By Our Reporter
After seven months of heavy preparation, Huawei’s Sub Saharan Africa Regional ICT Competition was successfully held on 22nd February in South Africa. The competition attracted over 16,000 registered from over 500 institutions.
At least 16 countries in the region participated in the competitions whereby Team Uganda was represented by Makerere University, Kyambogo University, Gulu, Kabale Muni University.
During the competition, Makerere University scooped the grand prize in computing track and also managed to win the first prize in Network track where Kyambogo University scooped second prize. Gulu and Kabale managed to get third prize. The network track was comprised of 27 teams of three students each from 16 countries. Muni University (Uganda) won the first prize in Cloud track.
Out of the six Ugandan teams, four qualified for the global competition with Gulu and Kabale universities who got the third prize failing to qualify for global event scheduled to take place in China in May, 2023.
Okello Stephen, a Network and Cyber security student also a participant from Makerere University Network track, commended Huawei for the opportunity and noted that he was exposed to more advanced concepts in the various technologies.
“This years ICT competition was a bit challenging as compared to the previous ones because we got introduced to more advanced concepts in datacom, security and even in wireless technology so we had to really put in a lot of effort in learning and mastering them within the shortest period of time. Well this prepared us well in solving real life problems because you have to be a quick learner and work as a team to solve these IT Challenges so that you succeed in this ever changing global environment of technology. I really appreciate Huawei for the tremendous job as far as the ICT Competition is concerned and we hope for the best comes this year 2023,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kenya won the grand prize for both Network and Cloud track.
The annual Huawei ICT Competition is a key piece of the ICT Academy Campaign. It targets university and college students worldwide, aiming to facilitate communication between schools, enterprises, and governments while building a robust talent ecosystem. Through this competition, Huawei aims to challenge the students’ ICT knowledge as well as the practical and application skills, and ultimately, inspire innovation with the theme of “connection, glory, future”.