Huawei has donated ICT study equipment to Makerere University College of Computing and Information Science to aid in the hands-on study in the Huawei’s ICT Academy that was launched in 2019.
The event that took place at Makerere University College of Computing and Information Science was graced by the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University; Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, the new sworn in Executive Director of NITA-U; Dr. Mugasa Hatwib, Deputy Vice Chancellor Finance and Admin; Prof. Hisali Eria, Huawei Uganda Managing Director; Mr. Gaofei, and the Principal College of computing; Prof. Tonny Oyana.
Upon receiving the donation, Prof. Nawangwe commended the technology company; Huawei for the donation and them being an industry leader.
“Huawei Technologies has donated equipment router and switches to support Huawei ICT Academy program.We are very excited about its potential in changing the IT landscape in Uganda and beyond. I know Huawei and I have been to their headquarters, they are a market leader and have heavily invested in research and development,” said Prof. Nawangwe.
Dr. Mugasa Hatwib who was the guest of honor expressed his passion for research and innovation and stressed that the donation shall aid the college of computing of Makerere University in this role —commending Huawei for their fulfillment and pledged constant support to the university.
“Thanks to Huawei for this wonderful donation as it is part of their commitment to train 1000 students and equip learning institutions,” says Dr. Mugasa.
“Collective participation is how we shall digitize Uganda. I love research and innovation and I believe that this donation shall aid in the same,” he added.
Professor Tonny Oyana, the Principal College of Computing and Information science emphasized that the ICT Academy initiative are right within the strategic plan of Makerere that is being implemented between 2020 and 2030.
According to Huawei’s Managing Director Mr. Gaofei, the donation comes as a fulfillment of the pledge Huawei made to Makerere of donating equipment to the University to aid in the hands-on study in the academy.
“We are here to donate the ICT Academy equipment to aid the Academy to give hands-on training of the academy courses. This is a fulfillment of our MoU signed in May 2019. We shall also donate to three more academies in Uganda,” said Mr. Gaofei.
“With this donation, we believe that we shall trigger exploration which lights the way forward. And further more we believe that this exploration begins with sharing wisdom, and exchange of ideas to open up exciting new possibilities in a digital world”, he added.
The Huawei ICT Academy was launched in May 2019 at Makerere University to train and certify 1000 students free of charge in the next two years. The Academy covers course combines both theories and practical operations ranging from Enterprise Networks such as Routing and Switching, Advanced Network and Network technology, information technology such as Storage, Cloud computing and big data among others.
Notably, Huawei has opened seven more ICT academies to fulfil its pledge of training students interested in ICT.
