Cisco Expands Cooperation with ORT to Raise the Level of ICT Training in Russian Schools

Cisco and ORT Sign Memorandum of Understanding

MOSCOW – June 8, 2012 – At an official ceremony dedicated to the opening of Cisco Networking Academy™ programs in six ORT-sponsored Russian schools, Cisco government affairs director Mikhail Pakhomov and ORT director in Russia Sergei Gorinsky signed a memorandum of understanding. The document will help expand cooperation between ORT, one of the largest global education and vocational training non-governmental organizations, and Cisco to raise the quality of ICT training in ORT-sponsored Russian schools.

Under the agreement, Cisco will provide free access to educational courses from its  Networking Academy® portfolio.  ORT, in its turn, will contribute to proliferating the academies across Russia.

Key Facts / Highlights:

• In the framework of the joint initiative, Networking Academy programs have already opened in six ORT-sponsored Russian educational establishments, namely, ORT Technological School (Gymnazium 1540) and ORT Education Center 1311 “Thiya” in Moscow, Secondary School 12 (“ORT Mishpakhteynu”) in Kazan, Professional Training School 2 in Tula, and “ORT-KesherNet” training centers in the cities of Tula and Tambov.  As a first step, the parties raised professional skills of 11 teachers in those schools and training centers. Last autumn the teachers attended a training seminar at the ORT Technological Schools in Moscow.  The graduates received certificates for the right to teach the IT Essentials course.

• From its inception in 1880, ORT gained rich experience in the area of education and professional training worldwide.  The main areas of ORT operations in Russia include deployment of information and communications technologies (ICT) in education, professional training and skills upgrade of teachers, technological education in secondary schools, primary and secondary professional education, and the professional information technology training and retraining of adults.  Every year ORT schools and training centers in Russia provide education and training to 17,000 students.

• One ORT’s top priorities in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union is to create favorable conditions for intensive ICT study in local secondary schools.  During the global “Technology for Everyone” day, ORT analyzed best practices of technological education in other countries.  In Russia ORT developed several training aids and translated into Russian a number of materials provided by foreign colleagues. Today these materials are used by the teachers of the local ORT-sponsored schools.

• The Networking Academy program includes a number of innovative training aids, such as Virtual Lab (to simulate the assembly/disassembly of a PC system unit and/or laptop upgrade) and Cisco Packet Tracer (to design networks and customize network hardware). The final stage of the training will include electronic exams to get international Networking Academy certificates.

Supporting Quotes

Mikhail Pakhomov, government affairs director, Cisco Russia:

“The collaboration of Cisco and ORT is focused on a very important social mission – offering anyone an opportunity to enhance ICT knowledge.  The Cisco Networking Academy helps to develop networking and IT skills which play a key role in modern global economy. Cooperation between Cisco and IITE will be an extension of previously announced long-term Cisco initiatives aimed at the development and modernization of IT education in Russia.”  

Sergei Gorinsky, director, ORT Russia:

“It is especially important for us that the schools which are adopting the Cisco Networking Academy include the ORT ‘overcome-the-digital-divide’ partners.   The project is to provide equal IT access to various social groups including those with special educational requirements. For instance, the Professional Training Center 2 in Tula trains young people with impaired hearing.  Information technologies provide them with absolutely new professional training opportunities.” 

Tags, Keywords: Russia, Cisco, Networking Academy, Cisco Packet Tracer

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Supporting resources:

• Cisco website
• Cisco Networking Academy
• Cisco Packet Tracer
• ORT

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO, news, filings) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco equipment in Russia is supplied through its authorized channel partners by Cisco Systems International BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

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