Tanzania
Academy Profile
DIT
Regional Academy
Established March, 2003
The Cisco Networking Academy at Dar Es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT) in Tanzania pulls together students from neighboring secondary schools, technical colleges, vocational education and training centers, IT professionals, and the Institute’s fulltime students to create a large and diverse pool of applicants for the Cisco courses at DIT. Fulltime DIT students are enrolled into the Program as a part of their normal curriculum, while graduates and working professionals and recruited through DIT’s collaborative efforts with the Department of Continuing Education. Working professionals constitute about 20-30% of the Cisco Networking Academy students, and usually learn about the Cisco Program through the Institute’s advertising efforts. Dar Es Salaam Institute of Technology feels strongly about the importance of the Cisco Networking Academy curriculum for its students in order to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of work of current and future IT technicians.
The Institute is comprised of 3 departments. The Computer Engineering Department offers degrees in Computer Engineering and Computer Networking at the undergraduate level (students earn an FTC—Full Technician Certificate). The Electrical Engineering Department offers both the Full Technician Certificate program and an Advanced Diploma in Engineering (ADE) program in Electrical Engineering. The last department is the Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering Department, which offers both FTC and ADE programs in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering. The faculty at DIT hopes that the Cisco curriculum will strengthen the quality of instruction in computer networks in all 3 departments, especially the latter, which has very few courses in Computer Networking as part of the Institute’s normal curriculum.
The Institute has 26 personal computers available for the Academy students with 128KBPS speed Internet Access. The computer lab is open 12 hours each day.
The Dar Es Salaam Institute of Technology recognizes that there is a gender imbalance at the Institute and is taking active steps to fight it. They take special measures to recruit female students into the Academy courses, including inviting female graduates of the Institute to participate in the Cisco Networking Academy. Females who meet the qualifications for enrollment into the Academy are given top priority into the Program, and instructors at the Institute search to find sponsorships for women so that Academy fees do not prevent female participation. When Academy instructors had to adjust to a restructuring of the CCNA curriculum, they saw it as an opportunity to promote increased female participation by creating and all-female class. DIT’s instructor Joseph Challo says “The Cisco Program and the Gender Initiative came at the right time to sensitize Management.” He and others have worked hard to convince the Institute to create an all-female class, and to provide extra funds for the class to subsidize Academy fees and further encourage women to participate.