The IBM-SUNY bridge program

In 1989 an agreement was signed between IBM-Mid Hudson Valley Education (with sites at Kingston and Poughkeepsie, New York) and the SUNY College at New Paltz to organize an educational program for the company´s technicians that would include up to the first 45 credits of the BSEE curriculum. A pilot project was designed to provide instruction in introduction to engineering, calculus, physics, Fortran programming, differential equations, and beginning circuit analysis over a 15-month period. After some experimentation a format emerged which allowed 62% of the students to successfully complete the program while continuing to function in their jobs. Considerable acceleration of the course of study seems to be possible by means of carefully planned logistics; however, faster-paced courses did not work very well within the framework of the pilot project. A few courses may need to be modified to better serve this particular student population