College System of Tennessee collaborates with Amazon Web Services to prepare 5,000 Tennesseans for cloud computing careers by 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 21, 2022

Jackson, Tenn. (March 21, 2022) - Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR), and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) announced a collaborative effort to train, upskill, and certify 5,000 Tennesseans in cloud computing by 2025. Through this statewide initiative, technical training and education mapped to in-demand skills will be available from participating public community and technical colleges across Tennessee.

"I'm delighted that AWS -- Amazon's cloud computing business -- is partnering with our community and technical colleges to provide this opportunity for Tennesseans - an opportunity to learn cloud computing skills for great careers in the state's growing tech sector. Thanks to AWS for providing the resources to our colleges at no cost," Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said.

TBR will work with the AWS Academy program to provide the colleges with no-cost, ready-to-teach, cloud computing curricula that prepares students for industry-recognized AWS Certifications and in-demand cloud-related jobs. Educators at participating institutions will have access to instructor training and a limited number of AWS Certification exams at no cost as they qualify to become AWS Academy accredited educators. Students can also access self-paced online training courses and labs from AWS.

"The future is now with cloud computing, and this initiative will enable Tennesseans to learn the skills they need for new careers in this field or to better perform in their existing information technology work," said TBR Chancellor Flora W. Tydings. "Although AWS is providing much of the resources for this initiative, the program's graduates will be able to work anywhere cloud computing skills are in demand. We're grateful to AWS for this generous support."

This collaborative effort between an industry leader and educational institutions is critical because it ensures that students will be trained for actual industry needs and by trained instructors skilled in teaching the latest technical skills that will help learners earn industry certifications. Certifying 5,000 students by 2025 is a short-term target for the ongoing initiative.

"THEC is proud to support increased access to high quality industry certifications that can not only help students get in-demand jobs, but also aid in their pursuits of higher education credentials," said Dr. Emily House, Executive Director, Tennessee Higher Education Commission. "This collaboration between AWS and TBR is vital to building a strong workforce in Tennessee, and many students across the state will benefit from this work."

Tennessee has a rapidly growing tech sector, creating a growing demand for employees with cloud computing skills to fill well-paying jobs.

AWS education programs will be offered initially at 12 Tennessee community colleges and 16 Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology spanning the state (full list of participating colleges�here). Some of the colleges will build entirely new cloud computing programs, and others will incorporate cloud-computing skills into existing Information Technology courses. Some colleges will also work with TBR's Tennessee eCampus to offer the courses online, and additional TBR colleges are expected to offer the programs at a later time.

The community and technical colleges comprising the College System of Tennessee, governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents, are committed to student success. TBR is an open-access system serving students of all backgrounds, and is committed to meeting student, workforce, and community needs for education and training.

This commitment to providing technical skills training and education across the state is designed to fill in-demand cloud computing jobs throughout Tennessee. This includes available jobs from organizations across various sectors in roles such as software development, cloud architecture, data science, cybersecurity, cloud support engineers, and more.

According to The American Upskilling Study: Empowering Workers for the Jobs of Tomorrow conducted by Gallup, 58% of workers in Tennessee are highly interested in upskilling. For individuals who are unemployed or underemployed, cloud computing skills training offers an opportunity for workers to reskill and re-enter the workforce.

"We are excited to see Tennessee's burgeoning tech sector across the state and right here in Nashville," said Kim Majerus, Vice President, US Education, State and Local Government at AWS. "With an Amazon corporate office in Nashville serving as a Center of Operational Excellence, our collaboration with TBR will help prepare learners to pursue tech jobs at our company and with local organizations. We are committed to working with employers in the state of Tennessee to bolster their technical talent pipeline, so they can continue to innovate in the state."

Learn more about the AWS Academy program which is available to Tennessee schools.

To learn more about TBR's role in this new collaboration and participating colleges.