PTC now provides software to more than 400 colleges and universities, including most of the North America's top 50 engineering schools as ranked by US News and World Report.

The PTC Education Initiative is a design and technology program engineered for students from secondary through the university level. The college and university component of this, University Edition, combines PTC's product development software, Pro/ENGINEER, with courseware that delivers a creative exploration of design, engineering and technology for university students. In addition, the University Edition enables students to master the number one product development solution in the world and prepares them to be tomorrow's innovators with credentials required for success in today's skills-driven job market.

"For almost two decades, we've used Pro/ENGINEER extensively throughout our curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate level as the main software for training students in all their design related activities," said Sundar Krishnamurty, associate professor and site-director of the NSF e-Design Center at UMass Amherst. "More recently, we're seeing the need to provide our students with a more complete suite of PLM software, similar to what they'll employ in future real world settings, and are considering Windchill ProductPoint for use across our curriculum."

"We have been using Pro/ENGINEER since 1992, and we have always been pleased with PTC's academic support, and value the opportunity to train our students in the best-in-class computer aided engineering tools offered by PTC," said Tom Chase, director, Mechanical Engineering undergraduate program, University of Minnesota. "Pro/ENGINEER has provided invaluable support to several of our research projects, such as the design of the MINOS neutrino detector."

The University Edition license includes up to 500 seats of Pro/ENGINEER, an industry standard 3D design solution, along with about 55 other applications that include analysis tools, sheet metal and Behavioral Modeling modules. In addition to the software, teachers and professors receive training and tutorials, technical support and software upgrades to enhance the teaching environment. Other software available for colleges and universities include Precision LMS, a complete learning management system, Mathcad?, which allows students to document mathematical work on a virtual white board, and Windchill ProductPoint, which enables collaborative product development leveraging the latest social computing technology.

"Pro/ENGINEER has been the CAD tool of choice for the past 15 years in the University of Florida Integrated Product and Process Design Program," said Keith Stanfill, director, Industrial Systems and Engineering, University of Florida. "Our students benefit from using the same tools used by professionals in the wide variety of industries participating in IPPD. In addition to an outstanding multidisciplinary product design education, experience with Pro/ENGINEER helps to differentiate our graduates as they transition out into industry."

"There is a shortage of engineers who have the product development skills PTC customers need, and this issue is accelerated as a large part of the engineering population start to retire in the coming years," said Mark Fischer, director, North American Education, PTC. "We are working to alleviate this problem and have made it our commitment to help inspire a new generation of technical thinkers. With programs like the PTC Education Initiative, we are dedicated to nurturing tomorrow's engineers in North America."

About PTC's Global Education Program
PTC's education program provides teachers and professors with complete learning solutions to prepare a new generation for success in a technological world. From secondary school to the university level, PTC gives students the ultimate in product development education by providing software, training and classroom materials to educators worldwide. The PTC education program is a part of a technological literacy movement that seeks to improve critical thinking and multidimensional problem-solving skills as well as preparing a growing number of students to become engineers.