A pen profile of the Cisco Academies within the @OUCisco ASC community ...

Occasionally I pause to ponder, stop, think and consider what we are doing and the impact it has. Taking the time to consider the extent of the Open University Cisco academy support community we have created - it struck me that:
  • We have only been operational for less than three years. At which time we had zero academies.
  • The original plan was to offer a space for a couple of broken ASC's. Me thinks that this has quickly been overtaken by opportunity and ideas. Around 12 were acquired during the assimilation. We cut the price and ensured that it was at the lowest, by moving the overheads to the community.
  • Of our 46 academies, 24 are entirely new creations since we became an ASC.
  • We have an additional three academies that were 'broken' and we are allowing to heal and redevelop with the support of our community.
  • A small handful may not survive - however, that is what we are here for - to enable attempted development even if it is unsuccessful.
  • There are a couple who have jumped ship to the OU, as they believe we are preferable. They may be right - who knows?
  • We are now considering creating development hubs - enabling scale, reach and greater opportunity.
We have a number of charities and educational centres that could never afford to be full members of the Cisco Networking academy programme in its old model. Pushing the cost/benefit out to the community enables us to reach additional opportunities and ensure that the community is supported.

Do you think that this is a model for growth?



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