Education: Academic Alliance

The EMC Academic Alliance Program helps to develop the future IT workforce in information storage. Launched in 2006, this unique curriculum is now offered at more than 300 colleges and universities worldwide and has educated more than 10,000 students at no charge to the academic institutions.

Origins

In 2005, EMC recognized a gap between university curricula offerings and needs of the IT job market. Between 10 and 15 percent of IT infrastructure jobs are in storage, but the topic was not represented in undergraduate or graduate computer science and IT programs. EMC’s own annual survey of IT hiring managers revealed that the knowledge gap created by the lack of skilled storage professionals is a severe challenge. To fill this gap, our Industry Readiness program began work on a university-level information storage curriculum.

Development

To ensure the quality and applicability of the program, EMC engaged a cross-section of engineers and academics. Subject matter experts in storage engineering supplied the history, evolution, and current trends of storage technology. Professors from top universities offered direction on shaping the curriculum for an academic environment. The resulting one-semester course, Information Storage and Management, is easily integrated into universities’ existing technology and computer science program.

Unique courseware

The curriculum developers recognized that most colleges and universities do not have the budget to purchase a $100,000+ storage system on which to train their students. EMC developed unique “open” courseware, which includes teaching and learning aids, facilitator guides, and storage management simulators that can be installed in a university computer lab to provide the experience of working on a storage system. The course is technology-based, not product-based, so the knowledge acquired can be applied to the products of any storage vendor.

Faculty readiness

We offer participating professors a five-day seminar on the evolution of storage technology and assistance in how to teach the course. We also provide on-going support to professors teaching the class.

Program launch and growth

The EMC Academic Alliance was launched in 2006, and is now in more than 300 colleges and universities in countries around the world, including Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Germany, India, Ireland, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United States.  As a result, graduating students are entering the workforce better prepared for jobs in IT.

Goals for 2009

• Publish textbook: Information Storage and Management: Storing, Managing and Protecting Digital Information.
• Add 100 more academic institutions to the EMC Academic Alliance.
• Expand our presence in emerging markets.