Narrowing the gap between the information rich and the information poor :
New technologies and the future of the school

CISCO Networking Academies programme

9 Asian countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Fiji, India, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua-New Guinea and Sri Lanka

The Network Academy Program is a complete, four-semester programme on the principles and practice of designing, building and maintaining networks capable of supporting national and global organisations. Mainly working at the university level, this programme also serves college students and science/engineering-oriented students at the end of their basic education. CISCO, the world leader in networking technology, provides course work for a complete range of network concepts- from easy concepts like pulling cable to complex ones as subnet masking rules and strategies. The programme is offered to countries with limited access to up-to-date networking, including those without Internet connections. This project empowers these countries and works as a good example of co-operative citizenship in educational development.

The Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) and CISCO (public-private partnership) jointly selected institutions in Asia Pacific region to become UNDP-APDIP-CISCO Networking Academies. These Academies could choose two persons to take part in a Train-the-Trainer Course organised by APDIP and CISCO. These instructors then conducted classes in their respective institutions.

The information economy will demand an unprecedent level of technology literacy from tomorrow's workers. Yet, in many Asia-Pacific countries, there is a severe shortage of trained networking specialists. While IT-focused curricula are becoming more commonplace in developed countries, colleges and universities in developing countries are often not able to provide up-to-date Information Technology curricula, due to a lack of trained staff and equipment. Unless this changes, these countries run the risk of being left behind in the Information Age, widening the gap between the information rich and information poor countries.

Asia-Pacific Development Information programme
Ramita Sharma,
PO Box 12544
50782 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Tel : 00 603 255 9122
E-mail : Ramita@apdip.net
Website : http://www.apdip.net/

Institutional Partners
CISCO Bangladesh University of Enginner and Technology, Dhaka
Royal Institute of Management, Thimpu, Bhutan
Royal University of Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Fiji Institute of Technology,
Suva Regional Engineering College, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, India
Shaheed Bhagat Singh College of Enginneering and Technology, Ferozpur, India
Mongolian Technical University, Ulaanbaatar,
Mongolia Institute of Engineering, Kathmandu, Nepal
Papua New Guinea University of Technology (UNITECH), Lae
Institute of Computer Technology, Colombo. Sri Lanka

Financial Partners
CISCO

August 1999

APDIP was selected as the winner of the Education Category in the Stockholm Challenge Award 2000 for its UNDP-APDIP Cisco Networking Academies Programme