Autodesk Pledges Commitment to China Through Partnership with China's Association for Educational Technology

CEO Carol Bartz Visits Beijing and Shanghai, Announces AutoCAD Certification Programme to Support New Generation of Engineers and Designers

28 June, 2002 - Autodesk, the world's leading design and digital content creation company, today announced it is partnering with China's Association for Educational Technology (CAET), an organisation under the Ministry of Education, to offer a university certification programme that will help advance the education of China's next generation of engineers and designers. Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz announced the creation of the certification programme and a donation of 20,000 copies of AutoCAD software to Chinese secondary schools and universities at a signing ceremony and press conference today in Beijing.

"China's entry into the World Trade Organisation has created a new reality for all of us, and talent is becoming the focal point of competition," said Bartz. "Autodesk is pleased to play a role in China's strategic efforts by equipping its new generation with the latest design technologies to support the explosive growth in China's manufacturing and technology sectors." The certification programme will issue a "Certificate of Digital Design Ability" to secondary and university students who are trained on Autodesk's most popular design software, AutoCAD. As demand for standardised software services continues to rise, certification will become essential to helping engineers, programmers and designers increase their competitiveness and meet international standards. 

The programme initially targets 1,000 colleges and 5,000 secondary schools, with a special focus on computer science programmes. It is aimed to be a critical element in building a world-class pool of talent in engineering design.

"Encouraging engineering science students to master digitalised technical application skills will propel China to the forefront of cutting-edge technology. It will not only increase the global competitiveness of China's labour force, but it will also help ensure that China's engineers keep up with the demand of burgeoning local manufacturing and industrial design sectors," said Mrs. Yu Yunxiu, chairman of CAET. 

In conjunction with the programme rollout, Autodesk will donate 20,000 licenses of AutoCAD software to CAET and participating universities and schools. The market value of this donation is $51 million. Autodesk's Long-Standing Commitment to China.

Since entering China in 1994, Autodesk has launched a series of co-operative measures with the Chinese Ministry of Education, including in a joint software and equipment donation with Hewlett-Packard to 100 universities and colleges in 1997. Professional training has been classified as one of the six priorities of the Chinese government in implementing its information program and the Ministry of Education has required universities and colleges with technology programmes to implement a double diploma system to evaluate both academic and vocational skills.

About Autodesk 

Founded in 1982, Autodesk is the world's leading design and digital media creation, management and distribution company. The company serves a diverse portfolio of markets, including building design, geographic information systems, manufacturing, digital media and wireless data services. By delivering tools that foster innovation and creativity, Autodesk helps customers throughout the value chain leverage digital design data to work better, faster and smarter. Autodesk is one of the largest global software companies with annual revenues of $936 million. 

www.autodesk.co.uk

 

Sponsored Links

AnyDWG Offers DWG to PDF, DWG to DXF, PDF to DWG, DWG to JPG, PDF to DXF Converters

AutoDWG offers DWF to DWG, DWG to PDF , PDF to DWG, DWG to Flash Converters, DWG Viewer.

eCampus.com Get your stuff for College... Cheap! Textbooks, Greek Gear, DVD's, University Clothing, Computers and MORE!

Access Your PC from Anywhere Free Trial plus 10% Off!