Cisco Continuing Education Program
Cisco’s Continuing Education Program is based on three founding principles: Flexibility, Diversity, and Integrity. Flexibility is achieved by offering existing Cisco certified individuals an alternative option for recertification, in addition to the already existing option of recertifying by passing the relevant exam(s). Diversity is achieved by allowing individuals a wide range of preapproved items, such as online courses, instructor-led training, authoring of content, and Cisco Live training offerings (collectively called “Continuing Education items”), which can be pursued to earn credits toward recertification. Integrity is achieved by having Cisco authorized content providers, who deliver the content to the individual seeking recertification, validate the credits submitted by that individual.
The Continuing Education Program is governed by the Cisco Continuing Education Advisory Board. Candidates who choose to recertify through the Continuing Education Program will be required to earn a certain number of credits by completing the required Continuing Education item(s) as delivered by a content provider and paying the Continuing Education administrative fee before their current certification becomes inactive.
Once candidates have earned the designated number of credits and paid their Continued Education administrative fee, they will be recertified as per the existing recertification policies.
Goal
The Continuing Education Program is offered to existing Cisco certified individuals as a flexible alternative option for recertification. The program is intended to encourage candidates to diversify their skill sets in order to make them more valuable to their organization and the industry as a whole while maintaining the integrity of the Cisco brand.
Eligibility
The Continuing Education Program will be available only for candidates with Expert-level certifications in Active or Suspend status as defined on the How to Recertify website.
Beginning June 6, 2017, any Expert-level certification holder can choose from the list of pre-approved Continuing Education Program offerings to earn credits towards recertification. Courses completed prior to June 6, 2017 are not eligible.
The Continuing Education Program is also available for candidates with Emeritus status as described on the CCIE Emeritus website except for the following:
- Candidates in Emeritus status who are required to pass both a written exam and a lab to become active again
- Candidates who achieved Emeritus status by earning Business Transformation certifications as described on the CCIE website
The program is currently not available to candidates with Associate- and Professional-level certifications.
Recertification Requirements
To recertify via the Continuing Education Program, the following three steps must be completed before your current certification becomes inactive:
- Agree to the Terms and Conditions associated with the Continuing Education Program as part of the enrollment process
- Earn 100 credits required by completing any of the preapproved Continuing Education offerings
- Pay the Continuing Education administrative fee
You can enroll in the Continuing Education Program and earn the required credits at any time before your certification becomes inactive. You will earn Continuing Education credits only when the relevant content provider has approved your credit submission. For completion of pre-approved Cisco Digital Learning self-paced trainings, you will obtain a ‘certificate of completion’ that can be uploaded during submission of the training claim. The process to obtain the certificate of completion for the various self-paced trainings will be documented within the product or as part of the purchase process.
Once you complete the above steps, your certification will be renewed as per existing renewal policies. To recertify any of your Expert-level certifications via the Continuing Education Program, you will need to earn 100 credits before your current Expert-level certification becomes inactive.
You can enroll in the Continuing Education Program, submit your credits, track all of your Continuing Education activity, and pay the Continuing Education administrative fee by visiting https://ce.cisco.com and logging in with your Cisco.com ID and password. If you have more questions about the Continuing Education Program, please review the FAQs here.
Qualifying Continuing Education Offerings
To view the full catalog of the Continuing Education offerings that have been approved by the Cisco Continuing Education Advisory Board logon to the Continuing Education Program portal. For a sample of pre-approved courses available, view Cisco Continuing Education Program Catalog. Candidates can pursue any offerings listed in the catalog and get credits for successful completion of those items as specified in the catalog. Credits will not be granted if candidates pursue any items outside of the ones specified in the catalog.
The Cisco Continuing Education Advisory Board reviews the offerings catalog on a quarterly basis and updates it as necessary. We encourage candidates periodically to review the catalog for any updates.
Cisco Live Training
There is no limit to the number of Cisco Live events that candidates can attend during their recertification period. However, candidates can acquire a maximum of 70 credits only for activities related to Cisco Live in any particular recertification cycle. You cannot get credits just for registering or attending Cisco Live. Credits are granted to candidates per the matrix below:
Continuing Education Administrative Fee
The Continuing Education administrative fee will need to be paid once you have earned the required number of credits. You can pay the fee by visiting https://ce.cisco.com and logging in with your Cisco.com ID and password. The administrative fee for Expert-level certifications is $300.
Continuing Education Business Rules
Other than the requirements mentioned above, the Cisco Continuing Education Program is governed by the following rules:
- For Expert-level certifications, new recertification dates will be issued as per existing Cisco CCIE policies and procedures; therefore, there may be a time lag between completion of requirements and issuing of the recertification date.
- Credits, once earned, will be valid for three years from the date they were earned, as long as they do not meet either of the criteria described here:
- Credits will expire if a new recertification cycle starts, either by passing an exam or recertifying some other credential.
- Credits will expire if your certification becomes inactive before completing the Continuing Education requirements.
- Credits earned for a given course can only be counted once within the recertification cycle. Repeating the same course will not count towards recertification credits.
- Credits, once used, cannot be reused for any other certification track or level.
- Credits must be used (1) before they expire, or (2) during the certification cycle in which they were earned, whichever occurs earlier.
- Students who are approved to use printed student kits per the exception process can still log into the digital kit using the credentials provided in order to register within the digital kit platform that is linked to the Continuing Education database.