  Electron acceleration in collisionless shocks with arbitrary magnetic field
orientations is discussed. It is shown that the injection of thermal electrons
into diffusive shock acceleration process is achieved by an electron beam with
a loss-cone in velocity space that is reflected back upstream from the shock
through shock drift acceleration mechanism. The electron beam is able to excite
whistler waves which can scatter the energetic electrons themselves when the
Alfven Mach number of the shock is sufficiently high. A critical Mach number
for the electron injection is obtained as a function of upstream parameters.
The application to supernova remnant shocks is discussed.
