Cisco claims its Networking Academy has reached 15.1 million learners across 180 countries in its 24-year history. In the next three years, the networking giant aims to more than double that number in an effort to impact underserved communities and curtail the skills shortage.

Twenty-four years ago, Cisco employees donated some equipment to a local high school with the intention of helping the school improve its operations. The school reached back out to the vendor to learn how to use the donated equipment, and "that gave birth to what we now know as the Networking Academy," Laura Quintana, VP and GM of the program, told SDxCentral in an interview. "It led to not only teachers learning networking skills, but also them in turn saying, well, students should learn this."

According to Cisco, the Networking Academy directly addresses the skills shortage by providing a skills-to-jobs program focused on areas like cybersecurity, networking, and network automation.

Students can orient themselves in the tech world through exploratory courses in areas like networking, cybersecurity, and programming skills. They can continue up the ladder of expertise and acquire the competencies associated with a specific tech job, and certain pathways give students the option to sit for a certification exam. In pathways without a certification option, the program provides digital badges for students to highlight their education to potential employers.

Networking Academy courses are offered at 40% of community colleges in the U.S., which enables the program to reach a diverse student population in terms of cultural and racial identity and age. Cisco reported 29% of program participants in the U.S. are underrepresented minorities.

The vendor also expands its reach by partnering with nonprofits like Love Never Fails, a Bay Area organization focused on protecting and educating victims of human trafficking. Through this partnership, Cisco donated educational materials and equipment, and the nonprofit set up ITBiz to help the individuals it supports build technical skills and jump into the job market.

Partnerships with global academic institutions and employers is one of the Networking Academy's greatest strengths, according to Quintana. "Our ecosystem is truly one of the secret sauces here, if you will, of the program," she said. "We cannot be successful alone," and partnering with like-minded organizations has been key to the Academy's success.

Cisco reported 33% year-over-year growth of program participants last fiscal year and plans to sustain that momentum through continuous reinvention — a strategy Quintana says has helped the program maintain its relevancy and drive impact in the form of helping students secure jobs.

Since Cisco began measuring and reporting on the Networking Academy in 2005, the vendor claims 2.9 million students who participated in a certification-based course have attributed their experiences in the Networking Academy to successfully finding a new job. Of students completing certification-ready courses, 51% attribute their participation to landing a new job, and 71% credit their participation with providing a new job opportunity like a promotion.

"Putting instruments in place to measure those outcomes is something that we take very seriously," Quintana said. "And that helps us not only measure our success, but frankly, helps us learn and improve and reinvent along the way."

The Networking Academy's latest reinvention comes with Cisco's investment in Skills for All, a free, mobile-first platform that "meets learners where they're at," Quintana explained. It's accessible with just a smartphone and an internet connection and will allow the vendor to expand its global reach and offer students more flexibility to learn at their own pace.

Skills for All currently offers a cybersecurity pathway aligned with Certiport's Information Technology Specialist Cybersecurity certification. This pathway, comprised of courses, labs, simulations, and practice tests, prepares students for roles such as cybersecurity technician, junior cybersecurity analyst, and help-desk support.

Cisco reported over 200,000 students have joined Skills for All since its launch last summer, and the vendor plans to expand the program to include other tech career pathways in the future.