The new school year is starting, students and faculty flock back to campus excited for the upcoming year of learning, connecting, and challenges to overcome. Students are wandering into their dorm room, courtyards, all over campus with smart phones, smart watches, tablets, laptops, gaming systems, and all sorts of other devices.  Thousands upon thousands of devices all start connecting to the network. Stakeholders (faculty, staff, and students) expect a high-quality connected experience from one end of campus to the other, regardless of device or application.

This requires a secure, intelligent automated environment across the university taking advantage of the latest technology, Wi-Fi 6E enabled hardware, with applied AI to help create a frictionless unified user experience across the entire campus.

Higher Education Challenges

Currently, the IT Landscape in Higher Education faces many challenges. As the higher education sector continues to evolve in a digital transformation, university networks must combat these challenges such as:

1. IT Ecosystems-Dated systems, increasing complexity and silos make it difficult to adopt new technologies and innovate at scale.
2. Connectivity-Students need and expect high-quality digital experiences. Access to broadband and Wi-Fi are critical to students and faculty.
3. Safety and Security-As security moves to the network and cyber-attacks are more sophisticated, physical security is interconnected with network security.
4. Devices-IT teams are now managing more devices and need ways to track these assets, monitor for cyber threats, and manage performance.

For universities, staying current with technology and regular network infrastructure upgrades is critical to ensuring the educational mission is not hindered by technological limitations.  A wireless network is no longer a luxury or commodity, but a utility for educational institutions. Cisco helps solve these challenges by harnessing the capabilities of Wi-Fi 6E and applying cutting-edge AI technology to the Experience-driven Institution.

Cisco Higher Education Solutions

The true power of Cisco Wireless lies in the creation of a unified experience across the campus.  With Cisco wireless solutions focused on experience, simplified operations, digital transformation and security, IT professionals can expect the same level of connectivity and performance through:

• OpenRoaming allows students, faculty, and staff to connect seamlessly across campus, improving experience across the network.
• Our-on-prem, and cloud solutions help mitigate risk by providing insight into client connectivity easily with visibility of performance to troubleshoot any issues that spring up.
• Future-proof your network with Cisco wireless unified Wi-Fi 6E access points (APs) with cloud operations and dual mode.
• Deliver better outcomes with Cisco's wireless ecosystem partnerships.
• MT Sensors and IoT solutions enable universities to assess and adapt the physical and digital for your ideal sustainable, smart workspace.
• Digitize the physical world to keep students, faculty, and staff safe.
• Control and secure wireless connectivity and everything in between with Cisco Security Solutions
• Role Based segmentation and access management, incorporating ISE or other segments, and defining network policy for device onboarding for maximum efficiency and mitigate risk.
• Minimize onsite IT employee time with centralized, remote network management.
• Leverage applied AI for enhanced daily network operations and performance.
• Provide a seamless onboarding experience for client devices and network deployment.

Cisco Wireless' Wi-Fi 6E solutions with Applied AI create a secure, sustainable, flexible network that delivers a frictionless, unified user experience across the entire campus.  The experience-driven institution for higher education is here thanks to Cisco's innovative networking solutions.

Resources for education

Join Cisco at EDUCAUSE 2023 and see Cisco Wireless solutions in action. To learn more about Cisco in education, explore these resources:

EDUCAUSE 2023

Cisco in Education

Cisco Education Portfolio Explorer

Cisco Wireless

Cisco Solutions for Higher Education

Cisco Solutions for K-12 Education

Cisco and E-rate