L-R (back) Huawei MD Gaofei, Kyambogo Dean Justus Kwetegeka, Muni Vice Chancellor Prof Christine Dranzoa, Permanet Secretary ICT Ministry Hon BagirreVicent, MartrysNkozi Vice Chancellor Prof John Chrestom and Huawei PR Gaojian PLUS Team Uganda (in front)
Huawei Uganda has today awarded three students who represented Uganda in the Huawei ICT global competition Africa stage. These students took first position and are to represent Africa at the global stage next year.
Under the theme of “Connection, Glory, Future”, the four day competitions that kicked off on 10th September 2020 covered over 14 countries in the African region and attracted over 50,000 students.
Team Uganda is believed to have been represented by two network teams each comprising of three students, of which one took first position toppling other African countries. This winning team comprises of two students from Muni University and one student from Lira University. These shall now proceed to the global finals in China to compete at global level in November.
Globally the Huawei ICT Competition 2019-2020 has covered over 70 countries worldwide, with 150 000 contestants from more than 2,000 universities and colleges. Launched in the African region just five years ago, the Huawei ICT Competition has developed into the largest ICT skills competition in Africa.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance and Chief guest Hon. BagiireVicentWaiswa commended Huawei for the ICT Competition initiative that mobilizes young Ugandans to build their capacity and skills with a view of making them market ready.
“I thank Huawei for this initiative that mobilizes Ugandans to build their capacity and skills with a view of making them market ready. By market ready I mean you take these Ugandans and give them the necessary exposure through competition for them to be able to come back home and utilized the skills they have learned,” he said.
“As far as the ministry is concerned, developing human capital is extremely important and we look at initiatives such as these (Huawei ICT Competition) as an avenue that we can utilize to build the capacity of our ICT professionals and therefore build substantial ICT eco system,” he added.
In Uganda, the first edition of the Huawei ICT competition started in 2018 with 1300 students from the various public universities. In 2019, over 2500 students from Makerere, Kyambogo, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Nkozi, Mbarara, Kabale, Lira, Gulu, Muni, UCU and MUBS accessed learning material free of charge on the Huawei online learning platform in the various courses such as Network and Cloud track. The network track consists of Router & Switch, Security and Wireless Lan while Cloud track consists of Artificial intelligence, Big Data, Cloud Computing and Storage. These studied and were subjected to preliminary exams, national exams and Regional exams.
Doreen Nalwoga, a computer science student at Lira University and one of the winners expressed her gratitude to the exposure Huawei had accorded to them.
“Firstly I would like to thank Huawei Uganda for having given us an opportunity to increase our exposure, knowledge, skills and experience. We have attained professional certification at no cost, facilitation and awards. I am personally certified with HCIA Security, HCIA Router and Switch, HCIA WLAN. Am currently finalizing an additional course to be a Huawei Certified Internetwork Professional (HCIP R&S). This means I am capable of designing, implementing and maintaining enterprise networks already,” said Doreen.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, the Managing Director of Huawei Uganda, Mr. GaoFei, said that the competition is very relevant to every ICT student and professional because it’s a comprehensive approach of skills development for employment, enhanced productivity and growth.
“We congratulate team Uganda for the tremendous success thus far. The Huawei ICT Competition and Academy is a comprehensive approach of skills development for employment, enhanced productivity and growth. Training contents in this program has been aligned with skills requirements in the job market. That is why we re-dedicate ourselves to working even more closely with universities across the country to better equip students with the next generation of technologies and create the platform for the Ugandan students to demonstrate they are capable of maturing into world-class experts,” said Mr. Gao Fei.
With a series of talent ecosystem campaigns in Sub Saharan Africa, including the ICT competition, Huawei hopes to skill up more than 700,000 ICT professionals by 2023.
By Drake Nyamugabwa
