ORT provides professional IT education for Hillel students

In the beginning of this academic year, Hillel Moscow together with Moscow ORT school launched a joint initiative to open doors of Cisco Network Academy for the Hillel students.

“Our mission is to provide access to the best education for the Russian Jewish community. Using our experience in Technology Education we can help young people to improve their knowledge, acquire new skills and become more competitive and valuable in the job market. The Russian IT sector is actively developing and we are happy that we have an opportunity to respond to the current trends and challenges and prepare young Jewish students for the most appealing professions. This is an investment in their future.” – Mikhail Libkin, ORT Russia director of development.

Cisco Network Academy was opened in Moscow ORT Technology school as well as in other ORT educational institutions five years ago based on a Memorandum to raise the level of ICT training in Russian schools signed in June 2012 .

More than 100 ORT school students received professional Cisco Certificates together with their School diplomas.  This year ORT and Hillel decided to expand the program for Hillel students. Students will take CCENT course, which provides knowledge and practical skills in building and supporting computer networks as well as the fundamentals of the Internet.

“In Hillel our goal is to open doors to Jewish community for students as well as take care of their professional future. They are in the beginning of their careers, they are eager to find the best job possible – that is why we see this initiative as a very important one. This is the first project in our road map of providing possibilities of professional development for our students. IT-related jobs are very popular in Russia now, we are happy to help our students to become more valuable on Russian job market.” – Elena Voltsinger, Hillel Russia director.

A pilot group of six Hillel students started to study in Moscow ORT Schools’ Cisco Academy this autumn. Hillel and ORT subsidized a significant part of cost of their fees for this course to make it possible for them to take it. The course has been specifically adapted to take into account the proverbial Generation Z. This makes the subject matter and practical skills better geared for the perception of "digital natives" students, thus make great the learning process more efficient.

“Since I was little, I knew that IT is the future. This course is touching a lot on the subject of ‘Internet of Things’, which is the main trend in IT now. I haven’t yet decided on my future profession but I’m so inspired by this fantastic experience. It is almost like you can look inside the Internet universe, which is hidden from the regular users.” – Polyna Kagan, Moscow Cinematography University student, program participant.

“This course gives me very unique practical knowledge and skills in computer networks. I’m sure that those skills and Cisco certificate will help me improve my position and work background where I’m currently working and expand the range of the opportunities for my future career. I would like to thank Hillel and ORT for subsidizing the cost of this study.” – Egor Lekukh, young IT Specialist, program participant.