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<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : Applicants flood UWI telecoms degree programme ( Observer )...</span>
THE University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona campus is helping to create graduates who can leave the classroom and step straight into jobs in the burgeoning telecommunications sector.Driven by engineering expert Dr Paul Aitken, who recently returned to Jamaica after a stint with Intel, the UWI is now training a local workforce to feed directly into the sector through its new electronics engineering degree programme. It is a subset of the electrical engineering programme on offer at the St Augustine campus in Trinidad."We didn't want to repeat what our colleagues are doing, so we offered a slightly different branch which is electronics, targeting the telecommunications and instrumentation," explained Aiken.Although Jamaica is now among the strongest in telecommunications development in the Caribbean, Aiken said the country had no technical workforce to support the sector when it first began to develop.The rapid expansion of that sector, Aiken said, forced companies to employ science-based students and train them accordingly."But with engineering we are creating a workforce where as soon as the students graduate they can go straight in to work," he told the Sunday Observer.According to Aiken, the university is constantly liaising with the telecommunications industry which is anticipating hiring these graduates fully trained for the work world."When we had the launch last year, almost all the major stakeholders in the industry showed up because they want to see quality programmes coming out in engineering and they want to participate and be a part of it," he said.Aiken said contact is now being made with some of these industry players to determine the level of support they will offer to an apprenticeship programme."At the end of the second year students are going for apprenticeship in these companies and then in their final year the labs and projects will be industry problems that they will be solving," he explained.According to Aiken, the programme was over-subscribed this year, with some 400 applicants vying for one of the 50 spaces, which is how many the programme can accommodate."Because it is offered predominantly through the physics department, they will be in the same class with the electronics students from physics and the lab only has a capacity for 100 students," he explained.An optimistic Aiken said proposals are on the table for capacity expansion although the university is currently experiencing financial woes.He is also examining extending the programme to evenings and weekends."The industry guys are calling me to ask when will we offer that and they are also asking if we can have it at Western campus as well," he said.The high demand for the programme locally, according to Aiken, is a direct result of person's inability to relocate to Trinidad to study engineering at that campus.He claims the number of students going to the Trinidad campus for engineering studies has decreased drastically over the years.Meanwhile, he said, Mona had to convince the Trinidad faculty that the Jamaica programme could be rolled out successfully.A critical component for this is the ability to get accredited.Aiken said the three-year electronics engineering programme is seeking to receive international accreditation. Currently the programme in Trinidad is accredited by the Engineering and Technology Board out of Europe, but the Mona programme is looking to be accredited by the Board of Engineering and Technology out of the United States which is more recognised."That accreditation dictates certain ways of offering and running the programme and one very crucial thing is that engineering must be taught by engineers," he said.The programme was not launched earlier, despite proposals in the past, as there were no lecturers with doctorates in engineering, only doctorates in physics."When I came back to the university as a PhD engineer and have other colleagues who are PhD engineers, we went to Trinidad and it was much easier to convince them now that we have the human capabilities," he said.In fact, Aiken said there has been an overhauling of some of the university programmes with special emphasis on curriculum reform."Is our major really a major? What does a major mean? So we start to benchmark our programmes against known international institutions that produce positive and known results," Aiken explained.That, he said, formed the basis for the creation of a graduate school of engineering where the science faculty and other universities would feed into. That has however been slanted into the undergraduate engineering programme for now.Aiken said such a graduate school will have an international appeal and international accreditation, with the long term aim being to attract students from outside the Caribbean region.Meanwhile Aiken believes science education in high schools must be improved and students informed of the various career options.Once these students are motivated, according to Aiken, systems must be created at the university level to facilitate them.Already he has been on a number of outreach visits to high schools which he feels, has contributed to the doubling of the size of the science faculty over the last two years."When I came here the number of new students coming in was about 600... with the motivation, it is three times more as we now have up to 1,300 students applying and getting accepted into the faculty," he said.Another recruiting measure is the early acceptance of students to the programme pending their CAPE results."We look at the CSEC and if it is good we make an offer so we don't have to wait on the CAPE results to make an offer," he said.Aiken, who wears the hats of senior engineer, head of electronics and lecturer in the physics department said in order to create the level of expertise required, programmes have to be instituted at UWI which will provide adequate training for students entering the field.But before this can be done, Aiken said it is necessary to ensure the enrolment of quality students who can withstand the rigours of the programme. "Then, you also have to ensure that after they have completed the programme they will have somewhere in the industry to go," he added.Having maintained contact with UWI over the years of education abroad, Aiken said it was not difficult to quit his job at Intel and return to the institution where he first studied and worked."I always wanted to come back and try to transform this place into more science and technology and make it in line with what's happening in the rest of the world," he said.The Clarendon-born native and a graduate of Cornwall College completed his undergraduate degree in physics before working with UWI's physics department.On completion, of his masters, he got a job at Colombia University in New York as a nuclear magnetic resonance engineer.Following completion of his PhD, he went to work at Intel, the world's biggest manufacturers of microprocessors and world leaders in telecommunications. Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz17FaUlVXFhttp://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Appl...1#ixzz17FaUlVXF
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : Applicants flood UWI telecoms degree programme ( Observer )...</span>
THE University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona campus is helping to create graduates who can leave the classroom and step straight into jobs in the burgeoning telecommunications sector.Driven by engineering expert Dr Paul Aitken, who recently returned to Jamaica after a stint with Intel, the UWI is now training a local workforce to feed directly into the sector through its new electronics engineering degree programme. It is a subset of the electrical engineering programme on offer at the St Augustine campus in Trinidad."We didn't want to repeat what our colleagues are doing, so we offered a slightly different branch which is electronics, targeting the telecommunications and instrumentation," explained Aiken.Although Jamaica is now among the strongest in telecommunications development in the Caribbean, Aiken said the country had no technical workforce to support the sector when it first began to develop.The rapid expansion of that sector, Aiken said, forced companies to employ science-based students and train them accordingly."But with engineering we are creating a workforce where as soon as the students graduate they can go straight in to work," he told the Sunday Observer.According to Aiken, the university is constantly liaising with the telecommunications industry which is anticipating hiring these graduates fully trained for the work world."When we had the launch last year, almost all the major stakeholders in the industry showed up because they want to see quality programmes coming out in engineering and they want to participate and be a part of it," he said.Aiken said contact is now being made with some of these industry players to determine the level of support they will offer to an apprenticeship programme."At the end of the second year students are going for apprenticeship in these companies and then in their final year the labs and projects will be industry problems that they will be solving," he explained.According to Aiken, the programme was over-subscribed this year, with some 400 applicants vying for one of the 50 spaces, which is how many the programme can accommodate."Because it is offered predominantly through the physics department, they will be in the same class with the electronics students from physics and the lab only has a capacity for 100 students," he explained.An optimistic Aiken said proposals are on the table for capacity expansion although the university is currently experiencing financial woes.He is also examining extending the programme to evenings and weekends."The industry guys are calling me to ask when will we offer that and they are also asking if we can have it at Western campus as well," he said.The high demand for the programme locally, according to Aiken, is a direct result of person's inability to relocate to Trinidad to study engineering at that campus.He claims the number of students going to the Trinidad campus for engineering studies has decreased drastically over the years.Meanwhile, he said, Mona had to convince the Trinidad faculty that the Jamaica programme could be rolled out successfully.A critical component for this is the ability to get accredited.Aiken said the three-year electronics engineering programme is seeking to receive international accreditation. Currently the programme in Trinidad is accredited by the Engineering and Technology Board out of Europe, but the Mona programme is looking to be accredited by the Board of Engineering and Technology out of the United States which is more recognised."That accreditation dictates certain ways of offering and running the programme and one very crucial thing is that engineering must be taught by engineers," he said.The programme was not launched earlier, despite proposals in the past, as there were no lecturers with doctorates in engineering, only doctorates in physics."When I came back to the university as a PhD engineer and have other colleagues who are PhD engineers, we went to Trinidad and it was much easier to convince them now that we have the human capabilities," he said.In fact, Aiken said there has been an overhauling of some of the university programmes with special emphasis on curriculum reform."Is our major really a major? What does a major mean? So we start to benchmark our programmes against known international institutions that produce positive and known results," Aiken explained.That, he said, formed the basis for the creation of a graduate school of engineering where the science faculty and other universities would feed into. That has however been slanted into the undergraduate engineering programme for now.Aiken said such a graduate school will have an international appeal and international accreditation, with the long term aim being to attract students from outside the Caribbean region.Meanwhile Aiken believes science education in high schools must be improved and students informed of the various career options.Once these students are motivated, according to Aiken, systems must be created at the university level to facilitate them.Already he has been on a number of outreach visits to high schools which he feels, has contributed to the doubling of the size of the science faculty over the last two years."When I came here the number of new students coming in was about 600... with the motivation, it is three times more as we now have up to 1,300 students applying and getting accepted into the faculty," he said.Another recruiting measure is the early acceptance of students to the programme pending their CAPE results."We look at the CSEC and if it is good we make an offer so we don't have to wait on the CAPE results to make an offer," he said.Aiken, who wears the hats of senior engineer, head of electronics and lecturer in the physics department said in order to create the level of expertise required, programmes have to be instituted at UWI which will provide adequate training for students entering the field.But before this can be done, Aiken said it is necessary to ensure the enrolment of quality students who can withstand the rigours of the programme. "Then, you also have to ensure that after they have completed the programme they will have somewhere in the industry to go," he added.Having maintained contact with UWI over the years of education abroad, Aiken said it was not difficult to quit his job at Intel and return to the institution where he first studied and worked."I always wanted to come back and try to transform this place into more science and technology and make it in line with what's happening in the rest of the world," he said.The Clarendon-born native and a graduate of Cornwall College completed his undergraduate degree in physics before working with UWI's physics department.On completion, of his masters, he got a job at Colombia University in New York as a nuclear magnetic resonance engineer.Following completion of his PhD, he went to work at Intel, the world's biggest manufacturers of microprocessors and world leaders in telecommunications. Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz17FaUlVXFhttp://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Appl...1#ixzz17FaUlVXF