Huawei Technologies (Nigeria) Limited and Nigeria’s National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the deployment of ICT Academies in all of colleges of Education in Nigeria.

Captured in the signed Expression of Interest was the modality for which all Federal and State colleges of Education will be on boarded on the Huawei ICT Academy Platform. It will involve setting up 20 Academies and training of 2,000 students from the Colleges of Education each year.

The signing took place at the just concluded UNESCO World Higher Education Conference (WHEC2022).

The Expression of Intent MOU which was signed by the Executive Secretary of the National Commission of Colleges of Education, Prof. Paulinus Okewelle, would serve as the beginning of the Huawei ICT Academy deployment in all colleges of Education in Nigeria. Prof. Okewelle said the NCCE will set up a working committee that will recommend and refer Colleges to Huawei in phases.

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The UNESCO World Higher Education Conference aims at reshaping ideas and practices in higher education to ensure sustainable development for the planet and humanity. The event also served as a platform for the Huawei Digital Talent Summit. The first edition of the Summit focused on the theme “Reinventing Higher Education for a Sustainable Future.”

UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education Stefania Giannini and Huawei’s Board Director & Senior Vice President Vincent Peng kicked off the event describing the increasingly important role technology is playing in innovation and education. Giannini said, “We now have to go the extra mile, to bridge the global digital divide that left many behind and to integrate ICT-based solutions into higher education systems or programs. This is key for more than just graduate employability. Digital technology can also contribute to more open, flexible, and connected higher education ecosystems.”

Peng also spoke on the initiatives Huawei is pursuing to bridge the digital divide and developing talent ecosystem, including the Huawei ICT Academy project where university-enterprise collaborations help universities train new ICT talent through dedicated courses, training boot camps, and competitions.

“We have partnered with almost 2,000 universities around the world to build Huawei ICT Academies, with a target of training more than 1 million ICT professionals and experts by 2024,” he said. “We hope to improve digital literacy of all through these efforts, supporting sustainable growth of the society and industries.”

Also present at the WHEC2022 were the Executive Secretary of the National University Commission (NUC), Prof Adamu Abubakar and Deputy Executive Secretary, Dr. Christopher Maiyaki who both visited the Huawei Booth where Mr. Zhang Jing, the Senior Director of the Huawei Talent Ecosystem presented the talent ecosystem to them.

During the visit to the Huawei Booth, the ES of NUC, Prof. Adamu agreed to the setting up of a working committee comprising of ICT Directors, Directors of Academic Planning, through the Deputy ES, so that Huawei can present ICT Academy Course content on Datacom, AI, Cloud Computing and 5G, in phases to all Federal, State and Private Universities.

This will see the Huawei Course content made available across Nigerian Universities when completed. Mr. Zhang Jing promised that on completion of the of the above action plan, Huawei will invite the ES, DES and senior Members of NUC to the Huawei HQ Office in China.

The summit was attended in person or virtually by more than 80 experts from the education sector representing government, academia, industry, and UNESCO.

The Star