Drum Cafe Student send off at Huawei Technologies’ event
by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
JOHANNESBURG – SIX-THOUSAND postgraduate information and communications technology (ICT) students and practitioners in South Africa are to benefit from free training programmes on fifth generation cellular network (5G) and fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies.
Huawei South Africa and the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) will launch the online and on-site training.
Huawei made the announcement on Thursday at the joint DCDT annual Seeds for the Future send-off ceremony, which sees ten university students from various institutions across the country depart on a study trip to China.
Spawn Fan, the Huawei Chief Executive Officer, announced they planned to extend the 5G training course to more institutions.
It was recently launched at University of Pretoria, Wits University and University of Johannesburg.
“We are now partnering with the DCDT to deliver a 5G and 4IR online training platform with an accredited certification for 5 000 ICT students and professionals in South Africa. We aim to train a further 1000 students in our on-site programme,” Fan said.
DCDT and Huawei last year committed to jointly building an ICT Talent Ecosystem to support South Africa’s digital transformation.
Speaking at Thursday’s Seeds for the Future send-off, DCDT Minister, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, said through multilateral engagements such as in Brazil, Russsia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) bloc, South Africa had resolved to cooperate at various levels including capacity building, skills development and research.
“The Seeds of the Future programme, which focuses on critical 4IR-related skills, is therefore an important opportunity to expose ICT students to Huawei’s world class research and training facilities in China,” she added.
The Seeds for the Future programme is aimed at bridging the gap between theory and practice and to develop local ICT talent through knowledge transfer and hands on experience.
Huawei is also finalising its Talent Development Strategy for 4IR-SA to contribute to DCDT’s goal of training one million ICT talents by 2030.
The department has adopted the theme, “Coordinate. Collaborate. Execute 4IR.”
It is to ensure communities, especially the youth, are equipped to take advantage of new digital technologies, unlock future jobs and drive competitiveness.
“At the heart of the 4IR conversation, is a people-centered response that speaks to jobs, skills and broad economic participation,” Ndabeni-Abrahams concluded.
– CAJ News
