Red Hat has announced that Red Hat Academy, an open source education programme that provides hands-on curriculum, labs, performance-based testing, and educator training and support, is available to universities with the required technology and support environments in the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region.
Students leaving university certified in one or more Red Hat technologies can demonstrate to potential employers that they are conversant with certain Red Hat technologies. Those who join the Red Hat Academy and finish with a certification learn real-world skills, helping to prepare them for future development and jobs as IT professionals and developers. Materials for Red Hat Academy are available online.
Participating universities are provided with access to Red Hat Academy curriculum, enabling instructors to prepare for class instruction and personal certification. Red Hat Academy also provides direct email support to instructors throughout the year for curriculum or systems assistance. Instructors are encouraged to enroll in Red Hat’s commercial training and exams for certifications, such as Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA) or Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE).
Red Hat Academy’s web-based courses and exams are designed for instructor-facilitated classes in a lab setting, and instructors can choose course format, frequency, and testing options that fit with their preferred teaching methods. Course elements and student performance can be accessed and enabled, and students can view the full curriculum, including lessons, activities, and assessments. Labs are performed in an on-campus computer lab and an integrated self-checking feature provides performance feedback.
Red Hat Academy’s core curriculum consists of the Red Hat System Administration I and II courses followed by the Red Hat Certified System Administration (RHCSA) exam and certification. Upon completion of the core curriculum, students can take the Red Hat Administration III Course Path I, leading to the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) exam and certification, or they can take the Cloud Computing Administration Course Path II, which leads to the Red Hat Certified System Administrator in Red Hat OpenStack exam and certification.
Middleware learning paths are also available, as standalone paths with the core curriculum not prerequisite.  The Red Hat JBoss Application Administration course can be taken by those with system administration skills in Linux, Unix or Windows, and students with a foundation in Java programming can take the Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Development course.
Jens Ziemann, director: training EMEA at Red Hat, comments: “Red Hat Academy is a win-win for universities and students alike. The computer science field is evolving rapidly and universities have realized that they need to ensure the courses that they provide deliver enterprise-ready information and skills. Red Hat Academy delivers timely course materials that are in step with learnings in the field. Professional certification can strengthen a student’s position in the job market since it demonstrates experience of real world technologies.”