Engineering colleges to introduce 5G tech courses in UG, PG

CHENNAI: For the first time, full-fledged 5G technology courses in under-graduate and post-graduate streams will be soon introduced in engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu.

The 5G service was launched in India in October 2022 with few companies, who were successful bidders, providing the network services with the available resources.

Accordingly, for providing comprehensive 5G, the handset manufacturers need to upgrade software. In this context, thousands of software professions will be required to develop the technology.

A senior official from the Directorate of Technical Education (DOTE) said, “5G is a separate technology and soon the All India council for Technical Education (DOTE), which is preparing a syllabus, will soon introduce various full time course on 5G tech to meet the industrial requirements.”

During the first phase, training will be given to faculties by setting up use case labs in colleges, which would be used for creating 5G mobile apps.

“At present, only few private institutions offer 5G part-time courses. The introduction of full-time courses would create more job opportunities for engineering students,” he explained. “Recently, AICTE also organised online session for faculties in association with Skill Development Unit, Department of Telecommunication (DoT), and establishment of use case labs in engineering colleges. Experts from National Telecommunications Institute for Policy Research, Innovation and Training (NTIPRIT) Research and Development and innovation cell of DoT shared their experiences and expertise on development and promotion of 5G technology in the country.”

Stating that similar kind of webinar would be organised to create awareness about 5G course and establishment of use case labs, the DOTE official pointed out since that 5G networks were commercially available in few cities, “the introduction of new courses will represent a unique opportunity for students to get train in it”.

The courses will be designed for a practical approach for understanding design and development of 5G network technology including radio networks, cloud technology and protocol development and testing.

“UG courses in 5G technology will have hands-on projects related to the industrial needs. The PG programme is likely to be advanced where learners will be able to establish 5G networks using open source tools available in the market,” he explained.

During the first phase, training will be given to faculties by setting up use case labs in colleges, which would be used for creating 5G mobile apps