Founded in 2004 as an alliance between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and Cisco Systems, the E-Learning Competence Center (ELCC) is Egypt’s leading organization in e-Learning with a track record of developing and delivering a wide array of state-of-the art e-Learning courses and content, setting and disseminating the quality standards of e-Learning, providing best practice research and expert consultancy in e-Learning and engendering the first wave of facilitators and e-trainers into the market.  
 
To this end, the purpose of the ELCC is to act as a hub for the integration, development and dissemination of e-Learning content of relevance to the Egyptian market.

Today, the ELCC serves as the central vehicle in Egypt for bridging the gap among Egyptian SMEs, knowledge workers and the global economy. The center equips young Egyptian professionals with the cutting-edge business and tech¬nology skills they need to help their businesses become efficient, productive, and competitive.

Strategic Objectives
Through its various activities, ELCC aims to:
-Lead and develop Egypt’s e-Learning Industry and leverage its
resources.
-Develop a replica model of e-Learning that integrates global quality in a local context.
-Disseminate e-Learning quality standards in Egypt and reinforce
adherence to it by local players.
-Promote and cultivate an e-Learning culture that promotes equal
access to learning opportunities and efficient use of ICTs.
-Create the first wave of e-Learning leaders by developing their
entrepreneurship skills.
-Build the country’s human resource capacities and help create job opportunities.

ELCC Mission
To contribute to Egypt’s economic growth and global competitiveness through the enhancement of the workforce skills and competencies utilizing practical state-of- the-art e-learning and Human Resource Development tools and techniques in accordance with the evolving needs of the government and the business community.

Partnerships
Cisco Systems
The ELCC was established in partnership with Cisco Systems. The strategic intent of the collaboration is to put in place the appropriate enabling environment and mechanisms for training and competency creation through e-Learning, leveraging on the experience and content delivery applications and systems that Cisco has accumulated over the years via the deployment of:

Cisco Networking Academy Program (CNAP)
The ELCC is certified as both a Cisco Academy Training Centre (CATC) and a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Regional Academy to train and support instructors and students and to establish Academies, build their capacities and maintain their operations.

Cisco Entrepreneur Institute
Realizing the importance of entrepreneurship in building and sustaining a viable economy, ELCC partnered with Cisco Entrepreneur Institute to become an official Training Center for Cisco Entrepreneur Institute to help Egyptian entrepreneurs start and grow their own businesses using the Institute’s content and know-how.

Strategic Alliances
Siemens
Structured around e-Learning administration and management, the alliance between ELCC and Siemens grants the center a license to use its renowned Learning Management System (LMS) platform, Centra, for the administration,  documentation, tracking and reporting of the center’s e-Learning and lifelong learning programs for an unlimited number of users.

Middlesex University
ELCC and Middlesex University (MU) entered into mutual collaboration with a strategic aim of leveraging the collective experience of both parties in the field of e-Learning and to pilot the use of the university’s e-Learning material in Egyptian universities. In this respect, MU offered curricula for two courses – 1)  IT in Organizations and 2) Communication skills for Business and Computing – to be developed by ELCC.

Microsoft
ELCC and Microsoft agreed to cooperate in the field of content development and training where ELCC hosted the content and developed the curriculum of Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP) Program and made it accessible to beneficiaries through the center’s wide-access NDN.

IBM
The alliance between IBM and Cisco delivers industry-specific, collaboration based solutions as IBM provided the center with its well-proved content authoring tool – “Content Producer” – together with content consultancy for the curriculum of the e-Learning diploma.

Programs
Content Development and Localization
ELCC develops a wide array of e-Learning content in different disciplines to provide organizations and individual learners with knowledge and skills needed to stay on cutting edge of technology and leadership.

The center also works with and coordinates the efforts of sector specific, in-country agencies, independent Subject Matter Experts, consultants and translators to localize the curricula of learning material in a variety of disciplines in a way that captures the essence of the concerned culture/context and fully engages learners.

Lifelong learning
The professional development and lifelong learning function of ELCC focuses on enhancing the technical, professional and entrepreneurial skills of the largest segments of citizens who have finished their formal education.

Increased access, scalability and outreach are at the heart of the center’s lifelong learning function which is made possible through the tactical and efficient utilization of latest e-Learning tools and techniques.

National Delivery Network
The ELCC has created a nationwide delivery network through implementing a scalable plan to leverage and optimize the use of IT clubs all over the nation to act as outlets for the delivery of web-based content, online assessment, student performance tracking, hands-on labs,  instructor training, support and preparation for industry standard certifications.

To date, the center has established around 700 local academies across the country where over 60,000 students, instructors and administrators have participated in the program.

Research and Development (R&D)
The center’s R&D division is responsible for the development, review, evaluation and dissemination of quality e-Learning standards among stakeholders involved in capacity building, content development, quality assurance and infrastructure development in order to ensure sustainable and relevant e?Learning for all.

Portals Development
The ELCC has a full portal development, web design and web content management capacity of portals and has built expertise in designing, developing and managing web portals using the latest ASP.net and Web 2.0 technology and in accordance with internationally identified and recognized portal development and web content management guidelines and standards.

Entrepreneurship Education Program
ELCC is certified as an official Training Center for Cisco Entrepreneur Institute to help Egyptian entrepreneurs start and grow their own businesses based on practical and professional strategies using the Institute’s content and know?how to deliver its programs to SMEs through Local Institutes that are established by the center allover the country.

In this capacity, ELCC has developed and localized Cisco’s Business Essentials Course (iExec), a comprehensive e- Learning curriculum to address critical SMEs’ skill gaps.