Reducing the gap between academia and the labor market, a challenge in education

Sara Martínez is a young Triqui from the state of Oaxaca, who had to leave her community when she finished high school and move to Jalisco with the intention of studying Information Technology. Upon entering university, she began to have difficulties due to the knowledge gap, added to the fact that she had never used a computer and spoke very little Spanish, since she communicated in her native language. When she was about to give it up, a teacher guided her to start the Cisco Networking Academy courses from the second semester of her degree, which facilitated her learning process and increased her confidence. Sara not only completed her professional studies, but now works in a technology area.

The previous case is one of those that Laura Quintana, vice president of Corporate Affairs at Cisco, can talk about, who comments that the Cisco Networking Academy is the longest-running corporate social responsibility program in information technology education of the Cisco company, which is about to be launched. celebrate 25 years of operating in the world and 24 years in Mexico with the aim of equipping people with technological skills, so that they have access to better personal and professional opportunities, and can prosper in the digital economy.

It is well known that the pandemic changed many of the processes in companies and accelerated the digital transformation, since people wanted to stay active in matters of education, work, even social interaction and even having a medical appointment was facilitated thanks to digitization and information technologies.

On the subject of education, although previously there were isolated attempts to promote virtual training, the isolation measures showed that we were not ready and it became an urgent need for the educational system in general not to stop, but it was also revealed that more talent is needed in this segment; As of 2019, a deficiency of 400,000 information technology professionals was estimated in Latin America, and as a result of the pandemic, the gap increased.

One aspect to highlight is that the geographical barriers were erased, demonstrating that a person can be in Mexico and have a job in ICTs anywhere in the world. For this reason, we need to develop talent and awaken vocations, so that there are more people who occupy these spaces and join the labor market, helping to find solutions to raise the competitiveness of companies and, above all, of countries.

“Cisco Networking Academy seeks to impact people regardless of their geographic location or socioeconomic context, with the intention that they discover a vocation in technology or that these digital tools help them enhance their professional careers, so that we have an inclusive future for all”, highlighted Laura Quintana.

Previously, the program reached students through allies and partners, such as educational institutions, civil society organizations, ministries or secretariats; however, since last year the platform, Skills for All, was launched with the intention of reaching more people by having direct contact.

The spokeswoman points out that there are several cornerstones in the program, one is to provide people with relevant skills in the labor market, with state-of-the-art, updated content. Another factor is that the program has worked thanks to public-private partnerships to impact more than 17.5 million students.

“The natural partners for us are schools from high school, universities, professional centers; However, recently we have also collaborated with governments, through the ministries of education, which has allowed us to contribute to developing talent and building capacities within educational organizations, so that teachers use the content available on our platform. , and thus do not depend on us when teaching a course”, added the VP of corporate affairs.

Cisco will maintain its commitment to work closely with educational institutions and expanding their networks, such as with the Digital Skills Program for Mexican Women of the 21st Century, carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, investing in technological training of women.

In Nuevo León, the Digital Skills for Entrepreneurship program continues to increase the digital development of young people and improve their job opportunities, and in the coming months the course catalog will grow to include topics in line with the advancement of new technologies, such as Data Analytics .

“The main challenge in education is how to reduce the gap between the academy and the labor market. Many times it happens that the student concludes his training and joins a company, but realizes that the university knowledge is not aligned with what the job demands. It is a challenge both for the educational system and for companies. We must work together to share the knowledge and needs of the work environment, in this way we can contribute not only to the development of students, but also of teachers”, Laura Quintana pointed out.