IBM Partners with 1,000 Universities for Big Data Skills

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that it has added nine new academic collaborations to its more than 1,000 partnerships with universities across the globe, focusing on Big Data and analytics.

According to IBM, the objective is to prepare students for the 4.4 million jobs that will be created worldwide to support Big Data by 2015. The company also announced more than $100,000 in awards for Big Data curricula.

As part of IBM’s Academic Initiative, the company is launching new curricula focusing on Big Data and analytics with Georgetown University, George Washington University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Missouri, as well as a new addition to IBM’s partnership with Northwestern University.

Today, tech vendors are leaving no stone unturned to sell their ‘big data’ solutions to enterprises. But chief information officers (CIOs) or tech heads in user organizations are more confused than enthused about this new offering. So, what exactly is big data? (Read: How Big is the Burden of Big Data?)

Internationally, IBM is partnering with Dublin City University, Mother Teresa Women’s University in India, the National University of Singapore, and the Philippines’ Commission on Higher Education to offer data-driven degree programs, coursework and specialization tracks.

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Moreover, IBM is also announcing the winners of its 2013 Big Data and Analytics Faculty Awards in which 14 university professors from around the world will receive $10,000 each for top rated curricula designed to develop the business and technical skills required for data-crunching jobs.

The winning proposals include programs focused on computer science/electrical engineering, business administration, economics, strategic management, and math and statistics.