Huawei partners with ICT Ministry to foster new talent in ICT

ICT Minister Hon. Dr. Chris Baryomunsi delivering his remarks at the ceremony.

By Our Reporter

The Minister of ICT and National Guidance Hon. Chris Baryomunsi has launched a talent cultivation partnership between his Ministry and Huawei. The minister launched the partnership at the Uganda Institute of Communication Technology (UICT) which is a direct beneficiary.

Through the partnership, students and ICT officers will be trained in courses such as 5G, A.I, Cloud, Security, Data communications and others that are required by employers.

Huawei will provide staff professional development, sharing of the latest educational materials and resources on latest technologies, exchange of publications and other materials of common interest and promote unified international standards that govern cybersecurity for emerging technologies.

Dr. Baryomunsi highly welcomed the collaboration and thanked Huawei for the program that’s geared towards skilling of both students and ICT officers.

“This is highly welcomed as it is geared towards skilling of both students and ICT Officers with aim of equipping them with the right skills, competencies to manage, support and ensure that ICT delivers business value.” said Hon Dr. Baryomunsi.

“I am pleased that this initiative benefits our agencies through providing talent cultivation, systematic practical training system thus making them more competitive in the jobs market and the provision of employment opportunities,” he added.

Huawei MD Gaofei and the PS Ministry of ICT Dr. Aminah Zawedde launch the partnership.

The Permanent Secretary of the ministry of ICT, Dr. Aminah Zawedde noted that this engagement with Huawei is aligned to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

“This engagement is to provide quality education and skills aligned to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Africa’s Agenda 2063, Uganda Vision 2040, NDP III 2020/21 – 2024/25, National ICT Policy and achievement of NDP III Digital Transformation Programme and Development of an agile ICT-Human Resource Capital etc. Huawei will provide capacity support to the Department to implement the ICT talent development in terms of 5G, AI, Cyber Security, Cloud and Big Data and other ICT technologies,” she noted.

Speaking at the ceremony, Huawei Managing Director Gaofei called for urgent need to reform traditional teaching content and focus more on cutting edge technologies because that’s what the industry wants.

“Its important to note that as digitization accelerates in various industries, colleges and universities urgently need to reform traditional teaching content and focus more on cutting-edge technologies, ensure that courses keep up with the times, guarantee that teaching materials are related to industry practices, and help students become more employable. That’s why we are working with various universities in Uganda and are willing to work with more through the ICT Academy program. In Uganda, we now have 17 universities and we have certified their assigned teachers free of charge. We have already surpassed training 5000 and over 2800 students are Huawei certified,” he said.