Huawei bridges skills gap in ICT sector
Staff Writer | Wednesday October 21, 2015 15:36
Ntwaetsile said: “We realised there was a gap between the theory the students are taught in schools and what the industry demands. In this programme, which we have already implemented in other African countries, Huawei will this year pilot the programme in Botswana and send the best ten ICT students from University of Botswana to China for two months.
“This year is only a pilot programme. We hope to engage more local universities next year and also look to increase the timeframe of the training programme.”
The press briefing was also attended by the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) permanent secretary, Neil Fitt, deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, Simon Coles, political counsellor at the Chinese Embassy Li Nan and head of computer science department at UB, Audrey Masizana.
Li emphasised that he is happy to see that Huawei, as a company that originated in China, is making continuous efforts to contribute to the development of ICT industry in Botswana. He said he believes Huawei’s cooperation with local partners has contributed to letting more people enjoy the benefits brought by communications. He said Huawei’s launch of Seeds for the Future was another milestone of cooperation between Botswana and China. This year marks the 40th year of establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and Botswana. The Chinese Embassy provides government scholarship to about 80 students from Botswana every year and so far it has benefitted over 500 students.
Among latest ICT technologies that the students will study are LTE 5G, SDN, NFV and Cloud Computing.
Coles said the launch of Seeds for the Future was highly in accordance with the ministry’s vision of building an “educated and informed nation.” He said he hoped that Huawei’s cooperation with UB for this pilot year will be a great success and can expand to cover other tertiary education institutions. He said MoESD would join in students selection and interview and the official launch of the programme. After the students come back, MoESD would work with Huawei to evaluate their studies in China to guarantee the effects of the training.
Huawei is expected to host a ceremony to mark its 10th anniversary as well as officially launch the Seeds for the Future programme in Gaborone on November 10, with the students leaving for China 10 days later.