| TIANJIN _ Cisco Systems, with its strategic vision of China's market potential, inaugurated its 15th networking China academy here yesterday as part of a long-term drive to cultivate local undergraduates with Cisco-designed training programmes. "The Cisco academy program- me fulfills our promise to assist China in its informatization drive and its desire to equip the young generation with knowledge about Internet technologies which are crucial to meet the challenges of the next century,"said Jia Bin Duh, president of Cisco Systems (China) Corp. Cisco China's 15th academy is located in Tianjin University where the China Education and Research Networks (CERNET) opened a local main host which provides Internet access services to users in Tianjin. Kai-Ning Lu, dean of the Tianjin University Networks Information Centre, said it's an effective way to set up a technology training network for college students. Cisco's global non-profit training programmes were first introduced in the United States last year. At present, more than 1,000 colleges in the US and across the world have set up Cisco Networking Academy. By the end of the year, 500 colleges in Asia are expected to take part in this programme. Cisco Systems China, supported by the Ministry of Education and CERNET, has established 14 networking academies in the leading universities across the country, including Beijing University, Qinghua University and Shanghai Fudan University. The academy is geared to the needs of middle school and university students, teaching them the necessary skills to design, build and maintain computer networks. Industrial experts say that Cisco's training programme, even though it is free of charge, will bring profitable returns to the company in the long run. since trained students, after they graduate, will mostly set Cisco's products and solutions as top choices. |
