According to the 2025-2026 Hiring Benchmark Report, only 8% of hiring professionals think that Gen Z is prepared for the workforce. India is just one place where this appears to be true, with a whopping 83% of 2025 engineering graduates yet to secure a job or internship offer. Big data and rapid digitalization are transforming the industry at a pace where universities can’t keep up, and companies are faced with a pool of candidates who lack the right technical and soft skills for the job.
This presents both an opportunity and a challenge for academic institutions. As demand for a new generation of innovators heightens, how will educators be able to train the right skills to students and adopt new teaching methods?
That’s where the 3DEXPERIENCE Edu Centers of Excellence (CoE) come in. Read on to learn how they are supporting industries’ digital transformation.
CoE meaning and definition
A 3DEXPERIENCE Edu Center of Excellence refers to an educational and training institution, recognized by Dassault Systèmes for utilizing the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to support students or industry professionals in learning industry-relevant skills and processes required of the current landscape in fields like manufacturing, infrastructure and cities and life sciences.
CoEs are typically facilities or programs hosted within an academic institution and offer a unique blend of simulation-based education, hands-on projects, and real-world problem-solving experiences. Students gain experience with advanced concepts, such as virtual twin experiences, which allow users to create digital replicas of physical systems, to bring innovation from abstract concepts into tangible results. For example, students can simulate aerospace systems or manufacturing processes, ensuring they are equipped with future-ready skills needed by industries worldwide.
With over 43 active centers across five continents, there are many opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration. Working within diverse teams that blend new learners and industry leaders benefits both students entering a competitive job market and long-time professionals who have witnessed first-hand a rising industry problem: the skills gap.
What is a skills gap? How can a CoE help with upskilling the workforce?
A skills gap exists within an industry when the skills a company needs and the skills its employees possess differ.
According to a recent report by the World Economic Forum, an estimated 59% of the global workforce will need reskilling by 2030 to meet changing skill demands. Some leading companies, such as Dassault Systèmes, are upskilling the workforce by creating centers of excellence that prepare the workforce of the future for Industry 4.0.
These centers are designed to build awareness within academic institutions and universities about new skills and processes required by the industry and even provide hands-on experience working with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Students gain technical & soft skills needed to be attractive to a job market like Model-based systems engineering (MBSE), simulation, data science, 3D modeling, sustainable engineering and collaboration – and provide the expertise required to tackle the challenges of the industry.
What is the objective of a CoE program?
The objective of a CoE program is to enhance employability and innovation by providing opportunities to use the 3DEXPERIENCE platform within specific business situations.
Participating in a CoE program offers an opportunity for students and professionals to acquire the practical skills necessary for employment and stay current with the rapid pace of digital transformation and sustainability across industries. CoEs are contributing to closing the skills gap by working jointly with employers to identify the required skills, methods and processes necessary for success in the real world.
How does Dassault Systèmes select a CoE?
To become a CoE, a rigorous process is completed to prove competency on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The prospective institution must prove that they not only have a recent version of the platform, but have used it long enough to showcase their competencies and ability to adhere to the Charter for 3DEXPERIENCE Edu CoE. From there, a self-evaluation is conducted, and an interview is held. If these steps are done successfully, a contract is signed and the institution becomes an official CoE. The center receives a plaque, they organize an inauguration ceremony jointly with Dassault Systèmes, and they appear on the Dassault Systèmes website.
What is the Charter for 3DEXPERIENCE Edu Centers of Excellence?
The Charter for CoEs is a list of 10 articles that an institution must follow to become and remain a Center of Excellence. It includes the following:
- 3DEXPERIENCE Edu Centers of Excellence are facilities that provide 3DEXPERIENCE expertise to learners in academia, individuals and/or to professionals in the economic sectors of manufacturing, infrastructure & cities and life sciences.
- Centers of Excellence work jointly with employers to maintain their continuous awareness about required skills and new methods and processes.
- Dassault Systèmes promotes Centers of Excellence on the basis of their verified area of competency and supports their continuous efforts to maintain and enhance their expertise in 3DEXPERIENCE and related best practices.
- Centers of Excellence provide academic learners with project opportunities to contextualize the 3DEXPERIENCE platform within specific business situations, especially SMBs.
- Centers of Excellence make appropriate investments to provide learners with knowledge and know-how of the digital thread from ideation to physical product, using established and emerging methods and processes.
- Centers of Excellence combine their own knowledge and know-how in various domains with their 3DEXPERIENCE expertise to develop innovative practices and their subsequent learning experiences.
- Centers of Excellence actively promote the jobs and innovative methods, and approaches of selected economic sectors among school students and the public, with the aim of demonstrating the attractiveness of studies and careers in those sectors.
- Centers of Excellence maintain their globally competitive awareness, accelerate their educational development and optimize their operational efficiency by actively participating in a worldwide network of peers established and coordinated by Dassault Systèmes.
- Centers of Excellence actively display their membership and promote the program to disseminate its value to the public, learners, companies, educational institutions and governments.
- Centers of Excellence review their status on a yearly basis with Dassault Systèmes to guarantee that the 3DEXPERIENCE knowledge and know-how they provide is continuously state-of-the-art.
How does a CoE benefit from partnering with Dassault Systèmes?
By partnering with Dassault Systèmes, a CoE not only gains access to a network of peers who have similar problems they are seeking to solve, but also access to Dassault Systèmes’ very best educational and technical experts. Each center has the opportunity to speak with a Dassault Systèmes expert, learn best practices on the current industry landscape, and receive learning materials specific to their topic of interest, whether it be MODSIM, digital logistics, 3D printing, and many more. Technical support with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, as well as marketing to promote CoE programs, is also available to CoE members.
CoE Spotlight: Trier University uses MODSIM for neurosurgery training
To mill or not to mill. That is the question students at Trier University in Germany seek to help neurosurgeons answer before a medical procedure.
As part of the student project HAMLET (Haptic Applications for Medical Learning, Experimenting and Teaching), students are building a virtual twin of the human brain using advanced modeling and simulation (MODSIM) technologies. This enables surgeons to practice precise procedures in a risk-free simulated environment. By replicating real-life surgical scenarios, the platform helps medical professionals refine their techniques and build confidence in their skills before performing on patients.
The integration of MODSIM into this project showcases the immense potential of virtual twin technology in healthcare education. Additionally, it highlights how Edu Centers of Excellence empower students to solve real-world problems with cutting-edge tools—and prepare them to lead advancements in their respective fields like mechanical engineering and medical engineering.
“We’re very much oriented towards what the big players use,” said Michael Hoffmann, head of the “Digital Product Development and Manufacturing” lab in the Department of Engineering at Trier University of Applied Sciences. “The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is such an advanced interdisciplinary solution and gives students a complete, end-to-end view of the product development lifecycle of strategic projects. Students learn to use the system but also apply strategic and methodical working methods. We also value the fact that it’s cloud-based so that students can access the platform at university or at home and continue their studies wherever they are.”
CoE Spotlight: Robotics and intelligent automation are redefined at KLE Technological University
KLE Technological University (KLE Tech) is committed to remaining at the forefront of industrial innovation and inspiring the next generation of engineers. Using a Project-Based Learning approach with advanced tools like the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, students work on real-world, industry-relevant scenarios and gain experience with tools commonly used in manufacturing, robotics and automation.
CoE Spotlight: Civil & environmental engineering at USC
According to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme, the buildings and construction sector accounts for roughly 37% of global emissions. With mounting pressure from climate change activists to shake up an industry that is both a major energy consumer and slow to adopt new technologies, the University of Southern California’s Sonny Astani Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE) is changing the narrative.
“There’s a misconception that civil and environmental engineering is somehow distinct from the tech sector – but actually, contemporary civil and environmental engineering is very computational,” said David Gerber, professor of practice in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, at USC. “By promoting innovation in the industry, we’re determined to affect the livability of the planet – acting as environmental stewards by developing energy-efficient and economic solutions.”
CEE is the first center in the 3DEXPERIENCE Edu Centers of Excellence program to focus on skills for sustainable innovation in the cities, infrastructure and construction center. Students can take courses in advanced design and construction technology to solve real-world sustainability issues through the application of computational tools such as advanced visualization, modeling and simulation, and data analysis. The goal is to spearhead the next generation of civil and environmental engineers and shape a better future for the planet.
CoE Spotlight: Werk150 is honored for pioneering solutions in industrial engineering
Werk150, a high-tech learning factory at Reutlingen University in Germany, is the newest facility to be honored by Dassault Systèmes as a 3DEXPERIENCE Edu Center of Excellence. Students learn about the opportunities and challenges of innovative technology in the manufacturing sector by using a real-world environment to test digital engineering skills using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
Frequently asked questions about the 3DEXPERIENCE Edu Centers of Excellence
You may have some more questions about the Centers of Excellence. Let’s answer them.
Students, recent graduates and working professionals all benefit from the programs at a Center of Excellence. Students and recent graduates will benefit from the technical skills and real-life experience they’ve received from a CoE when they enter the job market. Working professionals will benefit from the expertise and new talent that enter their workplace by introducing new skills and processes needed for an evolving landscape.
Participating in a Center of Excellence program offers students, graduates and working professionals a host of benefits. They include the following:
Benefits for learners:
Learn industry-ready skills
Contextualize the 3DEXPERIENCE platform within specific industrial practices
Learn about specific industries and career paths
Benefits for academic institutions:
Participate in a worldwide network of peers established and coordinated by Dassault Systèmes
Contribute toward filling an industry-wide skills gap
Benefit from the branding benefits of being associated with Dassault Systèmes
The 3DEXPERIENCE Edu Centers of Excellence were created in October 2021 by Dassault Systèmes, through the leadership of Xavier Fouger, 3DEXPERIENCE Edu Centers & Programs Expert, at Dassault Systèmes.
An engineer-turned-educator and strong proponent of problem-based learning, Fouger launched the Edu Centers of Excellence program after witnessing societal and technological changes affecting industries and the skills & talent gap over the course of his 35-year career.
CoE stands for the 3DEXPERIENCE Edu Centers of Excellence.
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