Huawei South Africa has held a Huawei ICT Academy Awards Ceremony, celebrating some of the milestones achieved through the Huawei ICT Academy programme and acknowledging top performing academies and instructors in the first half of 2021.

The Huawei ICT Academy is a non-profit partnership program that authorises universities and colleges to deliver Huawei Certification courses to their students. This programme acts as a bridge between enterprises and academia to build a talent ecosystem for the ICT industry. It has been designed to deliver standard professional certification required by employers.

Since the launch of the programme, more than 60 academic institutions (40 of which are from the crucial TVET sector) have enrolled across all nine provinces in South Africa, with more than 4 000 students and lecturers participating in Huawei ICT certification training. Over 2 000 students have successfully obtained the Huawei certificate.

“These outstanding achievements are measured against a very difficult period of the pandemic, which makes it all the more important to celebrate and acknowledge,” says Kian Chen, Deputy CEO, Huawei South Africa.

By facilitating this kind of skills development, Huawei is helping South Africa achieve its potential as a major global digital hub. 

“Let me take this opportunity to commend the Huawei ICT Academy for the sterling work it has been doing with South African colleges and universities, in training young people in such critical technical areas as Routing and Switching, WLAN, Security, Cloud Computing, Storage, Big Data, IOT and Artificial Intelligence,” says Buti Kgwaridi Manamela, the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation.

“As you may be aware,” he adds, “ICT skills have been highlighted as one of the National List of Occupations in high demand in South Africa and Huawei has been one of the forerunners in our efforts to build a digital workforce for South Africa.”

With such obvious benefits to learners, institutions, and South Africa as a whole, Sanele Mlotshwa, President of South African Public Colleges Organisation (SACPO), urged all educational institutions to register for the academy.

“I urge all instructors to use the support to ensure they get certified,” he says. “The colleges that are not taking up these opportunities are missing out on the benefits.”

For their part, the award winners affirmed their commitment to the academy and making sure their learners get the most out of it. 

“I’m very pleased to receive first prize on behalf of my team,” says Mncedisi Thwala, Managing Director, The Graduate Institute of South Africa, which won the award for top performing academy. “We are determined to raise the bar even further.”

 “University of Venda has been a Huawei ICT Academy since 2019,” says Thabani Njab, ICT Training Officer and Huawei ICT Academy Instructor, University of Venda, who took third place in the top instructor’s category.  “We currently have two courses and aim to expand further. I’d like to thank Huawei for providing this platform for learning. It’s a great opportunity for our students.”

The full list of winners are:

Top Huawei ICT Academies:

1. The Graduate Institute of South Africa
2. Tshwane South TVET College
3. University of Venda

Top Huawei ICT Academy Instructor:

1. Sibusiso Shabalala, Special Projects Supervisor / Huawei ICT Academy Instructor -- The Graduate Institute of South Africa

2. Peter Letsoalo, Lecturer / Huawei ICT Academy Instructor -- Tshwane South TVET College

3. Thabani Njaba, ICT Training Officer and Huawei ICT Academy Instructor -- University of Venda

Last week Huawei also held an online job fair for graduates of its ICT Academies, more than 50 youth will be placed in ICT jobs as a result.

IMAGE CAPTION: Buti Kgwaridi Manamela, the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation