Preparing the Wireless Workforce

The Cellular Telephone Industry Association conducted a study on the availability of radio frequency (RF) curricula and found a severe shortage of schools offering any RF education. This study revealed that RF courses have been replaced in past years by more fashionable courses in computer science and software engineering on college campuses. However, the unprecedented success of personal and wireless communications has fueled technological advancements in virtually every aspect of electrical and computer engineering. The worldwide growth in these areas can only be supported if educational institutions commit to developing a new generation of wireless professionals, especially in RF engineering. In 1997, a model was created in the United States that has positively affected the workforce for wireless technology companies. Through the Global Wireless Education Consortium (GWEC), a collaboration of industry and academe, colleges and universities throughout the world are preparing students in greater number who, collectively, represent a higher quality technology workforce for the future.