Universal Technical Institute’s (UTI) Mooresville, N.C., campus, NASCAR Technical Institute (NASCAR Tech), is rolling out new curriculum in its Ford FACT (Ford Accelerated Credential Training) program to prepare its students to keep the next generation of vehicles on the road.

The new course is another step in UTI’s overall EV strategy, the company says, which includes enhancing its core curriculum, enhancing and offering new EV certifications in certain manufacturer-specific advanced training (MSAT) programs, and developing new training models and partnership opportunities to expand UTI’s overall EV ecosystem.

The new Ford EV curriculum will feature blended learning courses on high-voltage systems safety, hybrid vehicle components and operation, battery electric vehicle (BEV) components and operation, and an introduction to high voltage battery service, as well as a Ford instructor-led class on hybrid and electric vehicle operation and diagnosis.

Ford is providing a new PHEV vehicle to each campus so students receive hands-on training and virtual reality goggles that will be utilized in Ford’s training curriculum. This gives Ford FACT graduates the opportunity to achieve Ford’s High Voltage Systems Certification, in addition to the 11 certifications the program already offers. Ford FACT graduates also train in three additional certification pathways that require certain classes to be taken at a Ford training center.

Nine of UTI’s 14 campuses currently offer Ford FACT, a 15-week advanced training program that prepares students to work with Ford’s exclusive technology, computer diagnostics, electrical, gasoline and diesel technologies. Students are eligible to take Ford FACT after they successfully complete UTI’s core automotive or auto/diesel programs. Since Ford and UTI launched FACT in 1999, more than 25,000 students have graduated from the program.