THE LIGHT Rail Manila Corporation partnered with the Ateneo de Manila University’s School of Science and Engineering to further advance railway education in the country.

LRMC President and CEO Juan Alfonso, who also sits as a member of the Advisory Board of the Ateneo Research Institute of Science and Engineering, said that they have been planning and preparing for the collaboration.

“We live in an exciting time for our railway sector, with several infrastructure projects taking shape and a call for more sustainable modes of transport is being pushed,” Alfonso said in a statement.

The initiative, he added, “underscores the importance of private sector and academe collaboration to bring about learning for students that is rooted in real-world setting.”

Under the partnership, LRMC will work with ADMU in designing railway engineering courses and programs to support the growing need for highly-skilled, competent and world-class rail workforce as the country develops its railway industry.

There are three preliminary courses planned for School Year 2022-2023 — Transportation and Society, Principles of Railway Transportation and Railway Management and Engineering.

The first is a general course on transportation that will be an interdisciplinary elective open to any ADMU student who has taken the Science, Technology, and Society (STS 10) as a subject.

The second is a technical IE course intended for students with majors under the Department of Electronics, Computer, and Communications Engineering.

Meanwhile, the third course is a major elective with Course 2 as a prerequisite. It will be open to all Computer Engineering students taking the railway engineering track and those taking the minor program in railway engineering.

“LRMC will serve as a laboratory for the 5-month internship program which will also kick off in SY 2022-2023,” the company said.

“Students selected to undergo the internship program will gain exposure to railway maintenance and construction management, project management, and working in a corporate set-up,” it added.