NEW DELHI, India - January 15, 2001 - Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, has committed to establishing 34 Cisco Regional Networking Academies in India in partnership with the Indian government and educational institutions in every state and union territory. The announcement was made during the inaugural visit by John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco Systems, to India, and after meeting Pramod Mahajan, the Minister for Information Technology in the capital today. Chambers is in India for a two-day visit.
The Cisco Networking Academy Program includes resource contributions from Cisco Systems, education, business, government and community organizations around the world, and is focused on teaching students how to design, build, and maintain computer networks. The program prepares students for the 21st Century workplace, while serving as a valuable model for e-learning. As of today, more than 150,000 students have enrolled in the program in 5,900 academies in 99 countries around the world.
The 34 new Regional Academies, will join eight other existing Regional Academies - IIIT, Bangalore; IIIT, Hyderabad; National Centre for Software Technology, Mumbai; Osmania University, Hyderabad; MS University Baroda; Amrita Institute of Advanced Computing, Coimbatore; Regional Engineering College, Jalandhar; and Centre for Electronics Design & Technology, Gorakhpur. These academies will receive networking equipment to build leading-edge network labs as well as comprehensive training in the Networking Academy curriculum and technical support from Cisco Systems.
Apart from offering the networking curriculum to their own students, Regional Academies are committed to recruiting and supporting up to 10 Local Academies to broaden the availability of the program even further. The entire network of Academies across India will be supported by a Cisco Academy Training Centre (CATC), which will administer, regulate and review the progress of these Academies.
"It is with great delight that I accept this commitment by Cisco Systems to India," said Mahajan, after the meeting with Chambers. "Cisco Systems is without doubt a leader in the Internet Age and we are honoured that the company has placed so much emphasis on contributing to the technology and economic development of India."
"This commitment builds on Cisco's already considerable investments in Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. The Cisco Networking Academy Program has the potential to have an even larger impact on the country by preparing the second generation of Indians to compete in the Global Internet Economy," continued Mahajan.
As an international business leader, Cisco recognizes the importance of our continued participation in the global community. "I truly believe there are two equalizers in life: the Internet and education," said Chambers. "The Cisco Networking Academy Program is our way of increasing the pool of qualified IT professionals and ensuring that business and government work together on their common goal of preparing students for the future."
Established in October 1997, the Cisco Networking Academy Program provides specialized training to students on how to design, build and maintain computer networksenabling students to develop skills necessary to compete in an increasingly technology-dependent workplace. The program provides course work for a complete range of basic through advanced networking conceptsfrom pulling cable through to such complex concepts such as subnet masking rules and strategies. Through the Networking Academy program, students learn fundamental networking concepts and have a chance to apply their skills in hands-on lab exercises at the Networking Lab.
