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Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Telecom improves ECE programs
MANILA - Close partnerships between the academic and private sectors can provide students with a more relevant education that can better prepare them in entering the workforce.
At the same time, it can also give the companies a good pool of talents for their organizations.
This was stressed by Ramon Isberto, public affairs group head of Smart Communications Inc. during the 32nd Asian Regional Training and Development Organization (Artdo) International Management and Human Resource Development (HRD) Conference held at the Manila Hotel recently.
Isberto’s topic was “Matching College Education with Corporate Requirements.”
He discussed the company’s experiences in collaborating with partner universities and colleges in setting up its “wireless laboratories” nationwide through its Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (Sweep).
Sweep is an industry-academe partnership program that aims to help raise the level of education in the field of electronic and communication engineering (ECE).
Advances
The program is designed to complement the schools’ existing ECE programs by providing hands-on training and lectures on the latest developments in wireless technologies.
“Rapid advances in the telecoms industry dictate that Smart constantly updates its training programs to fulfill its commitment to our partner schools. On the other hand, our partner schools must actively collaborate with our engineers regarding their needs.” said Isberto.
“It’s really challenging because the program is a partnership and it is dynamic. But our experience has been so far rewarding. You get the best out of the two different worlds of theory and practice.” he added.
In the past, ECE colleges only had general lectures on wireless communications.
With Sweep, some colleges and universities have now started to incorporate the subject in their curriculum using the wireless laboratory.
An example is Ateneo de Manila University which came up with an elective course for 5th year ECE students called Mobile Cellular Communications.
“ECE students can be better equipped in entering the wireless communications field. This will hopefully prove to be beneficial to the industry at large in the future.” Isberto added.
Since its launch in March 2003, Sweep has established partnerships with 43 of the 107 colleges and universities offering ECE all over the country, with 26 more in the process of negotiation.
It is the first of its kind in the telecommunications industry, a statement said.
To date, over 5,000 students from 36 schools had hands-on trainings using the Sweep laboratories.
Approximately 500 general engineering, ECE, and Information Technology professors have been trained by Smart engineers on how to use the lab as a training facility.
Other business leaders who spoke at the event were Manuel Lopez, chairman and chief executive officer of the Manila Electric Co., and Sandy Prieto Ro-mualdez, chief executive officer of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Trends
Centering on the theme “unified Global HRD: Breaking Boundaries,” the three-day conference explored emerging trends in training and development in the context of a globalizing world and how human resource professionals may connect and network with each other.
The event was organized by the Philippine Society for Training and Development.
It was attended by foreign as well as local corporate training practitioners, training consultants, training technology providers, and the academe from the Asia Pacific region.
Artdo is an international umbrella body with membership comprising national organizations, education and training institutes, multi-national corporations, public and private enterprises, HR and management specialists from over 30 countries. (PR)
(September 20, 2005 issue)
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