SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (NEXSTAR) — When Illinois legalized marijuana, a lot of new businesses popped up, and they had a lot of jobs to fill.

The University of Illinois-Springfield is trying to help fill them. The university partnered with the business Green Flower to offer an online course that would end with people getting a certificate that could be used on job applications.

“They were needing to stand up a workforce, but there was very little in the way of credentials to for someone to be able to pursue legitimate credentials and put that on their resume and say, hey, look, I’ve had this this kind of training. I’m ready to be a successful employee,” Dr. Robert Kerr with the University of Illinois said.

There have already been classes that finished up in the five years since weed was legalized. The next class starts next week.

“The cannabis industry in Illinois is growing exponentially and is really, in many cases considered one of the best run sectors in the whole country,” Max Simon with Green Flower said. “And because of that, there’s a growing demand for well-trained professionals to work inside the businesses to start these businesses or to service these businesses. So we at Green Flower creates trusted cannabis curriculum and we partner with universities across the country to be able to offer these programs to help develop this cannabis workforce.”

The class is open to anyone, not just UIS students, and it gives no official college credit. it offers specialties in the cannabis business side and the horticulture side of the industry.