* The new plan announced within Cisco NetAcad 10th Anniversary
Riyadh, 16th April 2007: Cisco KSA revealed today its new plan to train 30.000 Saudi students under Cisco Network Academy (NetAcad) Program. The new plan was announced within Cisco NetAcad's 10th anniversary that was held in Riyadh under the patronage of H.E. Dr. Ali bin Nasser Al-Ghafees, Governor of the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT) which was announced as the first Saudi educational institution to integrate the program into its curriculum as of May 2000.
The event was attended by Scott Blacklin, Vice President Public Sector for Emerging Markets, Cisco, Dr. Badr Albadr, Cisco's General Manager in KSA, senior officials of Cisco and GOTEVOT as well as representatives of training and educational institutes and colleges who implement Cisco's NetAcad program in their curriculums.
"Today, we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of launching the Cisco Networking Academy Program worldwide which effectively succeeded in achieving its objectives, notably qualifying the Saudi youth for the communications industry through arming them with the administrative and technical skills required for such industry which has become the nervous system of all economies around the world", Albadr said.
Albadr added, "What is remarkable today is Cisco's new plan to train and qualify 30.000 Saudi students to use state-of-the-art communication solutions and equip them with the skills and abilities they need to actively address their role in the economic and technological development pursued by all in Saudi Arabia".
Applied in 45 national academies with over 3500 Saudi students (males and females), the Networking Academy Program furthers Cisco's commitment to strengthen the educational and training systems in Saudi Arabia and bridge the digital divide in the Kingdom.
NetAcad is a global, non-profit, electronic curriculum that teaches the basics of designing, building, developing, maintaining and managing networks. It is implemented at high schools, colleges and universities as well as technical institutes and governmental training centers worldwide.
Among the key objectives of the program, Albadr added, is to qualify the Saudi nationals to address the needs of the networking industry. A recent IDC study, commissioned by Cisco Saudi Arabia, has shown that the gap in networking skilled personnel in the Kingdom was 17,500 in 2005. This is an alarming indication that calls for increased efforts and programs to qualify more numbers of individuals with networking skills in Saudi Arabia. Failing to do that, the study warned, the gap is to gradually widen and could reach 39,000 by 2009.
NetAcad delivers a web-based content and total online learning experience in which students access a virtual community with the help of a user name and password. Once in, they experiment with demos and exercises and take exams. Other elements include online assessment, student performance tracking, hands-on labs, instructor training and support, and preparation for industry-standard certification.
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For more information, please contact:
Mohammed Yousef
Naif Abu-Saida
Asdaa Public Relations
Riyadh, KSA
Phone:+ 9661 4640051
Fax: + 9661 4628229
E-mails:m.yousef@asdaa.com
n.abusaida@asdaa.com
Mohammed Al Saqqa
PR & Communications Manager
Cisco Systems
Riyadh, KSA
Phone: + 9661 218 1088
Fax: + 9661 218 1090
E-mail:msaqqa@cisco.com
© Press Release 2007
