Cisco Academy Program Cisco established their academy program in 1997 coming to the UK in 1998, the program offers a hierachical system for training and support. Cisco Systems through the Cisco Learning Institute trains the Cisco Academy Training Centre (CATC). The CATC in turn train and support Regional Academies (not geographical region). Each Regional Academy is responsible for the support and training of Local Academies. It is the Local Academies that deliver the curriculum courses to the students, community and local businesses. As a reult of this structure a Regional Academy will also be a Local Academy so it can deliver to its own students and local community. The Cisco Academy Program courses are embedded within OCR, Edexcel and IT Diploma courses so educational institutions can gain funding and league table points and the students can gain UCAS points if they are proceeding to higher education. Some other academy programmes avialable do not have a such a structure and deal with the institutions directly and hence there can be less direct support available.
Regional Academy
Each Regional Academy functions as a training and support centre for Local Academies and flows down the instructional and Program quality standards set by Cisco and the CATCs. A Regional Academy is required to recruit and maintain the minimum number of Local Academies for each Curriculum they offer ensuring that each of its Local Academies remain in compliance with the Program requirements as set forth in the Quality Assurance Plan. Each Regional Academy will train instructors from Local Academies on a given curriculum and supports their Local Academies—on a timely and ongoing basis—by providing continuing education for local instructors a minimum of two sessions per year, orienting instructors to the program, helping local instructors set up their classrooms, answering technical and curriculum questions, fulfilling equipment needs, and so on.
Local Academy
Local Academies are educational institutions (Schools, Community Colleges, Colleges, Accredited Career Colleges, and Universities), the military and community based organisations that teach individuals the knowledge, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking skills they need to pursue a career in networking and succeed in the 21stcentury workplace. Each Local Academy is responsible for providing an appropriate environment for conducting classes, selecting competent instructors trainees, and ensuring that its’ instructors receive the training that enables them to teach the Curriculum while maintaining the Program quality standards set forth in the QAP (Quality Assurance Programme).