Through an innovative partnership between the UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) and Cisco Systems the Networking Academies program will train students in Asia-Pacific countries with up-to-date IT curricula to fulfill the demands and enormous opportunities of the information age while creating a qualified talent pool for building and maintaining networks.

The Challenge. The information economy will demand an unprecedented level of technology literacy from tomorrow’s workers. Yet in many Asia-Pacific countries there is a severe shortage of trained networking specialists. While IT-focussed curricula are becoming more commonplace in developed countries, colleges and universities in developing countries are often not able to provide up-to-date IT curricula due to a lack of trained staff and equipment. Unless this changes, these countries run the risk of being left behind in the information age, widening the gap between rich and poor countries.

The Solution. To address these problems, the Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) has teamed up with Cisco, the world leader in networking technology, to provide the Cisco Systems Network Academies program to Asia-Pacific countries which until now have had limited access to up-to-date networking training. Through the program, students can learn the information needed to prepare them for the Cisco Certified Network Associate exam. This certification positions them for immediate openings in a talent-hungry job market or for engineering- and science-focused college studies.

In a nutshell, the Network Academy Program is a complete, four-semester program on the principles and practice of designing, building, and maintaining networks capable of supporting national and global organizations. Cisco provides course work for a complete range of basic through advanced networking concepts—from pulling cable through such complex concepts as subnet masking rules and strategies. In a lab setting that closely corresponds to the real world, students get their hands on the building blocks of today’s global information networks, learning by doing as they design and bring to life local and wide-area networks.

In the program, APDIP will serve as a Regional Academy, which will support up to five Local Academies. The Regional Academy teaches the teachers who oversee programs at the Local Academies under its jurisdiction. The Regional Academy funnels input to Cisco on topics such as individual school performance, curriculum quality and effectiveness, and student progress. The format for the classes reflects the content: interactive lessons stored largely on the classroom’s Cisco web server.

The academy design also accommodates diverse learning styles. For those who learn by reading, text is available. More-visual learners can focus on the course material’s extensive graphics and QuickTime movies. To promote development of the personal skills that underpin successful careers, projects require students not only to resolve technical issues, but also to successfully address network users’ needs.

Local Academies receive mentoring and technical support from the Regional Academy and are backed by service and support program from Cisco’s partners that provides a round-the-clock access to assistance from Cisco’s Technical Assistance Center (TAC) and the Cisco Connection Online (CCO) Web site. They also qualify for major software and maintenance releases, product documentation updates and delivery of replacement parts.

The APDIP-Cisco partnership APDIP acts as a Cisco Regional Network Academy in the Asia-Pacific region.

Requirements in order to become a Local Network Academy, a university or college has to meet the following criteria:

• Dedicated Internet connection (preferably 64KB)
• Classroom with floor area of 85 m2, properly equipped as a computer lab.
• A qualified instructor.
• For Academies supplying their own computers: enough Pentium Class computers to support a minimum of a 1:3 computer:student ratio.

More information on the Cisco Networking Academy can be found on Cisco’s website at: http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/edu/academy/

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