| Providing people with the skills to Design, Build and Maintain Computer Networks Nairobi, Kenya, 12th March 2007 - Cisco Networking Academy will be celebrating their10 year anniversary celebrations which will be held at the Serena Hotel, Orchid room on Monday 12th March 2007 at 6.00pm – 8.30pm This is the run up year to the Cisco Networking Academy Program’s 10th anniversary. The program began in October 1997 in a small school in San Jose and is now present in more than 11 000 institutions worldwide. So far, the Academy has had an impact on almost two million students across more than 160 countries. In Kenya alone, there are 18 active Academies with 4 000 students. This program is a crucial step towards helping meet the demand for the country’s ICT skills gap. The Cisco Networking Academy Program which is run in over 10,000 high schools, colleges, universities, technical and military schools, community based organizations and government training centre across the world, provides a global e-learning curriculum designed to teach students how to design, build and maintain computer networks as they may wish. They also offer a broad range of internet technology courses designed to equip students with skills to go into careers in network design and administration, technical support, programming or software engineering. Students and graduates are trained to use critical thinking and problem solving skills. Kenya became one of the first countries to host Networking Academies and as such has shown fantastic growth and ownership of the program. Due to the high number of Local Academies in Kenya, and in the interest of quality, the LA’s were split among the two regional Academies: AFRALTI and JKUAT. In Kenya there are 16 active local academies, namely Kenya College of Communication Technology (KCCT), University of Nairobi, Maseno University, Egerton University, Kenya Institute of Administration, Holy Rosary Tala (Female Academy), Loreto College Msongari (Female Academy), Masaai Education Discovery, Kenya College of Accountancy and Kenya School of Professional Studies. The curriculum offered currently in Kenya is IT Essentials, CCNA, Wireless Technologies and Network Security. Cisco Systems, has been very supportive to Kenya College Communication Technology since it realized the objective of the Ministry of Information & Communication, and recently donated a Wireless lab bundle to them to help them train on new curriculum which is very relevant to the new technologies that are coming up and to build skills in Kenya to support that technology Cisco has more than 300 Networking Academies in Africa, with more than 5000 students enrolled on courses. The program is a key element of Cisco’s contribution to bridging the Digital divide, and aims to help create a sustainable workforce in the continent. The success of these programs assists in offering sustainable development and accelerates a country’s progression and full integration into the world economy. Cisco Networking Academy, programs are parented by Cisco Systems Inc, a worldwide leader in networking for the internet, to bridge the growing skills shortage in the ICT sector and help provide alternative solutions for unemployment and the concept of lifelong learning for everyone Cisco vision through internet networking is to transform how people connect, communicate and collaborate, and present ways to accomplish the country's economic development through ICT. The Cisco Networking Academy program will be celebrating its 10th year anniversary with a number of events and activities throughout 2007. Cisco has offices in Cameroon, Johannesburg, Nigeria, Kenya, and soon in Senegal, Angola and Ethiopia. For any additional information, please visit www.cisco.com |
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