Apec taps Cisco for Internet education initiative
An Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) initiative led by China will teach people how to install Internet technology that business leaders fear would otherwise be sold to developing nations without the skills to make it work.
The lessons, which start next month, are part of a program to make sure developing Asia-Pacific countries reach the technological level of their developed counterparts.
China's Ministry of Personnel therefore asked Silicon Valley-based Cisco Systems to teach 1,500 Asians to build networks, and Cisco agreed to sponsor the e-education platform as well as the equipment for the classes.
For the next three years, the students will learn to build wide-area networks, plus set up and evaluate the servers, routers and switchers required of an Internet backbone.
'There aren't that many skilled people who can go deploy the technology,' said Terry Alberstein, Cisco's Asia-Pacific director of corporate affairs.
'It's a limiting factor. If there are no skills, there's no way to do installations.'
Given Cisco Systems certificates after two terms of study four hours a week, students are ready to work, Mr Alberstein said.
Over the past two years Cisco has landed 680 'academies' in Asia and certified 7,000 people. Of these, 158 academies and 3,000 certificate holders are in China.
Because of Cisco's experience, Mr Alberstein said, China asked the company to help Apec. It has also brought Oracle and Sun Microsystems aboard for other regional information technology (IT) projects.
Apec's idea came about in May, when leaders from 21 nations discussed ways to introduce IT to Asia's poorer and less educated people.
Last month in Shanghai, President Jiang Zemin launched the related Human Capacity Building Promotion Programme, the goal of which is to triple Internet use by 2025.
The Cisco courses represent the program's first stage.
Most of the classes are based at universities, which charge 500 yuan (about HK$468) to 800 yuan for a full course.
Classic case: Ye Jing took a half-year, 750-yuan course at her university in Chengdu, where her teacher had experience in wiring the nation's colleges for the China Research and Education Network Project. Ms Ye graduated in February last year, found part-time work at Great Wall Broadband, then became a network engineer at the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
'I cannot say if I hadn't had the classes I definitely would not have this job. [There is] no definite relation between the two,' said Ms Ye, 25.
'But it at least the classes gave me an advantage.'
