Technology Entrepreneurship Class in UP

Just came back from an hour long talk at the UP College of Engineering in Diliman for an elective class on Technology Entrepreneurship. I find the class very interesting.

The lecturer shared with me how he came up with the idea after attending MIT and thought it would be great to have the same in the state university. If I were still in college, I would have taken up this elective in a heart beat.

First, it exposes the students to the basics of entrepreneurship especially that the class is offered to engineering and computer science students. A scientific mind coupled with good business acumen can prepare graduates to explore the possibility of venturing in a tech start-up right after college.

Second, students are presented with real-world challenges that are up to date and listen from various resource persons in the industry to get a clearer picture of the market.

Technology and the internet helps level the playing field and if that is inculcated to the students earlier on, they are better equipped to face the real world after graduation. Did you ever had that realization that you spent 4 years in college but only used 10% of what you actually learned after leaving school? I think most university curriculum are outdated. (maybe it’s just me since my course then was still experimental stage…) Before I forget, the last time I stepped inside a classroom as a student was 8 years ago.

We need to have more of these kind of electives in school. It’s one way to nurture future technopreneurs make the Silicon Valley in the Philippines a reality.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

13 Comments

raffleblog says:

17 years ago

that’s very nice and interesting subject…http://www.raffleblog.blogspot.com
- Reply
Andre says:

17 years ago

I had a class on IT. They taught us about Tape Drives and OCR and stuff that has been outdated for years. This was 2002 BTW. You need to teach technology that is current. IT courses should always be relevant.
- Reply
Goe D says:

17 years ago

This is true, I graduated in college back in 1996 and have no clue what is RAM is in reality. Took me another vocational course (manual course training) just to learn more about RAM. This good to have an elective (or let’s say a reality class) that teaches the current IT trend, on hand not on words. Also expose the students in real world they will facing after college – the IT World they will engage in. I don’t know how the school’s lab today compare to where it was when I was in college. Hope the big round floppy disk is not in there anymore BUT the new 4GB USB flash drive….
- Reply
jhay says:

17 years ago

This good new subject plus updated tech and IT subjects as well. I’m saddened to find out that few of the IT students in DLSUD know little to almost nothing about new web and tech start-ups.

This will help solve the problem of the IT braindrain in the country.
- Reply
Jazzy says:

17 years ago

One problem in the school system is, people who decide what and which curriculum to implement are outdated.

Nice post Yuga.
- Reply
Abe Olandres says:

17 years ago

@Andre, maybe you’re into ISPs and Data Canters that still use tape backups?

@ Goe D, haha! My cousin had to drag me to STI the summer before first year high school.

@jhay, I think sometimes it’s with the students din. I learned HTML not from school but from a dorm mate back in college.

@Jazzy, it’s nice though that the younger lecturers are introducing more updated subjects even if they’re just electives.
- Reply
Ryan says:

17 years ago

It’s nice to know that UP has a class like that. I actually had my Technopreneurship class which is similar in nature to that last term in DLSU.

I would’ve wished though that we had more hands on with regards to the technology side of the start up because most of what was taught and discussed was only entrepreneurship and its basics. *sigh*
- Reply
Israel Nicolas says:

17 years ago

The most underrated school in UP is the UP ITTC (IT Training Center). It is just a one year course sponsored by Japan. Curriculum is very dynamic and current and unsurprisingly all of the graduates get to work abroad in a snap.

It is a graduate course though, so finish your degree first.
- Reply
Cielo says:

16 years ago

UP offers technology management as a graduate program. It has courses on technology management, entrepreneurship, marketing, etc. It’s actually like MBA, but focuses more on the the innovating side of it (and not the numbers). I think you’ll find it very interesting. http://www.tmc.upd.edu.ph
- Reply
Wena says:

16 years ago

@cielo: UP-TMC’s technology management program is really great. and proud to be one of their students. currently taking up technology entrep class. the center is now accepting new students for the coming school year.
- Reply
Jen says:

15 years ago

I’m going to take this elective this semester in UPD! :) I’m actually searching the net about Technology Entrepreneurship because I’m not sure if it’s nice. hehe Thanks for blogging about this. :)
- Reply
adam says:

14 years ago

nice I should have taken compsci instead of my MEng.
- Reply