3,000 students to benefit from Huawei ICT Academy

Islamabad : The Huawei ICT Academy programme will increase the number of training slots for Pakistani students fourfold, from 800 per year to over 3,000 per year.

A strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed between the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Huawei Technologies Pakistan.

Under the MoU, Huawei ICT Academies will be established in eight new universities, which will join existing 15 academies by the end of 2020, bringing the total number of universities to 23. In addition, the Training Academies in 5 of the existing universities will be upgraded. The programme will provide important support for the government's Digital Pakistan initiative.

HEC Chairman Tariq Banuri was the chief guest at the virtual signing ceremony.

The event was also attended by Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training Wajiha Akram, Executive Director HEC Dr. Fateh Marri, Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications, Huawei Middle East Li Xiangyu (Spacelee), and a large number of Vice Chancellors.

Addressing the ceremony, Chairman, HEC, said that the government is keen to bring about the technological transformation of the country, especially through the Digital Pakistan initiative, and the Hauwei ICT Academy Programme will provide a great contribution to this objective.

Akram congratulated the HEC and Huawei on taking forward the ICT Academy Programme. She said the academia-enterprise cooperation projects, like the Huawei ICT Academy Programme, will help build the ICT talent ecosystem in Pakistan. “I would like to thank Huawei technologies for their efforts and investment in Pakistan, and entrusting our youth, specifically those from the rural areas.”

Spacelee said Huawei has, for many years, been privileged to contribute to the development of Pakistan’s ICT ecosystem together with local partners like HEC. “We are excited to be working with HEC again to expand the opportunities available through the Huawei ICT Academy.”

The Huawei ICT Academy Programme is a global initiative aimed at promotion of ICT technology skills. The programme was launched by HEC and Huawei in 2017. It features industry-academia linkages and cooperation with universities in different countries for development, training and certification. It is based on Huawei's advanced technologies in the ICT area and leading market solutions. Twenty six universities submitted their proposals to the HEC for joining the programme. Following an open and competitive selection process, eight universities were chosen to host the next set of ICT Academies. These are Mirpur University of Science and Technology, University of Central Punjab, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Agricultural University, Khawaja Fareed UET, Usman Institute of Technology, Sindh Madressatul Islam University, UET Peshawar and the University of Peshawar. The five existing academies which will be upgraded, based on their past performance, are COMSATS University Islamabad, NUST, UET, NED University of Engineering and Technology, and Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute (GIKI).