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Microsoft IT Academy Goes Worldwide, Adds More Training Options Starting in the 2003 program year, Microsoft IT Academy will expand beyond U.S. borders to the rest of the world and will also be providing additional skills training. The IT Academy will be adding new training options including the Microsoft Office Specialist (formerly MOUS) credentials, as well as Microsoft's latest addition to its certification program, the Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD).
"We now have the ability to assist schools with training everybody entering the workforce with Office training," said Diana Carew, manager of Microsoft's workforce development and community college relations. "We've additionally expanded the training with the addition of the MCAD, so whether the school wants to offer classes on networking skills, programming skills or desktop skills, they now have the ability to do that."
The Microsoft IT Academy is designed to help academic institutions develop a trained workforce by providing training on the most up-to-date technologies and skills. The program offers membership at various levels, from K-8 schools and high schools through the college level, including two-year and four-year programs as well as technical and vocational institutions. The program focuses on keeping faculty as up-to-date as possible and providing schools with early access to new Microsoft technologies, helping students stay ahead of the curve.
"What I'm hearing is that students are finding that their degrees are not really getting them a job," said Carew. "Employers are looking for something that shows what the job candidates can do, and certification really does that. In the case of Office Specialist, we all have to use computers today, and we list the applications we're familiar with on our resumes. An employer looking at the list of software applications has no idea of our experience using those technologies, but when they pass the certification exams, the employer can recognize and know how much experience the candidate has."
The IT Academy program covers desktop skills with the Microsoft Office Specialist certifications, which have just been recommended by the American Council on Education (ACE) to count as college credit. The ACE recommends the Office Specialist certifications for Microsoft Word 2002, Excel 2002, PowerPoint 2002, Access 2002 and Outlook 2002 count for one semester hour of lower-division college credit. In addition, the council recommended the Microsoft Project 2002 Office Specialist credential for one semester hour of lower or upper division college credit.
To train IT Academy participants on developer skills, the MCAD certification training has been added to the program. MCAD candidates must pass two core exams and one elective to earn the certification. Microsoft offers a comprehensive curriculum to IT Academy participants to get students up-to-speed and ready for the certification exams.
According to Carew, the IT Academy program benefits existing IT professionals because of the accessibility of the participants, many of which are community colleges, and the lower costs required to take the training. Microsoft is featuring student success stories on its Web site so you can find out how others are benefiting from the program. For more information, go to http://www.microsoft.com/education/msitacademy/default.asp?ID=ITApHome.
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