Public – Private partnerships. Challenges and Opportunities
In Greece, the unprecedented amount of public funding that has been made available through European grants will usher in a wave of publicly funded initiatives to accelerate the digitization of the country at the local, regional, and national level. For this transformation to be a success, however, Greece needs all key players in the public, private and civil society spheres to lock arms and work in unison.
Through our flagship CSR program, the Cisco Networking Academy, we have made it our focus to empower learners of all ages and backgrounds around the world to shape their own futures and learning paths through digital skills, by partnering with teachers worldwide. As the over two million learners and 28,000 educators who used our platform in 2020 can attest, our emphasis on partnership with local institutions, both public and private, is at the heart of our success and our impact driven model.
If we take the specific topic of reskilling, we know that digital transformation will drive strong demand for qualified IT professionals in Greece as businesses and administrations will look to leverage digitization to increase productivity and accessibility to services. This represents a unique opportunity for the vocational schools of the country to realign their IT curricula with industry expectations, therefore increasing employability. At the Cisco Networking Academy we pride ourselves on being the bridge between educators and industry, having worked with coalitions throughout Europe to ensure that education and the private sector work together towards the same goal: empowering learners to design their futures in the tech industry.
Drawing inspiration from some of our best practices around the European Union, we should encourage an open discussion between private sector companies and public education specialists to take place, so as to facilitate the redesigning of curricula. By involving all the key players around the table, these partnerships can foster the right conditions to promote the future talent of the tech industry in Greece and make digital transformation an inclusive path to a brighter future for the coming generations.
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