NEW YORK-Four wireless industry heavyweights and three universities announced Feb. 17 they had formed the Global Wireless Education Consortium to “attract and educate new technicians and engineers to the booming wireless industry.”
Thousands of new wireless technicians and engineers will be needed each year, at least through 2001, to meet the demands of this growing industry sector, according to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.
Founding members of the new consortium are: AT&T Wireless Services Inc., Ericsson Inc., Lucent Technologies Inc., Motorola Inc. Cellular Infrastructure Group; Mankato (Minn.) State University; South Central Technical College in North Mankato, Minn.; and the University of Texas at Dallas. In the coming months, many other schools will be accepted into the consortium as “Education Partners,” GWEC said.
“Our mission is to increase the quality and quantity of wireless technicians and engineers,” said Misty Baker, executive director of the GWEC, which is headquartered in Mankato. “We found we could do that more efficiently and effectively to everyone’s benefit by working together rather than individually.”
Industry members of the consortium will work with the educational institution members to create or improve courses of study. One of the key changes sought is the inclusion of education in basic radio frequency technology, something no longer incorporated into collegiate programs, said Gerald Dotson, director of technical education for AT&T Wireless. Today, wireless companies spend up to a year teaching new employees this basic information, he said.
“This collaboration seeks to implement today’s technology into today’s curriculum for engineers and technicians,” said Per Nygren, director of Ericsson’s Technical Education Center.
