Huawei Technologies Ghana in partnership with Ghana Technology University College (GTUC) have offered free networking training to over 30 lecturers and IT professionals from 10 local Universities and Professional Institutions in Ghana.
The intensive 6-days training which took place from March 9th – 14th, 2020 at the Video Conference Room (VCR) of GTUC focused on Huawei Certified Internetwork Associate — Routing and Switching (HCIA-R&S) program sought to provide cutting-edge ICT skills for lecturers and support them to train their students through HCIA to develop talents with practical skills for the ICT industry and communities.
The initiative forms part of the Huawei’s broader agenda to develop over 2million IT Professionals over the next five years and saw the participation of Ghanaian Universities like GTUC, University of Ghana (UG), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Cape Coast (UCC), University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), University of Mines and Technology (UMAT), and All Nations University College as well as Professional bodies like the Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana (IIPGH) among others.
Speaking at the closing ceremony for the Train-the-Trainer (TTT) training at GTUC, the Public Relations Manager at Huawei Ghana, Mr. David Appiah indicated that the TTT training for instructors was organized to develop ICT talent in the country and adequately equip them with the skills and knowledge, to train students at the various Huawei Academies to get them certified in HCIA-R&S.
“Huawei is offering training in cloud computing and AI, all this training is to make sure that we contribute to Ghana’s ICT talent ecosystem. And this, I am happy to say is not just in Ghana but happening all over the world,” he added.
Mr. Appiah mentioned that, as a company with over 30 years’ experience in the ICT ecosystem Huawei believes the only way to give back to society is to transfer the knowledge. “At Huawei, knowledge transfer is key,” he noted.
The Vice President for GTUC, Prof. William Abeiku Blankson mentioned that GTUC wants to be a pioneer in pushing forth the Ghana’s ICT agenda hence their decision to collaborate with Huawei to train more Ghanaians in becoming ICT specialist.
He emphasized that with Huawei being a leader in the ICT industry, his outfit looks forward to cooperating with Huawei to include Huawei’s ICT certification (HCIA) as an optional course in the GTUC syllabus in 2020.
“Huawei’s TTT training counts as one of the best ways to accelerate the rapid transfer of talent skills. As the ICT certification communicator of universities, I entreat all to-be instructors to go back and plant the seeds that have been sown in them.”
Prof. Blankson further hinted that, GTUC intends to take advantage of the Huawei ICT Club to organize campus activities geared at keeping students abreast with latest technologies in the ICT ecosystem.
“We also hope to work with Huawei and other industry parties to provide more training opportunities for women. We are grateful to Huawei for introducing the AI certification in Ghana and we encourage everyone to actively participate in the system so as to provide future-oriented talent for the industry chain. We believe this is a very worth partnership and hope to grow in many areas.” He added.
Thanking Huawei for inviting his outfit to the training, the President of the Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana (IIPGH), Mr. David Gowu mentioned that Huawei is a leader in 5G, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing hence as an association they a happy to be part of the Huawei Training and are looking forward to be training partners of the tech giant. He also added that getting their professions trained in will help bring them up to speed with latest technologies.
“Huawei has a matured and future-oriented ICT training system which continuously attracts top talents and provide them with the appropriate skills to increase their capabilities in the ICT industry. IIPGH attaches great importance to Huawei’s continuous investment in the future-oriented talent cultivation and certification system. We hope to strengthen our relationship with Huawei, jointly cultivate talent that meet the requirements of new industries, and promote industry development,” he added.
He later praised Huawei for the initiative and contributions towards the development of skilled ICT talent and indicated that it is a very good concept which needed to be commended.
The instructor for the training, Dr. Kwasi Opare, also the best Huawei ICT Academy Instructor 2019 encouraged management to motivate instructors who teach the course whiles entreating instructors to help students acquire the certification. He wished the trainees the best and thanked Huawei for giving him the opportunity to lecture and bridge the gap between industry and academia.
Globally, Huawei cooperates with more than 600 universities to set up Huawei ICT academies, helping the universities improve their ICT teaching abilities and has trained more than 1500 teachers. In Ghana, Huawei has partnered with over 10 top Ghanaian Universities as authorized Huawei ICT Academies and has trained over 60 Instructors to offer training to interested students and professionals.
