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Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies has offered students additional programming experience since the school joined an online certification program this fall.

The Red Hat Academy offers students training and certification programs for using different types of software. The academy’s curriculum is designed to provide students with experience and programming knowledge that students can apply in the workforce and to give them an advantage when applying to jobs in the information technology industry, said Ken Goetz, Red Hat’s global vice president.

“Building these courses to match the expectations of enterprises, updating them with hands-on labs and exercises, can be complex, difficult and costly (for schools),” Goetz said. “This is why we created Red Hat Academy.”

Although SU has incorporated Red Hat technology into some of its courses before, the university’s decision to join the membership program in September expanded the number of resources SU has access to, said Carlos Bastidas, an iSchool professor.

Instructors in the iSchool have begun implementing more of Red Hat’s products and introduced some of them in their courses. The iSchool’s relationship with Red Hat has proven beneficial, and iSchool students have created a name for themselves within the company, Bastidas said. 

“This has given the iSchool a lot of visibility within Red Hat,” Bastidas said. 

Students can now take certification exams on Linux, an operating system used in many smart devices, through Red Hat, Bastidas said. The certification will help students stand out to future employers and give them an advantage in the IT industry, he said. 

“The courses teach the basic bread and butter for Red Hat, which includes training on the Linux System Administration,” Bastidas said. 

Curriculum changes due to the coronavirus pandemic have made it difficult for the iSchool to incorporate more Red Hat in the fall semester, Bastidas said. The iSchool hopes to continue to take advantage of its partnership with the company in the spring.

Published on November 17, 2020 at 12:16 am

Contact Katie: kjscovil@syr.edu