Cloud giant
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is working with two colleges in the United States to establish a new degree program. AWS, which has headquarters in Seattle, Washington, United States, has a solid history of involvement in education. Together the company and the two institutions are providing a Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) that covers the cloud and includes a pathway from a two-year ‘associate’ degree to a four-year ‘bachelor’ degree.
Students that take a two-year associate’s degree at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) can move on to George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, Virginia where they can receive a full bachelor’s degree. Called the ‘ADVANCE Partnership’, the initiative was announced at the recent AWS Public Sector Summit in Washington, D.C. The program curriculum was designed by the universities with the assistance of ‘AWS Educate’. Students will be accepted onto the program towards the end of 2020.
“This new pathway demonstrates our commitment to creating both educational and employment access,” explained GMU’s Vice President of Academic Innovation and New Ventures Michelle Marks in a statement. “These students will be prepared to compete for our region’s most in-demand jobs.”
“Developing a cloud-ready workforce is an urgent challenge and an incredible opportunity,” added the Vice President for AWS’s Worldwide Public Sector, Teresa Carlson. “We are delighted to be working with these innovative institutions to turn the growing demand for cloud skills into pathways in technology for students from all backgrounds.”
AWS has supported schools and campuses with several courses including ones covering areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI). AWS Educate offers programs that include the ‘AWS Educate Cloud Ambassador Program’ which helps global educators that use the cloud and distributed computing in their classrooms. AWS Educate also supports programs for K12 institutions and primary schools.
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