Continuing Education for Professionals and Engineers

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Continuing education courses for students, professionals and engineers are offered online or on-campus at °®¶¹´«Ã½ in upstate New York. The classes are offered through the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science's Office of Industrial Research which also manages the New York Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence (SPIR) and all other Watson College industry initiatives.

There are many resources available in Watson College to assist professionals and engineers in achieving your professional goals. We value our alumni, industry and community partnerships and strive to develop rewarding long-term relationships.

We offer Continuing Education in the following areas:

More continuing education courses for students, professionals and engineers are being added all the time. Come back to check out new online and in-person offerings.

Mission

Watson Continuing Education provides professional development and outreach services to the engineering community and technology-intensive industry. Programs sponsored by the Office of Engineering Professional Development also support technology transfer and share the school's intellectual expertise with the global community. As part of the office's mission to support lifelong professional development, there are regular seminars, symposia, short courses, workshops, conferences and other programs offered to the engineering community. These programs address emerging engineering issues vital to innovation and global competitiveness.

Watson Continuing Education also works directly with industry to design educational programs meeting very specific needs. Programs are made available through traditional classes and also through distance learning methodologies.

Vision

Today, wise companies and individuals recognize that lifelong professional development are an investment in the future and essential to corporate or personal success. We are seeing companies of all sizes begin to establish guidelines for employees regarding minimum numbers of classroom hours needed each year. More companies are also investing in their employees and making professional development and educational programming more accessible. We are also seeing a rebirth of the professional education plan for individuals where near-term and long-term professional development objectives are set cooperatively between the employee and his or her manager.

This strategic approach to maintaining technological currentness has yielded dividends for the company in the form of increased productivity, new product development, shorter cycle times, and strengthened position in respective markets. We will certainly see continued emphasis placed on the importance of lifelong professional development, be it credit work toward an advanced degree or non-credit courses that keep people attuned to the latest advances in their field. Maintaining technical competence for engineers and other technical personnel is recognized by most technology-oriented firms as an essential element of competitiveness. The technology-oriented company must be agile and able to apply its engineering creativity toward the achievement of the company's mission. However, keeping technical staff abreast of the latest technological advances is a challenging task in itself due to the demands on staff time. Thus, it is important to select programs that provide the greatest amount of new knowledge in an optimum time frame.

Watson College's national engineering symposia provide a brief but intensive exposure to leading developments in several product sectors. Other courses may be taken through distance learning technologies. Technical personnel can also keep up to date on a number of emerging technologies through the professional development lecture series.