ARM expands its University Programme

UK semiconductor manufacturer ARM has launched the University Alliance Partnership, which it says will expand the range of learning materials available to engineering students around the world.

ARM has previously released kits to help students get to grips with 'Smart' technology.
ARM has previously released kits to help students get to grips with ‘Smart’ technology.

The partnership will see industry partners develop hardware and software kits based on their own technologies, to compliment existing ARM teaching materials.

“This new initiative will give universities expanded access to diverse, low-cost hardware, industry-standard software tools and academically rigorous educational materials,” said Khaled Benkrid, manager of ARM’s Worldwide University Programme.

“It builds on our well-established teaching tools programme but significantly enhances the range of technologies and expertise the universities will get access to. We believe this to be a necessary step as educational establishments all around the world try to cope with increasingly diverse student populations and industry demands.”

The first two partners to be named are Chinese technology companies Beijing Chukong Technology Co. Ltd, and GigaDevice Semiconductor (Beijing) Inc. The former is the company behind Cocos2d and Cocos3d, popular engines used for mobile game development such as the award-winning Badland.

ARM’s University Programme has previously seen the company release kits for students to experiment with and explore smart technology and the internet of things, an area that the engineers of tomorrow will need to embrace as connected devices become more pervasive.

According to ARM, the new alliance model will help it to “anticipate future industry trends as the creation of teaching materials becomes an on-going collaborative enterprise across the ARM ecosystem.” It claims that this approach will enable it to keep pace with rapidly advancing technology, and keep curriculums up to date with the latest developments.