Cisco Continuing Education Program

As an active Associate, Specialist, Professional, or Expert certification holder, you have flexible options and a variety of eligible training items to help you recertify through the Cisco Continuing Education Program. Stay in step with the certified professional community; retain your active certification status by keeping your skills sharp and evolving with technology.

All requirements for recertification must be completed by your certification expiration date. Credits accumulate until you recertify your highest level of certification, at which point all certifications at that level and below become recertified. Individuals who allow their certification(s) to expire must complete the full examination process again to earn active status. Any 'Pending' CE credits at the time of expiration will retroactively apply towards recertification based on the activity completion date once your claim is validated.

Upon the retirement of any certification, no new certifications will be issued or available for recertification. The certification will remain active until the candidate’s unique expiration date. See Retired Certifications.

The table above outlines the options for recertifying through the Continuing Education Program. Certified individuals can also recertify at any time by passing certification exams and/or advancing to the next level of certification. To view our full policy and a complete list of recertification options, visit the recertification policy page.

Below are the 3 categories of qualified continuing education items. Expand each section for additional details. All CE eligible activities are reviewed by the Continuing Education Technical Committee for technical rigor and assigned a specific credit value. Active certification holders can complete any combination of eligible CE activities to achieve the number of Continuing Education credits required for your certification. You do not need to earn credits in the same technology area as your certification. For example, credits you earn from taking a Security course can apply to recertify an Enterprise certification.

Credits for completing eligible CE activities are NOT automatically awarded at this time. You must log in to the CE Portal to submit a claim and credits will be awarded when the relevant content provider validates your claim submission. Most claims are validated within seven days, but it can take up to 30 days.

You must submit your finalized item(s) (e.g., training completion, Cisco Live attendance, etc.) for credit via the Continuing Education portal within 365 days of completion, however we encourage you to submit claims promptly to avoid potential delays in your recertification. Recertification is based on activity completion date, NOT the date you submit your claim. Waiting doesn't pay, submit today!

1. Users must log in to the CE portal and accept the terms and conditions of the Continuing Education User Agreement to submit a claim for CE credits.
   • For validation purposes, CE claims MUST be submitted from the Cisco.com account used to complete the eligible activity. See FAQ for more info.
2. The Continuing Education program is open to individuals with associate, specialist, professional, or expert Cisco Certification(s) in active status.
   • Continuing Education activities must be completed prior to certification expiration.
   • If you've previously accessed the CE portal, you can submit a CE claim after your certification has expired, in accordance with the policies herein.
     • Any credits claimed after certifications have expired (for activities completed before expiration) will retroactively apply towards recertification based on the activity completion date.
3. Claims must be submitted for Continuing Education credit within 1 year (365 days) of completing an eligible activity. Claims cannot be submitted beyond the one-year window.
4. Continuing Education credits can only be claimed for completing the same training more than once if there has been a major revision since last completed/claimed. No credit can be claimed a second time for completing minor version updates of a training.
   • If credits were previously granted for v1.x, then credit CAN be claimed for later completing v2.x, v3.x, etc. of the same training (Ex. PRNE 1.0 and PRNE 2.0).
   • If credits were previously granted for v1.0, then credit CANNOT be claimed for later completing v1.1, v1.2, etc. (Ex. ENCOR 1.0, ENCOR 1.1, ENCOR 1.2).
   • Credits CANNOT be claimed for both Customer and Partner facing versions of the same course (e.g. A-SDA-FASTSTART/P-SDA-FASTSTART, or CUST-SDA-ISE/P-SDA-ISE).
   • Credits will be granted for completing Alpha trainings. Continuing Education credit will not be awarded for submissions of the formally released version of the same course.
5. Earned CE credits are valid for 3 years from the date the activity was completed.
6. Once criteria are met, recertification(s) will be automatically processed based on the date that the last qualifying activity is completed (see the recertification policy web page for the full recertification policy).
7. Credits will roll over or expire if a new recertification cycle starts:
   • CE credits are automatically applied towards recertification in the order in which they are earned and cannot be held for future use.
   • CE credits are first applied in increments of 5, followed by a smaller increment of 1-4 credits when necessary. Increments cannot be split and applied towards multiple recertification cycles.
   • Unapplied Continuing Education credits totaling 5 or more will roll over into the next recertification cycle and remain active until the credit expiration date.
   • Unapplied Continuing Education credits totaling 4 or less may not roll over.
8. There is no cap on the number of Continuing Education credits that can be earned from any item category.
9. Cisco reserves the right to reject, deny, or revoke any claims for CE credit that we deem to be inconsistent with the spirit of continuous learning or the values of the Continuing Education Program.