Egypt Pledges to Open 1000 New Cisco Networking Academies by November 2009
October 22, 2008
By Mike Stone
From the pyramids to the Aswan dam, Egyptians have never been shy about thinking big. And young Ahmed Korany Zaki is no exception.
Despite a lack of educational opportunities throughout his childhood, he has built up an IT career in a country where not knowing how to use a computer is fast becoming a thing of the past, thanks to a major private-public partnership involving the Cisco® Networking Academy®.
Zaki set up a computer business in October 2006 and now runs an Internet café as well as providing PC maintenance, Internet connections for homes and businesses, and local area network installations.
None of this would have been possible had he not been able to complete the IT Essentials I and IT Essentials II entry-level information technology courses at an Egyptian Networking Academy.
But increasingly, finding a place on these courses is becoming easier than you might expect in Egypt.
That is because the Egyptian Government is in the process of opening 1000 new Networking Academies by November 2009, through an IT training program formally known as the Egypt Education Initiative (EEI).
"The Egyptian public and private sectors have long recognized the value of IT infrastructure and skills and this is helping the country to become one of the most competitive nations in the region."
According to the plan, 200 schools, 300 universities and 500 non-government organizations (NGOs) will become accredited Networking Academies.
So far, 248 public preparatory schools, 27 Ministry of Education technology development centers, 21 university faculties, around 1000 teachers and professors and 80 IT clubs have signed up.
In addition, Cisco has signed an agreement with the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education to introduce and integrate CCNA® into the official curriculum of all public engineering and computer sciences universities.
The aim of all this is to supply skills for a generation of technology entrepreneurs such as Zaki, through effective use of information communications technology (ICT) and with a special focus on harnessing the e-learning technologies.
The EEI has the potential to be a regional model for the development of effective education and training structures, with an impact far beyond Egypt's borders.
From the inception of the EEI in May 2006 up until February 2008, new Networking Academies had supplied Egypt with 2100 graduates from the Cisco IT Essentials, CCNA and CCNP® courses.
In time, it is envisaged that thousands more graduates, many with more advanced qualifications, will enter the Egyptian job market, propelling the country's IT industry and allowing it to export talent to other countries in the region.
Many of the centers affiliated to the EEI are IT clubs, a popular and growing feature of schools, university campuses and community centers in Egypt. At least 1800 are currently equipped and supported by the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT).
As well as various ministries of the government of Egypt, the World Economic Forum and several global corporations, Egyptian companies and NGOs are involved in the project.
Given the growing scale of the EEI, Cisco has put together an entirely new team called CASA 100 to provide project management support for the large-scale deployment of Networking Academies that the initiative requires.
Cisco will oversee and implement the project drawing on its experience of e-learning models in previous work with the MCIT. The EEI has also involved an entirely new support model for Networking Academies to assure both the quality of the service and the scalability of the project.
A major component of this model is a central, Arabic-language help desk, providing support for all Academies. Quality control and auditing will be further assured by a separate entity mandated and audited by Cisco.
Meanwhile, existing Networking Academy instructors, in consultation with the Egyptian Ministries of Education and Higher Education, have been asked to train the 2000 staff required for the new academies.
As large as it is, the EEI is just one of many projects that Egypt is currently undertaking to improve communications, education and infrastructure.
These measures, plus economic liberalization, have had significant positive results in recent years, with foreign direct investment into Egypt exceeding USD$11 billion in the 12 months to July 2007.
As a result, according to the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, in 2007 the country was predicted to overtake South Africa as the highest earner of foreign direct investment on the African continent.
The EEI is doing its part to ensure that this unique country, with a recorded history and culture stretching back millennia, has an equally glittering future ahead of it.
Nevine El Kadi, Networking Academy regional manager for the Middle East and Africa, says: "The Egyptian public and private sectors have long recognized the value of IT infrastructure and skills and this is helping the country to become one of the most competitive nations in the region.
"Cisco is committed to helping bring about this change and we are delighted to be involved in many of the flagship IT projects across the country, from state-of-the-art hotel and retail developments through to the EEI, which will provide a whole generation with skills for the future."
Mike Stone is a freelance journalist located in Barcelona, Spain.
