IT networking giant Cisco Systems recently held a local career fair for vocational students in conjunction with Sri Lanka's Vocational Training Authority in which many of the country's top corporates participated, including Abans, Millennium IT, Airtel, Mobitel, IBM, CIC, etc. This event was part of the company's Networking Academy programme whereby it offers certifications in the field of IT networking.
The academy, a worldwide company initiative currently undergoing an "evolution" to be rolled out in the SAARC region on November 14, comprises 70,000 students across this region, with 1,500 students currently enrolled locally and 2,900 students certified cumulatively to date, by way of six authorised domestic institutes.
Speaking exclusively to the Business Times on the sidelines of the event, the company's newly appointed academy head and Regional Head for Corporate Affairs for India and SAARC, Bina Raj-Debur, outlined Cisco's plans for Sri Lanka over the coming year, one of which is national level skills building which will necessitate Cisco going beyond its traditional local focus of academic interactions, and also partnering with the Sri Lankan government and industry associations. Another such area is catering to defence personnel and offering them, post-war, new career options. In addition, the company wants to further its capacity building efforts domestically and, as such, continue to grow its island-wide footprint in terms of students, institutions, etc.
At the same time, also suggested was the company's entry into social enterpreneurship locally "in a big way." In line with this, Ms. Raj-Debur also noted that the current, introductory IT enabled skills component of Cisco's certificates had already incorporated a suite of tools named "Passport 21" which included case studies on business management, money matters, enterprise, etc. as well as a simulated data packet tracing game called "Aspire" which would help inclucate social enterpreneurship skills in students.
Also signalled, Cisco expects to carry out more community engagement programmes in line with the ones it has already carried out with the University of Peradeniya. However, in the future, these will be more structured, rather than need based, which was formerly the case.
The firm also revealed plans to extend its teaching methods beyond the classroom and incorporate open distance learning methods using its proprietary unified collaboration/communication tools into academy coursework.
Concluding, Ms. Raj-Debur also opined that Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were Cisco's two most important markets in the region, while also recommending IT networking as a career because "all industries need networking jobs." |
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