Uganda first LDC to implement CCNP curriculum

Date: 31 March 2003	Issue: 31 March (Computing S.A.)
Category: Into Africa

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frican ambassadors, as well as representatives from United Nations Development Programme, the US Agency for International Development, the International Telecommunication Union, United Nations Volunteers, and Cisco Systems, convened in Washington recently to announce the establishment of the first Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) degree programme in Uganda. This curriculum is part of the Cisco Networking Academy Programme and is the first CCNP programme in a least developed country (LDC).
This announcement marks another milestone for the Cisco Networking Academy LDC initiative, Cisco says. In July 2000, Cisco Systems formed a strategic partnership with international development organisations to help train students in the world’s LDCs for jobs in the Internet economy.
This initiative has created opportunities for skills development in participating countries, empowering them to accelerate progress, attain sustainable development, and become fully integrated into the world economy. The LDC initiative provides a compelling example of how business, international organisations or donors and governments can work together to meet the urgent needs of least developed countries and promote digital opportunity.
The CCNP programme will be established at the Makerere University’s Institute of Computer Science Academy. Makerere University is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in sub-Saharan Africa and it has produced training programmes that are positioned at the highest levels of education in the sub-region.
Taught at the post-secondary level, the 280-hour CCNP degree focuses on developing skills that enable students to implement scalable networks, build campus networks using multi-layer switching technologies, create and deploy a global intranet, and troubleshoot an environment using routers and switches for multi-protocol client hosts and services. CCNP certification indicates advanced or journeyman knowledge of networks. CCNP courses build upon the skills already learned through the Cisco Certified Networking Associate (CCNA) courses, which have been taught in Uganda for almost two years.