C. Telecommunications

PART I. Text I: The Faculty of Telecommunications

Telecommunications is a process of sending or receiving messages by telephone, radio, television or telegraph. In other words, it is a communication over a distance using equipment to overcome that distance. Telecommunications enables people around the world to contact one another, to access information instantly, and to communicate from remote areas. Telecommunications also provides the key medium for news, data, information, and entertainment transfer.

Over the past hundred years, the telephone has become the most familiar form of telecommunications. More recently, it has been supplemented by a range of computer-based telecommunications services. These have become popular through the Internet and World Wide Web, vast computer networks, which provide many people with the means to exchange information. Nowadays it is taken for granted that by pressing a few buttons people can talk to their families, friends, or business associates across the world.

The telecommunications industry has blossomed with the advent of new technologies. The advance of sophisticated telecommunications systems such as the Internet and fibre optics and the development of improved computer technology have stimulated the growth of this industry. Consequently, there is an increasing demand for skilled workers to meet the needs of telecommunications services.

The faculty of telecommunications was established in 1980. Today it is an educational and scientific centre with more than 600 students. 117 teachers among whom there is a corresponding member of the Belarusian Academy of Science, 9 doctors of sciences and professors, 48 candidates and associate professors work in 6 departments. Many experiments and investigations are being carried out in a number of scientific research laboratories attached to the departments.

The faculty offers two specialties, i.e. telecommunications systems and metrology, standardization and certification. The former has six majors such as multi-channel telecommunications systems; wireless communication, radio broadcasting and television; optic systems of transmitting and processing information; systems of computer-aided communication; telecommunications networks and facilities; information protection in telecommunications networks and facilities; while the latter has only one, i.e. metrology and metrological equipment.

Telecommunications engineers are employed by different industrial enterprises and organizations, especially in the field of radio electronics and communication. They are also in great demand at design offices, research institutes, television companies, telephone exchanges, broadcasting stations, consulting firms and other telecommunications services. They are able to develop, design, maintain up-to-date telecommunications systems and facilities, and install automatic telephone exchanges. Further, they inspect and test telecommunication equipment and networks, analyse and record test results.

A. Active Vocabulary