Pakistan has leapt to the forefront of IT training for women

The role of women in plugging IT skills gap has been given a boost in one of the world's most important developing regions.

Pakistan, the sixth most populous country in the world and second most populous Muslim country worldwide, has leapt to the forefront of IT training for women with the opening of a women-only Cisco® Networking Academy® Program Regional Academy in Lahore, the country's second city.

Women-only Local Academies have previously been launched, and still operate, in countries such as Togo and Saudi Arabia.

But what makes the Lahore initiative special is that it is a Regional Academy: in other words, one tasked with providing support and training for Local Academies in the region.

The Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) started operating as a Regional Academy in May this year, adding to its already considerable reputation as one of the oldest female institutions in Pakistan.

It first opened its doors to students in 1922 and today it has more than 6,500 women enrolled on intermediate, degree and postgraduate courses.

The addition of Networking Academy program training is highly significant given the growing IT skills shortage faced by the country.

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