ILOILO CITY – The Iloilo Science and Technology University (ISAT-U) is set to become the first higher educational institution in Western Visayas to offer a meteorology course.
Dr. Raul Muyong, ISAT-U president, said they are just awaiting approval and the course might be available starting academic year 2023-2024.
“We can produce the manpower needed for weather observation and space technology,” Muyong said after the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) inaugurated the ground station for a 3.5-meter tracking antenna for an Earth observation satellite in Dumangas town, Iloilo province.
The four-year course would boost the capacity of the Knowledge Center for Weather, Atmospherical, Astronomical, and Geophysical Observations (KWAAGO) that ISAT U-Dumangas campus established with the support of the DOST and the local government of Dumangas.
Muyong said that a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology course can harness the manpower for weather observation in Iloilo and even understanding of space technology.
The KWAAGO is an education hub for space, weather observation, and remote-sensing technologies.
It will be an archival center for doppler images from State weather bureau PAGASA; satellite images by Diwata 1 and Diwata 2; and data from the Climate Field School of Dumangas.