Being categorized as a technology company used to be relatively straight forward. Companies that produced hardware, created software or were in the business of fixing said hardware or software, were tech companies. As technology has become woven into the fabric of all organizations, those lines have blurred.
It is important that educational programs are accessible to provide students with the competencies needed to fill open IT roles in order to prepare them for success and make them employable in today’s digital economy. With many organizations going through digital transformations, by including a best-in-class IT curriculum at your school, you create employment opportunities for your students in every sector, wherever they choose to live.
Tech as the Driver
According to CompTIA’s State of the Tech Workforce, more than 500,000 tech occupation jobs have been added since 2016, a result of the demand for tech talent across all industries. Digital transformation drives this demand in manufacturing, retail, healthcare, automotive and the like.
If we don’t begin to offer and encourage IT curricula as a standard at all academic institutions across the globe, there simply won’t be enough talent to fill all of the open tech job roles.
The goal here is simple—to help provide students with sustainable IT career pathways.
CompTIA Resources Help You Build a Curriculum
The resources you gain access to when you become a CompTIA Academic Partner can help you deploy turnkey curricula including fundamental digital skills, IT and cybersecurity. These give you the ability to leverage CompTIA eLearning courseware and hands-on labs to prepare your students for success.
Our full suite of CompTIA learning solutions helps instructors maximize classroom time and deliver engaging content, helping learners achieve mastery and improve performance.
“Along with myriad resources that come with the Academic Partner Program – career pathways, research, discounts, etc., – partners get access to an experienced team of professionals to help them make the most of their programs,” said Kirk Smallwood, senior vice president, US academic sales, CompTIA.
CompTIA has mapped exam objectives to skills and competencies for IT and cybersecurity job roles to help you develop curricula and build lesson plans — and we provide skills validation through our vendor- neutral, globally recognized certifications — giving your students a competitive edge in securing their dream tech job.
CompTIA offers academic partnership to a variety of academic institutions, including:
- Secondary schools (including career, vocational, or technical centers)
- Colleges and universities (Traditional degree granting community and technical colleges and universities)
- Not-for-profit organizations that provide technology instruction
- Government-funded educational agencies (outside of the U.S.)
- Department of Labor Job Corps Centers
- Government and private correctional facilities
“Since the launch of CompTIA Learning, we’ve worked with so many of our academic partners to successfully use it to build their IT curriculum,” Smallwood said.
Removing Barriers to Entry
According to CompTIA’s IT Industry Outlook 2023, the growing demand for digital skills isn’t going away anytime soon. The demand for technology workers in all sectors continues to grow as technology influences every business and every industry vertical. Despite this growth, the tech industry has the biggest confidence gap of any industry out there, according to Todd Thibodeaux, CEO of CompTIA.
Having access to IT training and certifications helps to bridge the confidence gap and encourage students looking to get their foot in the door to IT. CompTIA learning solutions not only provide students with the technical knowledge they need to work in IT, but they also teach many valuable, durable professional skills that can transfer to other professions.
Students can benefit from access to our interactive IT Career Pathway Planning tool, which provides details on how certifications can develop a variety of IT career pathways, giving them access to median annual salary data and employment forecasts for specific IT job roles they may be interested in exploring.
CompTIA certifications are job role-focused rather than technology-focused, providing student with the competencies needed for myriad employment opportunities. The vendor-neutral nature of CompTIA exams means that students that earn CompTIA certifications are more flexible and adaptable than IT professionals that specialize in one IT product.
IT Jobs Boast Sustainable Salaries
Implementing new curricula is no easy feat, but the payoff for students impacted by IT programs is ten-fold. According to data from CompTIA Cyberstates, median tech wages are 125% higher than median national wages and the projected growth rate for tech jobs is nearly twice the national jobs rate.
Based on Global Knowledge’s 2022 IT Skills and Salary Report, the average annual salary for an IT pro in 2022 was $110,765, a sizeable salary with growth potential.
Even amidst world events like a global pandemic and times of economic downturn, technology remains one of the most secure job sectors, so you can rest assured your students will be set up to thrive.
Looking to implement an IT curriculum at your academic institution? Find out more about CompTIA’s Academic Partner Program.
