Higher Education
Central Virginia is home to a robust higher-education ecosystem, educating over 39,000 students every year. More than 42% of the region’s population have at least a Bachelor’s degree, with an even higher concentration within the Charlottesville MSA. In additon to a nationally ranked major university, the University of Virginia, the region benefits from two community colleges: Germanna Community College and Piedmont Virginia Community College.
University of Virginia
The critically-acclaimed University of Virginia (UVA) is consistently ranked as a top five best public national university by the U.S. News & World Report and the Top College in Virginia by Forbes.
More than 18,000 undergraduate and 9,000 graduate students are educated each year, providing a steady flow of talented individuals to the region’s workforce. UVA’s world-class faculty fosters an innovative ecosystem that collaborates with businesses to find solutions to the most important challenges of our time in engineering, science, business, law, and humanities.
Community Colleges
Germanna Community College partners with Central Virginia businesses to ensure they have the most well-trained workforce. In the heart of northern Central Virginia is the Germanna Daniel Technology Center, a state of the art community college and workforce training campus. Built to respond to Central Virginia’s growing technology sector, the campus focuses primarily on workforce training for technology and manufacturing clients, while continuing to offer training in a wide variety of fields.
Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) offers education and workforce training resources to employers and residents of Central Virginia. PVCC is an active partner in Central Virginia’s economic development efforts, assisting buisnesses large and small by creating programs to respond to shifting employer needs. The newly opened Woodrow W. Bolick Advanced Technology and Student Success Center serves as a vibrant hub for academic life and expanded technology programs.