Applying innovative ideas to provide relevant engineering solutions

Glory Ifiegbu, Head, of the Department of Telecommunications Engineering at New Era College believes that innovative ideas are fundamental to providing cutting-edge solutions to daunting engineering tasks. She is also convinced that committed collaborations with relevant industry stakeholders have the power to curtail the skills mismatch the Telecommunications sector is facing.

Strides recently had a tete-a-tete with this astute Engineer to garner insights on her success secrets and what strides New Era College is taking to churn out well-rounded Telecommunications graduates.

Strides: Briefly, tell us about yourself, your professional background, and what motivated your decision to pursue an engineering career.

Ifiegbu: I am Glory Ifiegbu, Telecommunications Engineering Head of Department. I have a Master of Science in Information Technology Management (MSc in ITM) and I am currently pursuing a doctorate in Computer Systems Engineering in the field of Education.

The decision to pursue the Engineering field was not an easy one looking at the situation of women in the world and during the time I enrolled on the programme, there were not so many women enrolling in Engineering at the time as it was a men-dominated field.

My motivation in Engineering is the intuitive reason to pursue Engineering as it is a profession that propels one to apply methods to solve real-time problems, I was intrigued by chemical Engineering at then because there was a lot of money involved and I wanted to become a chemical Engineer, however, I had to settle for Computing System

Engineering because of pressure that Chemical Engineering was a male-dominated field.

Strides: What was your response when you made it as HOD and what do you think gives you the competitive edge in this position?

Ifiegbu: I was surprised as I didn’t expect sudden recognition and upliftment by the president and leadership of New Era College. Before I got the appointment as the Head of Telecoms at NEC, I was one of the laid-back employees who just focused on the task without minding management positions, but in 2017, it happened, as my first appointment. When I was appointed, I was elated, I felt recognised and important, and that was a special feeling. It is good when you work hard because it pays that in the long run.

We face competition everywhere; in the classroom, at home, in relationships, and at work. These competitions arise as a result of the change in the environment. So it helps me to keep finding more innovative ideas and ways to simplify tasks and make learning more effective and interesting. For example, the challenges we faced with COVID-19, saw us competing with other education providers. To ensure we remain relevant, we have to come up with better ways to continue learning, like using online learning, which we are still utilising to this day.

On the other hand, I am convinced that several factors give me the edge to remain relevant. I am focused, devoted, creative, solution provider, committed, dedicated, honest, integrity, sympathetic, empathetic, objective in my decisions and opinions, customer-oriented, hardworking (earnestness towards my work), continuously improving and God fearing. All of these keep playing a significant role in making me relevant. On top of these, self-motivation is also important because it propels me and energises me to accomplish more goals despite demotivation that may rise from the competition and other unsavoury circumstances.

Strides: The telecommunications sector is developing quickly. How do you collaborate with business leaders to make sure your students are equipped for a fast-paced workplace?

Ifiegbu: Having my students experience what the workplace embodies is my way of preparing them. Telecommunication giants like BTC are always willing to accept my students and show them what will be expected of them. But of course, and this is very true in the telecommunications sector, times change, and nothing stays relevant for a long time. So, giving them a chance to see how real businesses are coping with the struggle for relevance in this day and age, encourages my hope In becoming creative problem solvers, that can become key figures in any company of their choice.

We have several ways of engagement of the business sector during programme development. i) To identify the gaps that can be addressed by training, both for short and long-term programmes. It ensures that our programmes/courses are relevant Post Training Programmes Evaluation. ii) A follow-up of our postgraduates in the various organizations to get information on how they are performing. This ensures that the courses/programmes remain relevant. The college is ready to make appropriate adjustments as informed by the eval- uation process. Our Alumnae are also engaged in the process of fact-finding. IBL Programme: iii) As part of training requirements, IBL plays an indispensable part in both students and employers are interacted. Regular visits to the place of work give valuable and unbiased information, as it allows the trainers not only to depend on the reports but to have an opportunity to observe what is in the field.

We use the findings and recommendations to make necessary changes or reinforce the requirements identified. These activities give an assurance that our programmes/courses remain aligned with the fast-changing business environment.

Strides: The Ghodrati Foundation at New Era has been advocating for women and girls in STEM. What impact has this initiative had on the enrolment of female students in your department as well as their overall performance?

Ifiegbu: New Era College practices an inclusive system, so I will not only focus on women and girls but on the overall population. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It capacitates students to be creative, innovative, problem solvers, analysers, independent thinkers, and have the ability to work as a team. New Era College embraces STEM in all facets of teaching and learning. New Era College adopts a STEM approach in the delivery of teaching. For example –our new revised degree programme has ensured that there are hands-on practice opportunities for the students. There seems to be a large gap between degree and diploma graduates because the latter is known to have hands-on experience. However, in the implementation of STEM and as a supporter of STEM, we have taken this into the classroom, to say that all courses which require students to apply and integrate, must have a hands-on training approach.

The Ghodrati Foundation has been beneficial to both boys and girls; it has helped us enrol more students. A significant number of students have been able to complete their studies with the assistance of the Ghodrati Foundation. In terms of performance, it has helped students to be able to complete the programme without dropping out of the programme for poor performance in the examination. So it has played a huge role in students’ overall performance towards completion of the programme.

Strides: What has been your experience working with the recipients of the Foundation’s scholarship, and would you share a testimony on how the scholarship has been impacting the lives of these individuals?

Ifiegbu: There are two categories of recipients of this scholarship – one people who have external support like a good job or a parent or a guardian, and two – students who do not have any external support. I will talk about the ones with no external support – using one of my students Oratile by name as an example, he failed after semester one into the programme, and when he approached my office, he was devastated, you could see that he didn’t know what to do, I took him through some counselling session and made him aware of the Ghodrati Foundation. When he came back, his face was lighted and full of smiles. Within 2 days he registered to complete the failed course. He has to look for a part-time job; we worked out how he could use his salary to pay instalments to complete the fees. Two of my other students who failed in the final year were able to complete the programme with the help of the Ghodrati Foundation. I am pretty sure that these students would not have made it through if the Ghodrati Foundation was not in existence. I, therefore, solicit more donations and support towards this foundation so we can extend it to more categories of students.

Strides: Drawing from your experience, what is the recipe for success in your area of specialisation for both men and women?

Ifiegbu: The number one recipe for success in life is faith in God. You also need to embrace hard work, continuous self-improvement, dedication, commitment, firmness in your decision, teamwork, and kindness. You must have the interests of the stakeholders (students, sponsors, employees, and employers) at heart as a manager.

Strides: Lastly, how do you motivate yourself and your team when facing challenging assignments?

Ifiegbu: Be Optimistic all the time. You will face life challenges but focus on finding the solution and not on the problems. It is said no man is an island, so be a team player, appreciate when they achieve success, be fair when exercising some form of penalty and be transparent.