HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH NETWORKED UNIVERSITIES: MOBILE COMMUNICATION STUDIES CENTRE(1)

Abstract

We present an international human resource development scheme in the form of virtual global university concept to meet the requirements of engineering professionals to serve

different societies with ease. As a role model we have chosen one key area of technology: mobile communication technology where needs for such professionals are being acutely

felt. The proposal emphasizes international linkages in the form of a confederation of institutes across the globe joining hands for the common academic pursuits. The academic

structure has to be flexible, with some basic ingredients to be accepted by all. The manpower so trained will be conversant at least with two work cultures and ethos of two

distinct societies.

Keywords: Virtual university, mobile communication, international bias, masters' programme

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Recent developments in technology and concomitant changes in the world order, arising out of the necessity for economic/societal developments and resulting in liberalization and

globalization policies of major nations, have affected the academia and the educational scenario all over. There has been a paradigm shift in (i) the expectations of the society

from the academia, (ii) the contents, delivery of contents and the methodologies of the delivery, or even the way books are being written today, and (iii) the felt need in the

society for life-long learning skills. In general, higher education in several countries of the world is witnessing serious resource crunch due to curtailment in grants from

their respective governments mostly on the misplaced notion that the institutions of higher learning can completely fend themselves. We examine some of the issues in this

article with particular reference to higher technical education scenario. Technological developments and their applications, especially in the IT related areas, require large

manpower input. But we find that the academia is not in a position to produce enough quality trained technical manpower to meet these demands of the society.

Free flow of technology, vanishing trade boundaries, availability of capital from beyond the national boundaries, competitive commerce etc. are being encouraged all over for

societal economic developments. However, success of such global integration and sustenance of these policies would depend on availability of adequately trained manpower with

international bias. We present an international human resource development scheme in the form of virtual global university concept to meet the requirements. As a role model we

have chosen one key area of technology: mobile communication technology where such needs are being acutely felt. Since the development of mobile communication is global together

with very strong societal bias for its implementation, there is an urgent need for creation of an international study centre offering highest possible expertise. Such a centre

may also act as a globalinformation warehouse for technological upgradation. Institutions located in different countries would jointly train the students.

The concept rests heavily on training of engineers in at least two different countries, in two different societal melieu. A student on completion of the training will get

Master's degree from his parent University; though he will also be well versed in the practices of the other society. This will necessitate the participating Universities

accepting the co-existence of cross-border curricula, offering more flexibility in pedagogy and allowing teaching-learning through web-based educational set-up. The industries,

which would be the prime beneficiaries due to availability of such manpower, together with agencies for international co-operation, would be the source for necessary funding of

the scheme. We also touch upon other formal/non-formal programmes.

2.0 MOBILE COMMUNICATION

Communication as a vehicle for the socio-economic progress of a society is today axiomatically accepted as the fourth dimension of transportation after land, sea and air

transportation; as communication is intimately linked with prosperity and social order. The new millennium gets heralded with the technological solutions for global

connectivity. Telephony networks (PSTN etc.) along with terrestrial cellular systems augmented by mobile satellite communication systems make it possible to have information

transfer between any two points on the earth. Same applies to Internet services. Present decade will see emergence of mobile communication as the main technological platform for

multitudes of communication and multimedia applications just like the telephones served for basic communication connectivity in the last decades. Present trend of merger of

audio, video and data has introduced a paradigm shift in what was hitherto known as communication. Mobile communication will play a crucial role in shaping the lives of people,

how they do commerce or even governance. The technology of mobile communication is not static and will not mature at least for foreseeable future. The third generation mobile

systems (UMTS, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System/IMT-2000, International Mobile Telecommunications-2000) paradigms are still evolving. Value added services based on

UMTS are yet to be conceived. Since this development is global and not limited to a continent, there is an urgent need for creation of a Global Centre for Mobile Communication

Studies which will offer the highest possible expertise and also act as the warehouse of information flow on new developments.

3.0 THE CENTRE AND ITS PURPOSE

The Centre will provide much needed and valuable focus on the subject not only for the traditional faculty-student participants from academia for their roles in creation,

dissemination and application of knowledge in the field but also for corporate personnel, investors, executives, government, analysts, strategists, and marketing people besides

the engineers. The objective of the Centre is to provide an environment where state-of-art research and development work will be carried out along with providing a platform for

discussion and exchange of ideas for commercial exploitation of the recent developments in the field.

Though ushered in by leading enterprises communication technology, being a service-centered utility business, is driven by the consumer market. The telecom sector is getting

deregulated almost in all the nations but the market environment can only be gauged by the local telecom companies because only the local people can understand the market which

is influenced by the local conditions. Focussed attention is to be paid to facilitate expansion of such markets. There are vast potentials in the sector in the developing world,

particularly in Asia and Latin America. It is for this reason that the Centre should have established branches in these continents. And it is for these cross-fertilization

reasons that the manpower to be trained must have an international bias before they graduate to take up meaningful positions in the telecom field.

The Centre will consist of affiliating institutions across the continents interlinked and networked in the common pursuit outlined above. The linkages amongst the institutions

necessarily have to be loose and still form a cohesive entity to really make the globe a common communication village.

Thus the purpose is to establish a network of academic institutions, in different continents, having excellent credentials in the field to meet the following with cross-

continental bias:

(i) Capacity building in the field through training engineers and through young
researchers;

(ii) Interaction with academia and industries through networking and twinning
arrangements;

(iii) Generate environment for economic and social developments in the region and
thereby become a role model for such interactions in the developing world.

3.1 THE PROGRAMMES

The programmes that will meet the above objectives are:

(i) Research programmes: Research activities, in the broad area of mobile
communication, including

(a) Wideband systems; networking and switching
(b) Wireless local area networks and wireless local loop systems
(c) Third generation systems
(d) Internet platform for multimedia applications including e-commerce
(e) Network security
(f) Mobile satellite communication
(g) Teletraffic studies
(h) Evolving market studies
(i) Teleteaching

will be pursued. The topics are illustrative and not exhaustive. Expertise already exists in most of the above areas. Efforts will be made to recruit young researchers to

complement missing areas.

(ii) Teaching programmes: In order to sustain (i), present academic programmes will be suitably augmented to provide specialization in Mobile communication Studies; i.e., a new

stream of specialization will be generated. Successful candidates will be awarded M.Tech /Ph.D. degrees according to the regulations of the Institute. A shorter ‘Diploma in

Mobile Communication Studies' programme for participants from serving industries, utilities etc. will be generated.

(iii) Non-formal educational programmes: Continuing education for enhancement of knowledge to the working engineers from industries, research institutions, service providers

etc. as well as information dissemination programmes for executives of these sectors besides government and regulatory agencies are necessarily to be part of the activities of

the Centre.

(iv) Consultancy Programmes: The faculty and research staff will be encouraged to provide consultancy to agencies, both governmental and non-governmental. This could also be in

the form of commercial exploitation (e.g., technology transfer) of work carried out under (i), through development of region specific prototypes or particular software, say for

an industry. It may also be related to the application of technology for societal needs through market research.

(v) International linkages programmes: The emphasis is to increase the linkages through exchange programmes of students and faculty, international delivery of education,

organization of conventions at periodic intervals.

These programmes are elaborated in the following.

a. Research Programmes

The Institutions shall engage themselves in the state-of-art activities in all or selected areas depending on own expertise. The faculty and the scientific staff will be

recruited for these activities or seconded to the programme by the respective organizations. It is imperative to have industrial bias in the research activities.

b. Teaching Programmes

The Centre will be engaged in manpower training through postgraduate programmes only. It is the teaching programme under this proposal which is different from the usual teaching

activities of the Universities. The programmes are designed to impart state-of-art knowledge, in techniques, tools and skills, in the field of communication engineering with

emphasis on mobile communication. In addition, they will imbibe multinational culture of problem solving. Such graduates would be needed in a wide range of application areas,

including industrial and non-industrial research, planning, development, implementation, fabrication, distribution and maintenance of various mobile communication systems and

services.

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