Huawei Ghana has officially launched the third edition of its annual ICT competition through interactive Roadshows at various Universities across Ghana with over 2000 students from over top 16 universities including KNUST, GTUC, University of Ghana, UMAT, UENR, Regent University, among others registering to take part in this 2019-2020 edition.
The Huawei ICT Competition, which focuses on promoting efficient mapping of talents for a sustainable ecosystem is geared towards promoting Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry certifications and develop ICT industry talents for digital transformation is open to all tertiary level students offering ICT and Engineering related courses.
The competition will be carried out in four stages; the Preliminary Stage which will take place in the third week of November will be followed by the National Finals in the 2nd week of December.
The National Finals will bring together the top 100 students to compete to select the top 3 students who will represent Ghana and compete against their counterparts from over 100 universities across Africa at the Regional Stage in February, 2020. The Global Finals which will be held in May 2020 is the final stage and will see successful teams from the continent level compete for the ultimate glory in China.
With the aim of bridging the gap between what is taught in school and what is practiced in industry, the ICT competition utilizes activities such as roadshows, training, and lectures to adequately prepare participating students. Participants also have a chance to win internship opportunities, fully sponsored trip to South Africa and China, smart Huawei devices like laptops, phones, and watches.
Last year, over 500 ICT and Engineering students from top Ghanaian universities participated in the talent search, 100 qualified from the preliminaries with Timothy Seffah-Duodu, a final year engineering student of KNUST emerging as the overall best student in Ghana. KNUST also produced the top three candidates who represented Ghana at the Regional Stage in South Africa in February early this year.
The competition is expected to drive the development of high-quality ICT talent, select qualified talent for the industry, provide future driving forces and active participants for digital transformation, and further contribute to a sustainable talent ecosystem. It will also open the platform for students to exchange ICT experiences and be exposed to the latest ICT knowledge.
Speaking at the maiden Roadshow to launch the competition at the Ghana Technology University (GTUC), Mr. David Appiah, Public Relations Manager at Huawei Ghana mentioned that the competition, under the theme, “Connection, Glory, Future” will connect students around the country to new knowledge as it prepares them for the future. The Competition will also deepen the knowledge of ICT in Ghanaian universities and improve the love students have for ICT-related activities and disciplines.
Mr. Geoffrey Li, Director for Enterprise at Huawei Ghana hinted during interaction with some past and aspiring participants at the Huawei Headquarters in Ghana that: “The ICT Competition is part of the Huawei Academy initiative which seeks to develop the ICT Talent Ecosystem through professional skill training and collaboration with Academia. This is in line with Ghana’s digitization agenda and as such Huawei will continue to partner, train and prepare students and ICT professionals to build their interest in ICT and compliment their skills for a robust and sustainable talent ecosystem. He added that, as a leading global ICT industry, Huawei believes in building the capacity of people to equip them for the future and in light of this, Huawei will continue to invest in such resources,”.
The Huawei ICT Competition will be carried out in two tracks; the Network Track and the Cloud Track. The Network Track which will enhance and test students’ knowledge in Routing and Switching (Networking), WLAN and Security while the Cloud Track will focus on AI, Big Data, Storage and Cloud Computing. Students are required to select a field under one track for the competition.
Huawei has also made available comprehensive Study materials and video tutorials to help students prepare adequately free online. Registration is also free and online with October 31, 2019 being the deadline.
Huawei invites both vocational and university students to participate in the “Huawei ICT Competition Southern Africa 2019-2020”. Interested students can learn more and register for the competition by visiting: http://e.huawei.com/cn/talent
