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
Want to learn more? Join an upcoming Program Overview Webinar. Visit our event calendar to register today.
Educator and Administrator Testimonials
"I teach AWS Academy Cloud Foundations to graduate students in some of the top programs in the world. I have found that AWS Academy material is ideal for students looking to get hands-on experience with cloud computing.”
Noah Gift, Professor, Duke University
Educator and Administrator Testimonials
“AWS Academy provides well designed and professionally-developed learning materials for our students. Integration of AWS Academy course into our Business Analytics curriculum helps better prepare our students for internships and full time job placements. Students who completed the course have landed full-time jobs at Goldman Sachs, Visa, Bank of America, and many more.”
Kyong Jin Shim, Professor, Singapore Management University
Educator and Administrator Testimonials
“With AWS Academy, we are helping both our students and the local community in Miami by creating the cloud workforce local businesses are looking for. We equip students with the skills and certifications they need to successfully launch careers in cloud computing and help connect them to local employers.”
Antonio Delgado, Dean of Engineering, Technology and Design at Miami Dade College
Educator and Administrator Testimonials
“Cloud computing is one of the most important skills for my students to learn. With AWS Academy, students are able to learn the basic concepts of the cloud, and gain experience with AWS Cloud services in a systematic way.”
Kenji Akae, Educator and Professional Systems Engineer, Toyama College of Business and IT
Educator and Administrator Testimonials
“We incorporated the AWS Academy curriculum into our cloud computing module and launched a summer program for students looking to study AWS. The courses and the AWS skills they teach help enhance the employability of our students. On a personal level, my work with AWS Academy is one of the main reasons I was promoted to Senior Lecturer at my institution.”
Gokop Goteng, Queen Mary University of London
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.
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Cloud Foundations
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Developing
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Architecting
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Operations
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Machine Learning
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Data
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Data Centers
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Security
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Learner Lab
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Lab Projects
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Cloud Foundations
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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.
Recommended progression option 1CourseAWS Academy Cloud Foundations
E x a mAWS Certified Cloud Practitioner -
Developing
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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 progressionCourseAWS Academy Cloud Foundations
E x a mAWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
CourseAWS Academy Cloud Developing
E x a mAWS Certified Developer - Associate -
Architecting
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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 progressionCourseAWS Academy Cloud Foundations
E x a mAWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
CourseAWS Academy Cloud Architecting
E x a mAWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate -
Operations
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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 progressionCourseAWS Academy Cloud Foundations
E x a mAWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
CourseAWS Academy Cloud Operations
E x a mAWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate -
Machine Learning
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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 ProcessingThis 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 progressionCourseAWS Academy Machine Learning Foundations
CourseAWS Academy Machine Learning for Natural Language Processing
ResourcesAWS Resources and additional hands-on experience
E x a mAWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty -
Data
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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 1CourseAWS Academy Cloud Foundations
E x a mAWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
CourseAWS Academy Data Engineering
ResourcesAWS Resources and additional hands-on experienceRecommended progression option 2CourseAWS Academy Machine Learning Foundations
CourseAWS Academy Data Engineering
courseAWS Academy Machine Learning for Natural Language Processing
ResourcesAWS Resources and additional hands-on experience
E x a mAWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty -
Data Centers
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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 progressionCourseAWS Academy Engineering Operations Technicians (EOT)
CourseAWS Academy Cloud FoundationsAWS 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 progressionCourseAWS Academy Data Center Technician (DCT)
CourseAWS Academy Cloud Foundations -
Security
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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 progressionCourseAWS Academy Cloud Foundations
E x a mAWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
CourseAWS Academy Cloud Security Foundations -
Learner Lab
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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
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Lab Projects
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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 progressionCourseAWS Academy Cloud Foundations
CourseAWS Academy Data Engineering
ProjectAWS Academy Cloud Data Pipeline Builder
AWS Academy Cloud Web Application BuilderIn 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 progressionCourseAWS Academy Cloud Foundations
CourseAWS Academy Cloud Architecting
ProjectAWS Academy Cloud Web Application Builder
AWS Academy Cloud Security BuilderIn 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 progressionCourseAWS Academy Cloud Foundations
CourseAWS Academy Cloud Architecting
ProjectAWS Academy Cloud Security Builder
AWS Academy Microservices and CICD Pipeline BuilderIn 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 progressionCourseAWS Academy Cloud Foundations
CourseAWS Academy Cloud Architecting
ProjectAWS 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?
AWS Academy Member Institutions
Success Stories
Learn how Khalil launched his career as a Data Scientist specializing in AI/ML after completing cloud-skills training at AWS Academy member institution, City University of London.
Queensborough Community College Lecturer Michael Lawrence on how AWS Academy helps prepare his students for industry-recognized certifications and careers in the cloud.
Student Spotlight
“AWS has given me a competitive advantage in terms of employment. Cloud computing skills are becoming more and more crucial to many industries, so having to experiment with services offered by the biggest cloud computing service provider was key to my success.”
Steve Muland, Graduate, Durban University of Technology in South Africa
Student Spotlight
“My current project is securing the Internet of Things, and it includes artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques. The next step is to implement these techniques in the cloud. Taking an AWS Academy course was really helpful in putting all the knowledge together. It gave me hands-on experience and a better understanding of cloud computing, so I could see the big picture when designing and improving my algorithm.”
Hadeel Saleh Alrubayy, PhD Candidate, Queen Mary University of London in the United Kingdom
Student Spotlight
“Completing the AWS Academy Cloud Operations course not only helped me prepare for the AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate, but it also helped raise my confidence in my ability to architect, automate, and optimize cloud environments. The labs included with the program were an invaluable resource, and I attribute my success on the exam to the hands-on experience gained from those labs. With more and more systems transitioning to cloud models, it’s imperative to learn the world’s most ubiquitous cloud computing platform, and AWS Academy will jump start your learning and set you up for success!”
Sky Resendez, Western Governors University
Employers
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