DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — As drones become more popular, enrollment for professional courses are taking off at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
- Enrollment in ERAU drone courses rising as drone-use broadens
- Enrollment in professional courses has nearly doubled over last 2 years
- Law enforcement, first responders, others utilizing drones
“We are seeing it really explode in other areas, and the imagination of the users is really the limiting factor of how it is being utilized,” said Ken Witcher, Dean of College of Aeronautics at Embry-Riddle worldwide.
On Wednesday at the Daytona Beach campus, members of law enforcement were trained to fly unmanned aircraft systems. However, they aren’t the only ones.
“Now the cost and the availability and really the capability of this technology has really changed a lot in the last few years, allowing a lot more different kinds of groups like law enforcement, first responders, real estate agents, all types of folks that historically wouldn’t have been using (this) aircraft to come in and use this technology,” Witcher said.
In fact, enrollment in Embry-Riddle’s professional education courses has nearly doubled over the last two years
“Enrollment has gone up substantially in the last couple of years, especially in the UAS industry,” said Jaime Johnson, Program Manager.
Students don’t even have to come to Embry-Riddle’s campuses to get an education. Just last week, professors were teaching courses at the Commercial UAV Expo in Las Vegas.
“We take our knowledge that we know about these systems, and we bring it out and deliver it in a way that helps users out there that don’t necessarily need or want a degree, but they need the knowledge to operate safely,” Witcher said.
They expect this growth to skyrocket as even more uses for drones become known, with Embry-Riddle out front to lead the way.
“We do have competition in this field, especially as it's rapidly expanding. But we are still the top leader in aviation, and we intend to stay here,” Johnson said.