Microsoft announces education partnership for BCIT

At the annual Business Council of British Columbia’s Business Summit, Microsoft President Brad Smith announced Microsoft Vancouver will be partnering with BCIT to develop first-of-its-kind Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality/Mixed Reality (VR/AR/MR) curriculum.

Read the full release on the Microsoft website.

“As a significant provider of IT and computing diploma graduates in the province, we know there is immense opportunity for students preparing to enter the Lower Mainland’s growing tech industry,” said BCIT President Kathy Kinloch in the release. “Collaborating with Microsoft will help keep BCIT at the forefront of technical innovation and sets our students up to enter the job market with the highly desirable skills that businesses are demanding.”

BCIT is rapidly developing and expanding comprehensive re-skilling programs and educational resources to support employees, so they can successfully transfer into tech-focused roles and succeed in the new economy. With the VR/AR/MR sector growing quickly, the need for experts who can program and work with these technologies will only continue to grow.

In fall 2017, BCIT launched a Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VRAR) Statement of Completion comprised of four part-time courses offered by the BCIT School of Computing and Academic Studies. At the moment, students can pursue training in UX/UI Development and Intro to 3D Simulations and VR/AR, with the third and fourth courses set to launch in spring 2018. Industry expertise and curriculum guidance for these courses is being developed in collaboration with Microsoft.

This announcement comes hot on the heels of The Cube launch event in Vancouver’s Railtown.

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