BT backs mobile phone degree course

Will the essays all have to be written in 150 characters or less?

From this September undergraduates will be able to study for a degree in mobile technology to get a broad understanding of an industry plagued with delays but brimming with innovation. The course, which is being backed by BT, will be run by Brunel University and has been set up to train potential industry employees to have an understanding of the mobile business as a whole. The course founders are hoping it will appeal to students who want to get a technical grounding in areas such as systems and product design and interface issues alongside an understanding of price-performance trade-offs and mobile business models. BT became involved with the course through the Industry Liaison Forum, which will be advising the university on content for the course. Chris Winter, CTO of BT's incubator unit BrightStar, told silicon.com: "At the speed modern technology moves, engineers require a broad understanding of all the limitations and issues at every level from the business down to the electronics." Winter predicts that although 3G services have yet to take off the situation could be very different by the time the first round of students reach graduation in three years. Winter concluded: "To date mobile communications has been dominated by big operators, the way telephony was prior to the internet. Wireless technology such as 802.11 is going to be very disruptive in the marketplace. If a new generation of business-based engineers gets the business model and the technology right who knows what will happen - but it will be fun!"