As eliminations drew to a close last month, the top team from each of the six regional clusters of the Cisco Networking Academy will have a shot at winning prizes ranging from Cisco equipment to cash prizes worth P60,000.

Finalists in this year’s competition come from the following Networking Academy clusters: System Plus from North Luzon, AMA Computer College East Rizal from South Luzon, Mapua Institute of Technology from the NCR North, Mapua Institute of Technology School of IT from the NCR South, University of Cebu from the Visayas and AMA Computer College Davao from Mindanao.

"The competition is a good opportunity for our Networking Academy students to interact and meet their fellow networking enthusiasts. We’ve been generating a lot of interest in the program and we hope events like these help cultivate among the students a better appreciation of the importance of IP networking skills," said Luichi Robles, country manager of Cisco Philippines.

The Cisco Networking Academy is an internationally recognized IT educational initiative to develop graduates with networking and Internet skills. Through the Networking Academy, students can learn practical computer networking knowledge and skills in a hands-on environment. At the end of their course, students are prepared for globally recognized industry standard certifications including the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) and other certifications such as Comptia A+, Java and Cisco Firewall Specialist certifications among others.

Since the program’s inception in the Philippines in 2002, over 116,000 students have been trained by more than 800 instructors in 143 Cisco Academies in the country. A number of students have found successful employment in multi-national companies here and abroad.

The annual Cisco Skills Competition is organized by the Cisco Networking Academy Core Council of the Philippines led by Gerry Talisic, Core Council President. "The annual skills competition is the most significant project of the Core Council. Not only does it promote importance of having the right networking skills, it also helps us benchmark the effectiveness of the Networking Academy’s curriculum. For the past two years, we’ve seen lesser known schools triumph over more established universities," said Talisic.

Past winners of the competition are System Plus from North Luzon and Mindanao Polytechnic from Visayas.