.16 percent as a required undergraduate course; and 44.5 percent replied with no control laboratory. Use of computers, however, was very common (77.1 percent teaching analog and digital computation, 6 percent teaching digital only, and 0 percent teaching analog only). Details of courses and texts were solicited. It was found that most departments do not offer graduate courses in control, most having less than five masters and less than three doctoral students.