A&M, TJC launch innovative co-enrollment engineering academy

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - On Friday, Texas A&M University and Tyler Junior College announced the launch of the Texas A&M Engineering Academy at TJC.

This innovative co-enrollment partnership addresses the state’s growing need for engineers. Qualified students are admitted to the Texas A&M College of Engineering and will complete up to their first two years of coursework at TJC, where Texas A&M faculty will teach the engineering courses. Students then complete their degrees at Texas A&M.

The press conference on Friday brought together leadership from both TJC and A&M.

“This incredible innovation of the way to do engineering is really unique to the system,” TJC President Dr. Juan E. Mejia said, explaining how the authentic relationships between institutions has made planning possible.

“This program was invented by President Banks when she was the dean of engineering at A&M, and it is one of the best deals for anyone going to be an engineer,” said Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp. “And, by the way, we only need about 50,000 more engineers just in Texas within the next five years, and that’s before the Chips Act kicks in, and you have these chip manufacturing plants that are going to be moving into Texas and so many other things, but there are 22 different engineering programs offered at A&M. All of them are in the top 10 in the United States of America, and the way this is going to work for these kids here is going to be amazing. What happens is, they’re going to save tens of thousands of dollars. They’re going to be students at this community college and students at Texas A&M.”

The first cohort of students at TJC will start the program in Fall 2023.

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