Telenor launches Masters degree in Telecommunications Strategy in association with the Norwegian Uni

Telenor approached NTNU with a view to developing a new Masters degree course that would go beyond the standard technology and telecommunications courses available. The one-year degree is heavily biased towards building a virtual telecommunications company - complete with business plan, vision and mission, risk analysis and specifications of technology required. Students learn to think about how to develop telecommunications products for emerging markets, particularly within the new UMTS wireless environment.

The first recruits for the course are Telenor employees. Telenor will extend access to telecoms professionals outside the company in the future. Typical applicants will have a degree in technology or economics plus three to eight years work experience.

Professor Peer Jacob Svenkerud, project director of TCU, explains: “It’s important for everyone in the global telecommunications industry to invest today in the skills that will be needed in the future. Telenor takes this responsibility seriously, and we have tried with this new Masters degree to extend the range of education courses available to telecommunications professionals – not just our own, but any that have the right skills and experience.”

There are three women and 11 men on the first Telenor MTS, which will be run at Telenor’s R&D Centre in Kjeller, Norway. Both NTNU and Telenor will provide lecturers and tutors for the degree course.