GISCafe Voice 
Susan Smith
Susan Smith has worked as an editor and writer in the technology industry for over 16 years. As an editor she has been responsible for the launch of a number of technology trade publications, both in print and online. Currently, Susan is the Editor of GISCafe and AECCafe, as well as those sites’ … More » Bentley Systems’ New Bentley Education Program Meets the FutureMay 6th, 2021 by Susan Smith
While Bentley Systems has had an Academic Program for some time, it has been reawakened, according to Katriona Lord-Levins, chief success officer at Bentley. “It has been brought into the times we’re in, and to meet the needs that we have to create a talent pipelines for our customers and ourselves,” said Lord-Levins. “Not only do we want to help students develop their engineering skills that will help them in the real world, but we also want to get people excited about the possibilities of the future.”
The Bentley Education program encourages the development of future infrastructure professionals for careers in engineering, design and architecture. Many of Bentley’s projects and solutions include utilities as well as roads and bridges which embody geospatial solutions. The program is initially available in the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Ireland, and Lithuania, with plans to expand to the United States, Canada, Mexico, Latin America and India by mid-summer. “We want to give those people who have made a decision to enter the engineering sphere free access or complimentary access to our software,” said Lord-Levins. “We also want to level the playing field and create more excitement, interest and passion outside of those who may have made a choice for the program.” The program’s student and educator entitlements allow no-cost learning licenses for Bentley infrastructure engineering applications and proven learnings through the new Bentley Education portal. Those interested can register on the Education portal, connect to infrastructure organizations and resources to prepare for and to recruit for infrastructure engineering careers. Vinayak Trivedi, vice president of Bentley Education added that what Bentley has kept in mind while designing the new education platform and strategy is to remove these barriers and make software access frictionless for students. Students and educator s have access to comprehensive resources, including:
“Students would like to connect with their peers, and with insights and advice from the industry experts,” said Trivedi. “They would like to connect with possible mentors, and then be able to share ideas and knowledge flow. The Future Infrastructure Star Challenge 2021 was also announced!” The global competition is open to students from community colleges, universities and polytechnics institutes. The winners will be announced during the Going Digital Awards at the Year In Infrastructure 2021 Conference. The winner of the Future Infrastructure Star Challenge 2021 will receive a cash prize of USD 5,000 and recognition in Bentley’s 2021 Infrastructure Yearbook. Trivedi says they have divided the Future Infrastructure Star Challenge 2021 into Stage 1 (Conceptualization) and Stage 2 (Design and Visualization.). In Stage 1 students are invited to submit their ideas and innovative thoughts, perhaps build it around environmental impact; “next big infrastructure project” in any of the following categories: power generation, water and wastewater, building and facilities, road and rail, cities and mapping. Keep in mind the latest technologies from Bentley Systems such as Internet of Things, virtual reality, augmented reality, etc. Stage 2 would lead to an outcome that can be shared with peers. “We have an in-built process of creating your resume. You build your portfolio as you visit the portal. As you stay there you do some learning assessments and get some badges, for example just entering the particular competition,” said Trivedi. The Bentley Education portal is a single source for an on-demand, frictionless, and fun experience for the student who wants to build and enhance their digital design skills. The program offers full access to learning licenses of over 40 of Bentley’s most popular applications, including ContextCapture, OpenRoads Designer, STAAD.Pro and SYNCHRO. The new Bentley Education program is mostly geared towards students and at this time toward university students, though future plans include opening up to middle and high school students. Challenged with engaging a distracted modern audience, the program is in tune with the gamification look and feel and mindset of the user. “We are curating experiences for them and meet them where they play, because we want to give them something they recognize,” said Lord-Levins. The portal does engage the visitor with its colorful, youthful exuberance and volume of interesting data. How to stay connected to students during their career? “You have a mission to create a positive impact through the career you were trying to get into,” said Trivedi. “We want to make the Bentley Education portal the place students can go to learn about and become inspired to make infrastructure engineering their career choice. The goal of the program is to help students are passionate about infrastructure to get a jump-start on a fulfilling career. The Future Infrastructure Star Challenge 2021 provides an opportunity for them to be creative and innovate in project designs for improving the quality of life and positively changing the world.”
Tags: Bentley Systems, data, geospatial, GIS, health, imagery, Infrastructure, intelligence, location, mapping, remote sensing, social media, underground mapping Categories: 3D Cities, 3D designs, analytics, Bentley Systems, climate change, cloud, disaster relief, geospatial, GIS, mapping, resilient cities, storm surge, subsurface utilities, transportation |
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