Schneider Electric has announced a series of updates to its vendor-agnostic and CPD-accredited digital education platform, Schneider Electric University. Available in 14 languages and accessible globally for free online, the dedicated professional development platform has been designed to address a skills gap in the data center sector by helping professionals expand their skills.
The updates to the Schneider Electric University Data Center Certified Associate (DCCA) qualification include fundamentals of power, cooling, racks, and physical security and guidance on how to optimize data center designs with a focus on resilience, energy efficiency, and sustainability. The newest courses offered, for example, include Optimizing Cooling Layouts for the Data Center; Fundamental Cabling Strategies in the Data Center; Examining Fire Protection Methods in the Data Center; and Fundamentals of Cooling II—Humidity in the Data Center.
Schneider said in a statement that the curriculum has been designed to address key focal points for the industry, including classes such as Data Center Site Selection and Planning, which offers guidance on how to select brown and greenfield sites for access to renewable energy; Alternative Power Generation Technologies, which helps drive the implementation of renewable energy strategies, on-site power generation, and the use of technologies such as microgrids; and Battery Technology for Data Centers, which evaluates the sustainability effect of different types of uninterruptible power supply batteries and the benefits of lithium-ion technology and offers an analysis of the associated lifecycle costs.
Addressing the Industry Skills Gap
A 2021 survey by the Uptime Institute suggested that staff requirements will grow globally to nearly 2.3 million in 2025. Further, 32% of respondents reported difficulty in retaining staff, with 47% reporting difficulty in finding qualified candidates for open jobs.
By encouraging individuals to expand their skills and continue their professional development for free, the Schneider Electric said it hopes its university to address the data center industry skills gap and talent shortage and help businesses attract and retrain employees.
“In the last few years, data center capacity demands have grown exponentially, reaching record new highs as digitization and cloud adoption accelerates,” said Pankaj Sharma, Schneider’s executive vice president for its Secure Power Division. “The sector skills shortage, however, remains a significant challenge and has potential implications for other connected industries. By providing guidance on the latest technology and sustainability initiatives, we believe the Schneider Electric University offers an invaluable resource to help bridge the skills gap by empowering business ecosystems, reskilling the workforce, and training the next generation of professionals to build the data centers of the future.”