Autodesk commits $250 million to American Middle & High Schools

Autodesk, Inc. is joining with President Barack Obama and other leading technology and telecom companies to help prepare American high school students for science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) careers. The company will expand its Design the Future program, and make available $250 million of 3D design software, project-based curricula, training and certification to every middle and high school in the United States in 2014.

“Our customers have unfilled, high-paying positions due to the lack of qualified U.S. high school and university graduates,” said Carl Bass, Autodesk president and chief executive officer. “As part of our ongoing commitment to training and equipping the next generation of designers, engineers, architects and digital artists, we are proud to respond to the call from President Obama. Today we are committing to making our Design the Future program available to every secondary school in the United States over the next year.”

The Design the Future program provides secondary school teachers everything they need to teach students critical problem-solving skills and to prepare them for careers in STEAM fields such as engineering and architecture. First launched as a pilot in California in 2013 and expanded to Texas in 2014, the program empowers educators to help students develop a lifelong love for STEAM subjects by providing free access to current versions of Autodesk 3D design software (including more than 14 key products for architecture, engineering and entertainment), project-based curricula assigned to Common Core and ISTE standards, training and certification. In the first six months of the program, more than 350 California schools have enrolled. With today’s commitment, Autodesk will make its software available for free to educators at more than 27,000 U.S. secondary schools. If all schools take advantage of the offer, the total value of Autodesk’s offering will exceed $250 million.

For more information on Autodesk’s free offerings for students and educators, visit http://students.autodesk.com.