Cisco Networking Academy is an innovative education initiative that provided practical communication technology information and skills to more than 700,000 students in more than 160 countries last year. Relying on public-private partnerships with a broad range of educational institutions and other organizations, the Networking Academy uses the global network as a delivery system to:
- Extend first-rate technology education to underserved areas
- Empower people so they can realize their potential and achieve greater personal prosperity
- Stimulate the development of the global knowledge-based economy
- Encourage long-term, sustainable economic growth in communities and countries
The Networking Academy has been preparing students to take advantage of IT opportunities since 1997. The academy harnesses the two great equalizers in today’s world—education and the Internet—to teach IT skills to students from virtually every socioeconomic background and region. This helps narrow the skills gap between developed and developing countries and enables populations in disadvantaged areas to compete more successfully in the global marketplace.
The Networking Academy is supported by a robust infrastructure designed for volume and scalability. This network platform enables class and academy management, learning and assessment delivery, and educational community interaction and information dissemination. The system contains 2.5 terabytes of data and delivers nearly a million instructional assessments per month. The Academy Connection portal receives some 1.5 million hits each day.
Seizing the Opportunity for a Better Life
Opportunities for advancement seemed limited for 37-year-old Francis Okethwengu, who had only attained a high-school-level education in Uganda. One day, while Okethwengu was cleaning the grounds at the Uganda Martyrs University, he learned about Cisco Networking Academy. He saw the program as an opportunity to build a better life for his wife and five children, while supporting the development of the local IT industry. Despite the unfamiliar subject matter, Okethwengu excelled in his first semester. The flexible course schedule allowed him to work on a construction project near the university to help pay for his courses and support his family. After completing the program, Okethwengu hopes to apply his skills at the university, plus set up networks at two secondary schools that his own children will eventually attend.
Student and Community Profiles
All academy students have the advantage of consistent, high-quality e-learning curricula, hands-on laboratories, and online assessment. As of July 31, 2008, more than 2.6 million students have participated in courses since the Networking Academy was established. Students’ ages range from as young as 12 to almost 90. They come from many backgrounds and have a variety of aspirations: for instance, college students preparing for the job market, secondary-school students building digital literacy, workers wanting to improve their prospects with a new skill set or career, and business owners looking to become more competitive.
View a table 
that gives a profile of Networking Academy students according to Cisco’s major market regions and subregions.
*In FY08 the Networking Academy standardized on an “active” definition for calculating student, academy, instructor, and country metrics that uses a 12-month participation window. The data in this table, based on the new active definition, has changed compared to data reported in previous Cisco Corporate Social Responsibility Reports.
Adhering to the principle of public-private partnership, the academies are located in high schools, two-year colleges, technical schools, four-year colleges, universities, and community-based organizations in diverse communities and regions.
Active Students by Education Level
The Networking Academy is now active in more than 160 economically developing and developed countries worldwide. The table below shows how the number of countries has grown in the past 10 years.
1 For administrative purposes, we have defined some regions as countries that are not autonomous states or are not recognized as countries by international bodies such as the United Nations. Examples of these include American Samoa, French Polynesia, Hong Kong, and Puerto Rico.
2 In FY08 the Networking Academy standardized on an “active” definition for calculating student, academy, instructor, and country metrics that uses a 12-month participation window. The data in this table, based on the new active definition, has changed compared to data reported in previous Cisco Corporate Social Responsibility Reports.
3 Data as of July 31 of each year.
Read more about what’s new at the Networking Academy:
Resources on the Web
The Networking Academy makes extensive use of the web to connect members of the academy community with each other and with employers.
Academy Connection is a learning management portal that delivers information and management tools to the Networking Academy community. Administrators use Academy Connection to manage and support their academies. Instructors use it to create classes, deliver curriculum, provide student assessments, and track student progress, as well as to receive training themselves and track their own professional development. Students can use the portal to view curriculum online, receive assessments, and get personalized feedback that helps them improve. Academy Connection also serves as a gateway to several secondary portal/sites: Alumni Connection, Career Connection, Forums and Chat, the Cisco Learning Institute’s Teaching Resources, Curriculum Alignment Database, Academy Marketplace, CompTIA Voucher site, and the Academy Support Desk.
Academy NetSpace, a website created for students, alumni, and instructors, serves an interactive community where students can showcase their talents and connect with others involved in the academy worldwide. Networking Academy students and alumni can sharpen their networking skills while competing for virtual prizes. Instructors can use Academy NetSpace as an additional tool for reinforcing the curriculum. The website went live in late 2006 and as of July 31, 2008, it had more than 42,800 registered users, of which approximately 80 percent were students.
NetAcad Advantage is a website for academy students and graduates in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa that offers job and career services. They can use this resource to look for employment opportunities in the areas where they live. The site also provides insights into the IT working world with interviews featuring employers, working academy graduates, other IT professionals, industry luminaries, and human resources and recruitment specialists. Approximately 30,000 jobs are promoted daily through collaboration with recruiters, sales channels and Cisco.
