The University of Maryland is offering special educational opportunities for federal workers who have been laid off or are at risk of losing their jobs. The institution is providing free and discounted graduate school and certificate programs that are aligned with emerging career fields.
One of the key initiatives is a free online certificate program in artificial intelligence (AI) in business, set to launch on May 1 at the Smith School of Business. According to Balaji Padmanabhan, director of the University of Maryland Center for AI in Business, the program aims to help participants understand AI’s evolution, capabilities, and practical applications in various business areas such as finance, marketing, and operations.
“We help people understand what this is, how it has evolved over time, so that people can actually start understanding AI to appreciate the capabilities,” Padmanabhan explained. “And then we very quickly go into applied functional areas — AI in finance, AI in marketing, AI in operations, etc.”
The motivation behind this program is driven by the growing demand for AI expertise in the job market. A recent search for online job listings revealed tens of thousands of job openings that mention AI. Padmanabhan believes this number undercounts the actual demand, as many positions require AI-related skills without explicitly mentioning AI.
“A lot of the jobs may not even explicitly say ‘AI,’ but when they’re looking to hire an analyst, they view AI related things that people can do,” he said. “So that’s a need in the marketplace that we know exists today.”
The program is particularly valuable because combining deep domain knowledge with AI understanding makes candidates highly valuable in the marketplace. As Padmanabhan noted, “If someone comes in and they can combine deep domain knowledge in some discipline with AI understanding, the combination is tremendously useful in the marketplace.”
In addition to the AI certificate program, the University of Maryland’s business school is offering a 30% discount to civil service workers for the first year of graduate programs. This discount is available to anyone who was employed by the federal government at the start of the year, regardless of their current employment status. The discount applies to a wide range of business-related STEM programs.
Former federal workers who are also former students of the university may be eligible for free enrollment in certain STEM programs related to business education.
The university’s motivation behind these initiatives is to help people transform their lives through education. As Padmanabhan stated, “We are in the business of helping people transform their lives with education, and that’s really our biggest motivation.”
