AWS Academy

Empowering higher education institutions to prepare students for industry-recognized certifications and careers in the cloud


Bridging the gap between industry and academia

As cloud technologies continue to help organizations transform at a rapid pace, employees with the necessary cloud skills are in high demand. According to LinkedIn data, cloud computing is the number one hard skill companies need most.

AWS Academy provides higher education institutions with a free, ready-to-teach cloud computing curriculum that prepares students to pursue industry-recognized certifications and in-demand cloud jobs. Our curriculum helps educators stay at the forefront of AWS Cloud innovation so that they can equip students with the skills they need to get hired in one of the fastest-growing industries.

Program benefits

Institutions

  • Become a leader in cloud education
  • Develop and retain educators
  • Produce graduates that are prepared for in-demand cloud careers

Educators

  • Access innovative cloud courses
  • Receive complimentary AWS professional training
  • Receive 50% discounts on AWS Certification exams

Students

  • Land a well-paid job in one of the fastest-growing industries
  • Gain skills hiring managers value
  • Exclusive access to the Emerging Talent Community upon course completion

Employers

Want to learn more? Join an upcoming Program Overview Webinar. Visit our event calendar to register today.

About the curriculum

AWS Academy offers courses and learning resources that enable students to develop a range of skills in the AWS Cloud. Approved educators have access all AWS Academy courses and AWS Academy Learner Lab. 

  • Cloud Foundations
  • AWS Academy Explore Solutions with the Cloud

    This introductory course is designed to give an overview of how AWS services and cloud computing can be used to solve real-world problems in a variety of industries. Through this course, students will gain a better understanding of the importance of cloud computing skills in many job roles and receive a high-level introduction to numerous AWS services.

    AWS Academy Cloud Foundations

    This introductory course is intended for students who seek an overall understanding of cloud computing concepts, independent of specific technical roles. It provides a detailed overview of cloud concepts, AWS core services, security, architecture, pricing, and support.

    AWS Academy Introduction to Cloud: Semester 1

    In this introductory course, students will explore AWS services and technologies, and how they can support businesses across the globe. Students will also learn to build on the AWS Management Console, examine successful cloud implementations, and apply their knowledge to cloud-based scenarios.

    AWS Academy Introduction to Cloud: Semester 2

    Extending upon the concepts from AWS Academy Introduction to Cloud: Semester 1, students will continue to explore cloud computing services, applications, and use cases. Students will dive deeper into cloud computing best practices and learn how the cloud helps users develop a global infrastructure at scale by leveraging innovative technologies.

    Recommended progression option 1
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Foundations
    E x a m
    AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
    Recommended progression option 2
    Course
    AWS Academy Introduction to Cloud: Semester 1
    Course
    AWS Academy Introduction to Cloud: Semester 2
    E x a m
    AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
  • Developing
  • AWS Academy Cloud Developing

    This intermediate-level course will help students gain technical expertise in development with cloud technologies. It will also help them prepare for the AWS Certified Developer - Associate certification exam. Upon completion, students will be able to develop with the AWS SDK and identify best practices for building and deploying applications in the AWS Cloud. This course contains approximately 40 hours of content delivered through lectures and hands-on labs.  

    We recommend that students take AWS Academy Cloud Foundations or equivalent before taking this course.

    Recommended progression
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Foundations
    E x a m
    AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Developing
    E x a m
    AWS Certified Developer - Associate
  • Architecting
  • AWS Academy Cloud Architecting

    This intermediate-level course covers the fundamentals of building IT infrastructure on AWS and helps students gain the skills they need to pursue the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification. This course contains approximately 40 hours of content delivered through lectures, hands-on labs, and project work.

    We recommend that students take AWS Academy Cloud Foundations or equivalent before taking this course.

    Recommended progression
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Foundations
    E x a m
    AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Architecting
    E x a m
    AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
  • Operations
  • AWS Academy Cloud Operations

    This intermediate-level course will prepare students to pursue in-demand DevOps, support, and cloud operations roles at the entry level. It will also help them prepare for the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate exam. Through case studies, demonstrations, and hands-on activities, students will learn how to troubleshoot various scenarios and automate deployments of networks and systems on AWS. This course contains approximately 40 hours of content delivered through lectures and hands-on labs.

    We recommend that students take AWS Academy Cloud Foundations or equivalent before taking this course.

    Recommended progression
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Foundations
    E x a m
    AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Operations
    E x a m
    AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate
  • Machine Learning
  • AWS Academy Machine Learning Foundations

    This introductory course introduces students to the concepts and terminology of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). By the end of this course, students will be able to select and apply ML services to resolve business problems. They will also be able to label, build, train, and deploy a custom ML model. This course contains approximately 20 hours of content delivered through lectures, hands-on labs, and project work.

    AWS Academy Machine Learning for Natural Language Processing

    This intermediate-level course is designed for students who are pursuing careers that require machine learning knowledge. Students will learn how to describe the terms in the natural language processing (NLP) ecosystem; identify how to use NLP in business; and indicate the range of problems, tasks, and solutions with NLP.

    Recommended progression
    Course
    AWS Academy Machine Learning Foundations
    Course
    AWS Academy Machine Learning for Natural Language Processing
    Resources
    AWS Resources and additional hands-on experience
    E x a m
    AWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty
  • Data
  • AWS Academy Data Engineering

    AWS Academy Data Engineering is designed to help students learn about and get hands-on practice with the tasks, tools, and strategies used to collect, store, prepare, analyze, and visualize data for use in analytics and machine learning applications. Throughout the course, students will explore use cases from real world applications that will enable them to make informed decisions while building the data pipeline for their particular application.

    Recommended progression option 1
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Foundations
    E x a m
    AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
    Course
    AWS Academy Data Engineering
    Resources
    AWS Resources and additional hands-on experience
    E x a m
    AWS Certified Data Analytics - Specialty
    Recommended progression option 2
    Course
    AWS Academy Machine Learning Foundations
    Course
    AWS Academy Data Engineering
    course
    AWS Academy Machine Learning for Natural Language Processing
    Resources
    AWS Resources and additional hands-on experience
    E x a m
    AWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty
  • Data Centers
  • AWS Academy Engineering Operations Technicians (EOT)
    This course provides an overview of the fundamental concepts and skills required for the Engineering Operations Technician role in a Data Center environment. Students will learn about topics such as data center basics, data center physical infrastructure, electrical fundamentals, and data center batteries and generators.
    Recommended progression
    Course
    AWS Academy Engineering Operations Technicians (EOT)
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Foundations
    AWS Academy Data Center Technician (DCT)

    This course is designed to help students develop technical expertise in data center operations. Although this is a foundational course, students should possess a general knowledge of mechanical and electrical engineering concepts.

    Recommended progression
    Course
    AWS Academy Data Center Technician (DCT)
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Foundations
  • Security
  • AWS Academy Cloud Security Foundations

    This course is designed to help students gain a foundational knowledge of cybersecurity principles and services for cloud computing through a guided hands-on approach. This course includes demonstrations, instructional guides, and real-life scenarios.

    Recommended progression
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Foundations
    E x a m
    AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Security Foundations
  • Learner Lab
  • AWS Academy Learner Lab

    Long-running hands-on lab environments where educators can bring their own assignments and invite their students to get experience using select AWS Services.

    What can you do with AWS Academy Learner Lab?

    • Create a class for your students
    • Invite your students
    • Assign your own projects
    • View a student’s workspace
    • View analytics including time and money spent
    • Includes access to over 100 AWS services
    • Available to all AWS Academy educators that complete the Getting started with AWS Academy course
  • Lab Projects
  • AWS Academy Cloud Data Pipeline Builder

    In this project, students are challenged to use AWS services to build a data analytics pipeline to analyze website clickstream data without step-by-step guidance. The pipeline must reflect the principles of the AWS Well-Architected Framework and be able to ingest, transform, analyze, and visualize data to produce meaningful insights for businesses to make informed decisions. Specific sections of the assignment are meant to challenge students on skills that they have acquired throughout the learning process.

    Recommended progression
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Foundations
    Course
    AWS Academy Data Engineering
    Project
    AWS Academy Cloud Data Pipeline Builder

    AWS Academy Cloud Web Application Builder

    In this project, students are challenged to use AWS services to design and deploy a database-backed web application in the AWS Cloud without step-by-step guidance. The architecture must reflect the principles of the AWS Well-Architected Framework and be highly available, scalable, high performing, and secure. Specific sections of the assignment are meant to challenge students on skills that they have acquired throughout the learning process.

    Recommended progression
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Foundations
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Architecting
    Project
    AWS Academy Cloud Web Application Builder

    AWS Academy Cloud Security Builder

    In this lab project, students are challenged to use AWS services to secure various resources in the AWS Cloud. The lab project is divided into four phases, which are independent of each other. The architecture must reflect the principles of the AWS Well-Architected Framework and the principle of least privilege. Specific sections of the assignment are meant to challenge students on skills that they have acquired throughout the learning process.
     

    Recommended progression
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Foundations
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Architecting
    Project
    AWS Academy Cloud Security Builder

    AWS Academy Microservices and CICD Pipeline Builder

    In this project, students are challenged to use AWS services to design and build a microservices and continuous integration and continuous development (CI/CD) solution. First, students break a monolith application into separate microservices, based on functionality and API endpoints. Then, they migrate the application to run on a container-based architecture, which provides the ability for the different components of the application to scale independently. Specific sections of the assignment are meant to challenge students on skills that they have acquired throughout the learning process.
     

    Recommended progression
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Foundations
    Course
    AWS Academy Cloud Architecting
    Project
    AWS Academy Microservices and CICD Pipeline Builder

How to join

Participation criteria

AWS Academy membership begins at the institution level. Institutions that meet following criteria can apply:

  • Institution offers accredited degree, diploma, certificate, or continuing education programs.
  • Applicant is authorized to act as the Central Point of Contact (CPOC) for the institution they represent or can provide the name and contact information of someone who can act in this capacity.

Getting started

Once the application is accepted, the institution:

  • Accepts program Terms & Conditions
  • Central Point of Contact will nominate one or more educators to teach AWS Academy courses
  • Proposes a class delivery plan

Is your institution already a member? Visit the AWS Academy portal »

Do you want to start learning cloud skills for free now?

Designed for new-to-cloud learners, AWS Educate provides free access to learn, practice, and evaluate your cloud skills without creating an Amazon or AWS account. Complete courses with labs to earn badges that demonstrate your skills, search the job board to find employers looking to hire for in-demand roles.

AWS Academy Member Institutions

Explore the list of active AWS Academy member institutions around the world.
Explore the list »

AWS Academy Insights

Employers

Interested in hiring entry-level cloud talent? Find AWS Academy graduates for your open roles.

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Do you have questions?

For more information, please visit the FAQ or contact us directly.