Colleges to Receive Technology Resources and Consulting to Transform Curriculum

Wichita , Kan. , June 28, 2005 – IBM and the State of Kansas announced today a joint effort to help build the skills required by the fast-changing technology workplace for students in Kansas . The Kansas Institute of Technical Excellence (KITE) and four of its member colleges will team with IBM, through IBM's Academic Initiative and the IBM Advanced Career Education (ACE) program, to create a center for IT education in South Central Kansas. This is the first time IBM has partnered with a number of local community and technical colleges in one geographic area. The program will provide students with access to information technology (IT) resources valued at approximately $5 million.

KITE is a non-profit organization that contributes to the economic development of the state of Kansas by engaging stakeholders in education and training that produces a world-class workforce. KITE partners, Butler Community College , Cowley Community College , Hutchinson Community College and the Wichita Area Technical College , will join IBM's Academic Initiative and will begin teaching a two-year e-business application development certificate program from IBM ACE.

As part of the IT education center, KITE will collaborate with IBM on several levels, including skills-building and curriculum development, with a focus on open-source and on-demand technologies. Open-source is the development and distribution of software that is available for use, modification, and redistribution by anyone. This non-proprietary software may be used, shared, borrowed, or changed without restriction and at little or no cost.

“This type of collaboration that we've formed with IBM is a must in today's marketplace to ensure that Kansas 's students are the most prepared and highly skilled to compete for tomorrow's high tech jobs,” said Kansas Lieutenant Governor John Moore. "We are enthusiastic about the new center for IT education here and IBM's contribution, which will impact so many students. ”

“IBM is making this investment in Kansas ' future by providing the technical resources and consulting services to help Kansas ' colleges infuse open technology throughout their IT curriculum and provide their students with the relevant skills, training and open standards knowledge so they can succeed,” said Amy David, vice president, Public Sector, Western Region for IBM. “Innovation will continue to drive the marketplace, and it is critical for colleges and universities to make a greater commitment to fill the skill pipeline to feed new technologies. Through the IBM Academic Initiative and the IBM ACE program, the state of Kansas can prepare their students for the jobs of tomorrow. ”

The IBM ACE Program, offered through IBM Workforce Development Solutions, takes students through comprehensive certificate training designed to enhance competencies and skills for a growing number of specific jobs. Expert IBM teams will work with faculty and staff at these local colleges to customize training solutions that complement existing programs. In addition, IBM will provide support services, technologies and methodologies to implement programs that equip students with competitive skills demanded in the global workplace.

IBM's Academic Initiative is an innovative program offering a wide range of technology education benefits to meet the goals of most colleges and universities. IBM is working with partner schools that support open computer standards and seek to use open source and IBM technologies for teaching purposes, both directly and virtually, via the Internet. As a partner in this initiative, participating schools receive free access to IBM software, discounted hardware, course materials, training and curriculum development. The value of the free resources can range into millions of dollars depending upon how much is used.

As part of the Academic Initiative, IBM will work with select schools that support open standards to achieve three key objectives:

• Training an IT workforce to fill the new kinds of jobs that are emerging at IBM and across the industry;
• Providing the right skills to the next generation of IT workers to ensure they are qualified for the jobs of tomorrow; and
• Ensuring that colleges and universities have the most current, relevant curricula that map to the kinds of jobs that are expected, so schools can be attractive for enrollment, funding and growth.

In an increasingly competitive global economy, the IT leaders of tomorrow will be pursuing innovations that will come from a fusion of several different disciplines. IBM, which champions open standards as the technology of choice for independent software vendors (ISVs), the leading influencers of today's marketplace, now seeks to advance open standards among the next generation of IT professionals. At the same time it is helping reverse a troubling trend, the lack of enough qualified science and technology students with skills to lead the future of the IT industry.

The U.S. Department of Labor reports an enormous opportunity exists in all technological fields. By 2006, it predicts this country will need 1.5 million more information technology professionals. And, that one out of every four jobs in this decade will be in IT. The Labor Department notes, however, that colleges and universities will have to quadruple their number of graduates by 2008 in order to meet this demand. This situation exists at a time when schools in Kansas , and nationwide, are witnessing dwindling enrollments in computer science and related engineering courses.

About IBM

Back to Top