Education and training

Develop human capacity through short-term professional and technical training. For the technical training, work with existing expertise in PC hardware and software and train these people in networking technologies. For the professional training, provide short-term course on business management as applied to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Provide language training to help create a core of multilingual IT experts.

The short-term training should focus on training the trainers. The benefits will be felt more rapidly, in a matter of weeks for the MCSE and Linux certification, and will have a nearly immediate impact in helping Mongolia bridge the capacity gap. The idea is to rapidly develop a core of trained and certified IP  (Internet Protocol) networking professionals.

Support for these activities will come in the form of technical assistance from the international community and/or from the Government of Mongolia, and/or from the private sector in Mongolia. Because the certified specialists will be in high demand, it is not unreasonable to ask for payment of fees for the courses and/or to seek student participation on the basis of tendering for the privilege of taking the course and being certified . 

Selection is based on agreed upon criteria. Mongolia should seek technical support for this training, and/or the participation of the companies involved themselves (Microsoft, RedHat, Corel, etc.). Cisco is already participating via the Cisco Academy..

a) Train the trainers: Internet infrastructure

Provide short-term certification in Internet infrastructure to a core group (50) of people who will then train others. 

The first priority is for training in TCP/IP and related infrastructure networking skills (Internet services and servers, routing, etc.) to strengthen and extend the Mongolian Internet backbone and staff the Mongolian businesses and government departments and public and private services (educational institutions) and groups (NGOs, local community groups) that will use it and develop it. Focus on Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), Linux or Cisco certification. Look for courses that can be completed over a short time frame B less than 6 months.

b) Train the trainers: adding value to the Mongolian Internet 

The second priority is to train people who will develop the value added services and enriched Mongolian Web content in such a way that it will attract traffic: visitors and business in Mongolian. Along with this training, there will be a need to undertake training in English and other languages: Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, German and French. Outputs of this training will be: 

Action items for objectives a) and b):

i. Hire or otherwise obtain trainers, one group for Mongolian language based training and one or more other groups for training offered in English and possibly other languages, depending on interest in supporting such training. These trainers, whatever their language, must be certified in each of the following:

- Network systems engineering for network administrators (Microsoft Windows 98 and NT4.0; Linux B various distributions; Cisco):

- Solution development certification for software developers working in the above mentioned environments

ii. Develop internationally recognized short certification programmes in network management and deployment

iii. Undertake feasibility study of also developing certified trainer programmes: MCSE, MCSD, Linux, Cisco to meet local regional needs.

iv. Look into establishing a national training and examination centre linked to existing international certification programmes and service provides, for example the Sylvan Learning Centers or Sylvan Prometric examination centers

v. Provide training in English as a Foreign Language, along with certification examinations (TOELF: Test of English as a Foreign Language), along with training in other languages as appropriate to help Mongolian language speakers develop their fluency in languages other than Mongolian

vi. Train 50 people per semester (every 3 months) or 200 people / year. Start by offering courses in English as well as Mongolian, and, depending on support or priorities, in other languages as well.

c) Growing an ICT business

This is to train a cadre of people in basic business and management skills to help them operate a business in the ICT sector, also to help businesses offer e-commerce services or take advantage of ICT skills in house. This should also be for short-term training.

Action items

i. Train people in the skills to set up an ICT business or to take advantage of ICT specialists or skills. 

d) To strengthen existing ICT education and training

Action items

i. Strengthen ICT teaching, training and research institutes such as the Mongolian Technical University >Institute of Telecommunications and Information Engineering= B ITIE as well as the School of Computer Science and Management and the Pedagogical University.

ii. In the case of private sector firms that provide short term training in the form of certification, the government could help:

iii. Provide credit and/or direct student subsidies in exchange for a guarantee from the student that he / she will stay in the country for a given period of time to ensure that the benefits of such an investment are felt locally first and not exported immediately after the course has been completed. The ICT Advisory Council will help determine the feasibility of such a programme and recommend a level of support or subsidy.