Caliber of Cisco Networking Academy Program Instructors is Reflected in National Awards
January 30, 2007
By Jason Deign, News@Cisco
The Cisco® Networking Academy® Program is renowned worldwide for the quality of the training that it provides for students. In Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), however, this excellence has been further recognized by a series of prestigious awards.
In Slovakia, for example, the area Academy manager František Jakab has been voted 'IT Person of the Year 2006' for his role in helping to establish 53 Networking Academies in universities and secondary schools across the country.
The IT Person of the Year prize was handed out at a gala event in Bratislava as part of a national awards scheme which has been running for six years and in 2006 featured more than 300 participants, including VIPs from government, academia and the technology industry.
It is the most prestigious award of its kind in Slovakia and aims to give public prominence to IT best practice and achievement. Prizes are given in three categories: IT company of the year, IT project of the year and IT person of the year.
Judging this year was led by a panel comprising Slovakian journalists and members of Slovakia's IT and telecom associations. Jakab, who has been with the Networking Academy program since 1999, was chosen from more than 80 nominees.
His work in helping to establish new Networking Academies has provided a foundation for more than 3600 students to acquire IT skills.
In addition to his responsibilities within the Networking Academy program, Jakab also runs a highly respected research and teaching laboratory, the Computer Network Laboratory, at the Department of Computer and Informatics of the Technical University of Košice in Slovakia.
Meanwhile in neighboring Poland, Jacek Raczkowski, another area Academy manager, has been named Friend of the University of IT and Management in Rzeszów.
The title was presented during a 2006-2007 academic year inauguration ceremony, in recognition of Raczkowski's work in fostering many years of cooperation between the university, which hosts a Cisco Academy Training Center, and the Networking Academy program.
Others honored alongside Raczkowski included the Marshall of the Polish Podkarpacie region, the bishop of Rzeszów diocese and Wiktor Zinn, a renowned Polish professor of art history.
Under Raczkowski's watch, the Rzeszów University of IT and Management has become one of the most successful Academies in the region.
It was recognized by Cisco as the Best Local Academy in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2001 and is also one of the biggest Academies in Europe, enrolling more than 800 students every year.
Raczkowski says: "It is a great honor to be recognized with this prestigious title. The university plays an important role in the regional IT market, being a partner in many technology projects in the southeast region of Poland."
Finally, the Networking Academy program itself has won the Czech Republic's most prestigious IT award at the biggest technology trade show in the CEE region, the INVEX International Fair of Information and Communication Technologies.
On behalf of the program, Miloslav Rut, Cisco general manager for the Czech Republic, and Czech area Academy manager Karol Kniewald were given the Crystal Disc Award for best trade fair exhibit at the INVEX 2006 event held in October at the Brno Exhibition Centre.
The 2006 show marked INVEX's 16th anniversary and since its inception the event has attracted more than 2000 exhibitors. INVEX is supported by the government authorities of the Czech Republic and other neighboring countries, which are also the region's largest IT customers.
The Crystal Disc was presented during a gala evening in the presence of the Czech Minister of Informatics and top IT delegates from the country and the CEE region.
Kniewald says: "The merit of this is that it is the most significant achievement in seven years of Networking Academy operations in the country, and I believe it will be the most important milestone for the next 10 years of the program in the Czech Republic."
Yvon Le Roux, Vice President, Public Sector, Cisco Europe and Emerging Markets, adds that these awards demonstrate how the Networking Academy program is being seen to add value to the ambitious yet skills-strapped communities of the CEE region.
"Research that we commissioned from IDC in 2005 showed that the CEE countries had the worst advanced technology skills gaps of any region in Europe, at 11.5 percent compared to a European Union average of just over seven percent.
"This is also arguably the region where IT skills can have the greatest impact, as these are the nations where levels of infrastructure rollout and business process reengineering are likely to be highest over the next few years.
"CEE leaders and industry bodies therefore recognize the importance of the Networking Academy program in delivering skills and it is gratifying to see this recognition being granted officially, in the form of prizes and awards, to both the program and the talented people behind it."
Jason Deign is a freelance journalist located in Barcelona, Spain.
