Cisco Gets Two Awards from Vietnam Government

By Narayan Bhat

TMCnet Contributing Editor

 

Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training has honored Cisco with two awards in recognition of its contribution to advancing education and research in the Communist country, the company announced on Tuesday.

The awards are one of the highest forms of recognition that the Vietnamese government gives to private companies and individuals upon recommendation by Vietnam’s university community.

The awards are likely to propel Cisco’s business further in Vietnam, where a leading bank, State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), is dependent on the network equipment maker for advancing its technologies in order to increase operational efficiencies and regulate the banking system.

The first award is a certificate of appreciation for Cisco’s effort to boost technical education in the country through its “Cisco Networking Academy Program.” The second is an Education Career medal, given to Professor Christopher Hoang Pham, a Cisco senior engineering manager of the U.S.-based Network Software and System Technology Group, for his contribution to research and development through the networking laboratory in the Hanoi University of Technology (HUT), and other educational activities.

The Networking Academy program is designed to foster economic growth, particularly in developing nation, by upgrading the standard of technical education.


Cisco provides educational institutions with leading-edge information technology curricula and hands-on lab exercises so students can get jobs in leading technology companies worldwide.

Introduced in 2001, the Networking Academy program is today taught by 19 academies throughout Vietnam. Over the past six years, the program has produced more than 600 alumni. Nearly 4,000 students have been taught by about 200 instructors in 650 courses, says Cisco.

Cisco’s education program included providing equipment and consultation for the networking laboratory; facilitating numerous science and technology seminars and conferences and arranging the visits of Vietnamese educational groups to the United States for on-site experience and discussion. All of which, Cisco says, are designed to raise classroom quality to international standards.

“Cisco is honored with these awards from the ministry,” said James Chia, general director for Cisco Vietnam, in a press release. “We always place a high priority on giving back to the community, and the Cisco Networking Academy Program represents the best way that we can do that. The program provides students with an excellent foundation for life in the technology industry, and these youths will in turn become the backbone for an economically vibrant Vietnam.”

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Narayan Bhat is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.