SolidWorks Enters The CAD Academy

We’ve all heard accounts about how U.S. students are lagging behind in math and science skills. There’s no doubt a growing number of engineering jobs are being shifted overseas or are filled in the States by foreign nationals who appear better equipped in technology skills compared to the latest crop graduating from our own universities.

SolidWorks Corp., in conjunction with other leading design software providers, are stepping up to try to alter that trend. The  3D CAD provider and its peers are launching The CAD Academy, a secondary and post-secondary pre-engineering and pre-architectural program designed to inspire a new generation of engineers and architects. The program bundles leading design, engineering and architecture software with curriculum, support and multimedia content at a fraction of the cost of other design education packages.

The CAD Academy is just one response to “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” a seminal National Academies of Science Report that cast light on the United States’s deteriorating standing in math and science skills while outlining ways in which it could reclaim its competitiveness. The report calls for a tripling of the number of students who pass advanced placement or similar math and science exams by 2010.

SolidWorks says The CAD Academy addresses that goal by helping middle and high school students explore technology-oriented careers through real-world projects in the areas of science, engineering, architecture and mathematics.

The CAD Academy software lineup includes:

SolidWorks Education Edition, Graphisoft ArchiCAD, Google SketchUpPro, A+CAD, a proprietary The CAD Academy software and multimedia content from the Discovery Channel, including excerpts from the Extreme Engineering.