$1.4 million grant funds certificate programs for Internet professionals

The University of Washington has received a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to address the acute need for skilled Internet professionals. The Learning, Anywhere, Anytime Partnership (LAAP) is designed to produce high-quality, affordable education and certification for aspiring and practicing Web professionals worldwide.

This fall, four UW certificate programs will be available via online delivery, self-directed tutorials, licensing agreements, on-site instruction and televised broadcast formats. National standardized tests are being developed that will lead to a credential from the World Organization of Webmasters (WOW).

The programs that will make up a national credential are Small Business Webmaster, Basic Internet Programming, Web Administration, and E-commerce and Web Marketing. Students who successfully complete these programs will be prepared to enter one of the most rapidly growing career fields today.

This partnership brings together the UW’s top-ranked computer science department, Prentice Hall Publishers, the Public Broadcasting Service and the World Organization of Webmasters to meet the need for Internet professionals in the new century.

It is expected that Internet professionals will number 8 million by the year 2002, and that the number of Web sites will grow from the current 5 million to 25 million in 2002.

Students enrolling in these LAAP grant-funded online and on-site programs and consumers of self-directed CD-ROM materials and PBS broadcasts are expected to reach 50,000 each year. ¶