MANHATTAN — An initiative by Kansas State University could soon bring university computer programming courses to high schools and small colleges across the state, providing students with an in-demand job skill. K-State's Computational Core Initiative, offered by the computer science department in the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering, is a set of programming courses designed to provide students of any major with the fundamental knowledge to utilize programming in a variety of situations. The initiative's courses focus less on programming theory, so advanced mathematics classes such as calculus are not required — college algebra is sufficient to take the courses.