The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has partnered with 26 schools across the nation to take part in a program focused on training potential career professionals in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) technology.
FAA said Tuesday the UAS Collegiate Training Initiative, launched in April, will enable participating institutions to engage with industry, government, law enforcement and economic development organizations in labor-related activities involving the UAS sector.
The UAS-CTI program is aimed at recognizing students seeking to pursue careers in aviation as well as UAS development and operation, FAA noted.
The program also comes as part of efforts to comply with the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Act, which mandates the agency to “designate consortia of public, two-year institutions of higher education” as community and technical college centers of excellence in small UAS technology training.
Post-secondary institutions with UAS-focused curriculums that want to be designated as a UAS-CTI partner may also apply for recognition to FAA, according to the agency.