Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, is teaming up with Netflix and the educational technology company 2U to offer fully online tech boot camps for its undergraduate students.
The program will feature three boot camps for credit in data science, Java engineering and UX/UI (user-interface design).
Netflix, the streaming entertainment giant, and 2U, which contracts with colleges and universities to offer online degree programs, last year through virtual boot camps with Norfolk State University. They are now welcoming 聽like Marymount and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as partners.
鈥淢补谤测尘辞耻苍迟鈥檚听 is producing tech-ready graduates with interdisciplinary skills who are exceptional,鈥� Jonathan Aberman, dean of the College of BILT, said in a news release. 鈥淎s corporate partners look for access to students with diverse backgrounds who are hungry for opportunities, they will follow Netflix and 2U鈥檚 lead and partner with Marymount.鈥�
As part of the curriculum, students will partner with Netflix employees to gain firsthand industry聽 insights.
In addition to teaching real world skills, the partnership aims to reduce inequities in the tech sector.
While strides have been made to improve diversity in tech, the number of Black, Hispanic and women engineers, data scientists and digital designers remains low.
According to the聽, only 8.7% of the more than 88,633 bachelor鈥檚 degrees awarded in the computer and information sciences field in 2019 went to students who identified as Black, and only 10.6% went to students who identified as Hispanic.
And while women make up nearly half of all employed adults in the U.S., . And of that figure, just 3% are Black women and 2% are Hispanic women.
鈥淚n designing the curriculum for our inaugural boot camp, we wanted to focus on providing real world themes that we鈥檝e seen in our experiences into the curriculum to help reinforce in-class learnings. Our goal was simply to answer, 鈥楬ow can we help these students be successful in their careers?鈥欌�� Carlos Solares, senior software engineer at Netflix, said in the release. 鈥淎s a Latino, I鈥檓 super excited that we鈥檙e expanding Netflix鈥檚 boot camps to HSIs, as I think this helps provide greater access and opportunity into this industry.鈥�
Marymount classes in the for the fall 2021 cohort will begin on Aug. 24. The virtual courses will be led by university faculty on a 16-week, part-time basis.
