As one of a select number of community colleges approved for the Securing Our Children’s Future Bond Act, Warren County (NJ) Community College has elected to significantly expand its’ Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) career and technical education (CTE) program. Warren chose Unmanned Safety Institute’s UAS Curriculum and Certifications for its’ nationally recognized drone program due to the broad acceptance and recognition of USI Credentials by the commercial drone industry.
Warren County Community College recognized early on that unmanned systems technology (air, ground and sea) will serve as the core of future transportation systems. As such, Warren has committed to building an Unmanned Systems Center of Excellence at the college’s Phillipsburg Education Center, where they have earned several national certifications from the FAA. Warren offers an Associate Degree in Unmanned Systems, a Certificates in both Drone Piloting and Drone Maintenance & Repair and is adding degrees in GIS and Photogrammetry.
“This grant allows us to prepare for the future in a field that has boundless potential”, said Dr. Will Austin, the President of Warren, and the college’s Chief Pilot. “The growth of unmanned technology will be creating hundreds of thousands of exciting, well paid; career opportunities and we want the Warren students to have the best opportunity to prepare for leadership level participation in this important field. We chose to adopt the Unmanned Safety Institute’s (USI) curriculum and certification structure as it is the best representation of industry’s requirements for UAS pilots and other positions.”
USI’s President and CEO, Josh Olds commented, “We are very honored to work with Dr. Austin and the entire team at Warren County Community College as they have demonstrated a commitment to preparing their students for real world UAS employment opportunities that is absolutely leading edge. I also recognize that this is only the beginning of their major investments into growing their unmanned systems program. I believe that they are not just filling open positions in the marketplace, rather they are building the future leaders of the unmanned systems industry.”
The USI backed program at Warren College kicked of this fall with 20 participating students in the first pilot course, and it is expected that within one year there will be more than 100 students benefiting annually from this new relationship throughout multiple courses.
USI’s Industry Recognized UAS Certifications Enhance Warren County Community College’s CTE Program
