Seeds of the Future graduates recognised at Huawei ICT Hub launch

Huawei Jamaica, which has been involved in honing with Information Communication Technology (ICT) talent for the past five years through its Seeds for the Future programme, recently hosted a graduation with the attendance of the Juliet Holness, MP, and Chinese Ambassador to Jamaica Jian Qi for 29 young students from The University of the West Indies (UWI) and the University of Technology (UTech).

The online programme which lasted eight days consisted of Mandatory Online Courses, Live Stream Sessions, ‘Tech4Good’ Project and Unlimited Access to discovering Huawei, Advanced Technologies, Trending Businesses and Cultural Awareness. Speaking about his experience, UWI student Shamar Jones said it was quite good.

“Overall, the Seeds for the Future is an amazing programme. It’s a fun interactive online experience that expanded my knowledge on the topic of ICT and how much of an impact Huawei has made in that sector. It also went beyond my expectations by allowing us to learn more than just ICT. Thanks for the programme, we’ve also been introduced to other content such as Leadership Business and traditional China,” Jones said.

The Seeds for the Future programme was a success with a 100 per cent graduation rate with all students successfully completing and passing all the exams. They were each given a Programme Graduation Certificate from Huawei Technologies. Ten Jamaican students (include three from UWI and UTech) had outstanding performances in the Tech4Good Project. The topic presented by this group of students was ‘Eco Clean Ja’, about an improvement of waste collection within the country to promote a sanitary environment.

PARTICIPATE IN GLOBAL COMPETITION

The overall participating class for this year consisted of a total of 112 students, from Ghana (58), Jamaica (29), Trinidad and Tobago (20) and Suriname (five). Huawei has invited the winning team of each class to participate in the Global Competition. Through this project, Huawei aim is to increase social entrepreneurship, help Jamaican youths to understand current trends on how technology can assist with solving complex global challenges; build problem-solving and leadership skills through teamwork and deepen personal mission and sense of social responsibility.

“It’s Huawei and Jamaica’s long-term objective to transport ICT technology, build a bridge for ICT knowledge, regional ICT Talent Hub contribution and an Eco-System construction,” Bo Zhou, Huawei CEO to Jamaica, said.

Jamaica ICT Talent Hub Initiative Programme was also launched at the event, and a signing of a memorandum of understanding to begin the establishment of a learning platform within the two universities, UTech and UWI, making Jamaica an ICT Talent Hub.

“Huawei will cooperate with the Jamaican government to build an ICT academy with UWI and UTech. We will provide the ICT equipment, course resources and platform resources and provide scholarships for UWI and UTech students to the tune of $4 million each year. Internship opportunities will be provided for students of Jamaica the ICT Talent Centre, with opportunities to learn ICT in China, provide ICT industry development and technological trend literacy improvement courses for technical elites, national ICT strategic literacy promotion courses for relevant senior government officials and industry experts. All this with the intention to reform the university ICT curriculum system,” Zhou said.

The Jamaica ICT Talent Centre will produce far-reaching value and significance for universities, colleges that provide ICT courses to students, access to the latest technology ICT learning resources, extensive industry standard training and certification for teachers, established industry connections, knowledge sharing and established partnerships with ICT companies.