Class of Your Own, a UK-based STEM education provider of built environment-focused learning programmes for secondary school students, has announced a new global partnership with leading construction software provider Bentley Systems. 

The new, future-focused global curriculum, Design Engineer Construct!® (DEC) for the World’s Infrastructure, has developed over several years through Bentley Institute’s support of Class of Your Own’s DEC programmes and provides opportunities for students to gain hands-on knowledge and skills for careers in infrastructure professions.

DEC is currently accredited and used in schools throughout the United Kingdom. The new programme is already expanding into schools in Ireland, Lithuania, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates and offers technology education and project-based, real-world experiences through interaction with industry professionals. 

The DEC curriculum for students ages 11 to 18 years is offered at intermediate levels to encourage and excite learners and is enhanced by Bentley’s engineering design and 3D modeling technologies including ContextCapture, OpenBuildings, OpenRail, and OpenRoads ConceptStation. The more advanced future infrastructure qualification framework, for students aged 16 and older, including foundation level study at colleges and universities, focuses on rail, highway, port, and hyperloop projects.

Alison Watson, founder and chief executive of Class of Your Own, said: “Our vision is to inspire and engage young people and their teachers to reach their full potential through world class education. So, we’re very excited to partner with Bentley to offer the new curriculum, which applies industry knowledge and skills gained in the existing DEC programme to the most exciting infrastructure projects around the world. 

“Our students are provided with face-to-face support from world-class sector professionals thanks to industry partners who truly understand what DEC can do. Expanding the programme outside the UK means we can offer genuine, meaningful opportunities for students and teachers around the world. We’re helping the surveyors, technologists, engineers, architects and managers of future infrastructure.” 

Earlier in 2019, Bentley Institute and Class of Your Own hosted the first ever Future Infrastructure Challenge: DEC Hyperloop challenge in London. The event included students from four schools in the UK whose assignment was to conceptualise a design of a hyperloop transport system and stations for their own towns and then to adapt this to Singapore. Students from Drummond Community High School from Edinburgh, Scotland won the challenge and were awarded a complimentary trip from Bentley to attend its Year in Infrastructure Conference from 21-24 October in Singapore. 

David Robertson, director of digital advancement research for Bentley Systems, said: “Our partnership with Class of Your Own demonstrates the two organisations’ shared goal of providing students with valuable learning experiences that apply to real-world infrastructure professions and encourage students to pursue those professions. Bentley is very excited to participate in this important learning initiative to advance career opportunities for students around the world.”

Click here to find out more about the Design Engineer Construct programme.