Digital Divide

The Budapest Polytechnic Academy provides training at all levels: CATC, Regional and Local. In working to provide the best possible support for its Academies, three out of four of its instructors have obtained the CCAI certification. The school manages 33 Regional Academies from Eastern Central Europe, training as many as 90 instructors per year. As a Local Academy, Budapest Polytechnic offers the CCNA course tuition free for 60-90 students each year.

In July 2002, Budapest Polytechnic received an Adtran Emulation Kit as part of the Cisco Networking Academy Ecosystem Donations Program. As stated by Dr. Gyula Feher, an instructor and the Legal Main Contact at Budapest Polytechnic,

“Since our college is a state financed academic institution, its financing greatly depends on the current economic situation of the country. Unfortunately at the present moment the institutes of education are underfinanced and, as a result, it would have been impossible for us to purchase the Adtran 550 Kit. Nevertheless, the hands-on emphasis of the Cisco Networking Academy curriculum requires lab-oriented teaching environment and that the students acquire real-life skills. In this respect, our students and the instructors trained by us had been at a great disadvantage as compared to the students and instructors in highly developed countries. This disadvantage could never have been overcome without this donation.”

Budapest Polytechnic serves very poor populations in the city of Budapest and in the surrounding regions of Hungary. Because Budapest Polytechnic operates as a CATC, a Regional, and a Local Academy, a large amount of instructors and students within the region have access to the donated equipment. The Adtran Emulation Kit is being used for all student instruction at the Academy, as well as instructor training given to Regional and Local Academies.

In a short amount of time, the donatoin has already made a significant impact on education and training at the Academy. As Dr. Feher explains, “Previously, the labs of CCNA4 were not popular with the students since they were not suitable for preparing them to solve real-life WAN situations. Since receiving and installing the equipment, these labs have become some of the most popular and successful.”