Linux vendor Red Hat is offering an academic version of its Red Hat Certified Engineer training programme for schools and colleges.

Called Red Hat Academy, the programme will cover the company's operating system and open source technologies.

Students will be able to take the Red Hat Certified Technician exam.

Jasmine Huxtable-Wright, European training manager at Red Hat, explained that there is a lot of interest from schools and universities.

The exam is pitched at above GCSE level and will produce "concrete computing skills".

"The programme has been announced now, ready to sign up schools and universities for the September start of the new academic year," she said.

"Teachers will have to attend the training programme to become Certified Technicians before they can download workbooks."

Among the subjects covered will be: systems administration, network engineering, C or C++ programming, databases, web development, PC repair and forensic computing.

Schools and colleges using Red Hat Academy will receive a licence covering all the material.

In the US this has been set at $20,000 for up to 5,000 students, but Huxtable-Wright explained that European pricing would be tiered according to student levels and had not yet been set.

The licence allows users to download all module workbooks and other materials from the Academy website.

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