SMART exposes Engineering teachers to telco industry

Preparing future engineers for the telco industry can be quite a challenge for educators who lack industry experience. This is why, for the fourth year in a row, Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) offered its faculty immersion program to partner schools.

"Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP) was established as a partnership between SMART and the Academe. One of its components is faculty immersion so that educators would be able to relate the theoretical to the practical side and share this with their students," said SMART Senior Engineer Jake Navarro.

Last summer, faculty members from SWEEP partner schools benefited from the program, including Remedios Ado of the Computer Engineering department of Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) and Mark Melegrito of FEATI University's Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE) department.

 

SMART Senior Engineer Jake Navarro (left) shows Mark Melegrito of FEATI University and Remedios Ado of Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) how things work inside a SMART facility.

During the 10-day immersion program, the two teachers listened to lectures, underwent test equipment familiarization, and learned about preventive maintenance routine, field operations activities and transmission.

"This experience will allow me to easily relate topics and theories in the classroom," shared Ado. "It has built up my self-confidence. I can now cite actual scenarios that happen in the field. I can also tell my students about actual work opportunities they can apply for in SMART."

Melegrito said that being exposed to the technology is a big advantage. "It will be more fulfilling for me to teach my class of future engineers. It's hard to explain if books are the only sources of information. Now, I can support my lecture with actual experience. The whole process has become more real for me."

Navarro, their Engineer-in-Charge (EIC), brought the teachers to the telco's facilities, including a center that has a complete cell site, base station controller and mobile switching center.

"In this facility, they can see what actually happens and not just rely on their imagination. It helps them understand the whole process, from the moment an SMS message is sent until it is received, as well as the billing and charging components," Navarro explained.

Ado said she appreciated learning about the realities of working in a telco. "It's good to see how field engineers work and how they deal with the pressures of the job."

Navarro shared that these challenges include adjusting to the new services that are constantly evolving because of the boom in technology. "There are also times when we can't go home to make sure that the communication process is not disrupted by weather hazards, for example. After all, being an engineer in SMART means that we have responsibilities to our subscribers," he said.

(Published 11 August 2009, Smart Communications Inc.)