A group of Kenyan students has qualified for the Huawei ICT global competition finals, which will hold in November 2020.
The students are from Laikipia University, JKUAT, Multimedia University, and the University of Nairobi are in the competition representing Kenya in the competition. They made the top eight out of over 40 contesting teams in Africa.
This year’s Huawei ICT competition had more than 50,000 students representing 14 countries, making it the most massive turnout since the inception of the award.
This year the competition was held virtually, giving room for more participants to join.
In recent history, Huawei has entered into agreements with more than 250 Universities in Africa. This corporate relationship has provided the platform for over 7,000 undergraduate students to receive a Huawei ICT certification.
The certification program equips the students with more direct knowledge, so they are better placed to get a job after graduating.
Global Vice President of Huawei, Mr. Hou Tao, emphasized its admiration for the students’ outstanding enthusiasm. He pointed out that such confidence is needed to propel Africa’s digital economy, shifting to an online-based infrastructure.
“As a private company serving the African market for over 20 years, Huawei has dedicated itself to and will always remain a trusted partner of governments and academia in building ICT talent pool, strengthening capacity building and increasing people’s digital competence. “said s Mr Hou.
Mr Darius Mogaka Ogutu, Director of University Education and Research at the Ministry of Education in Kenya, commended the impact brought by Huawei’s talent strategy for enabling “tens of thousands of other students across the region, by learning and practising their ICT knowledge and skills through this innovative format.”
The representative of university educators, Prof. Funso Falade, President of the African Engineering Education Association (AEEA), acknowledged Huawei’s role in addressing Africa’s needs during the pandemic. “The skills development opportunities provided by Huawei are in line with AEEA goals and aspirations for our students in a critical area which we now require a lot of expertise in Africa, now more than ever due to the disruption the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to our educational system,” he added.
