Huawei Technologies, on 28th August, donated ICT study equipment to Makerere University College of Computing and Information Science. This equipment is to aid in the hands-on study in the Huawei ICT Academy that was launched in 2019 at the college.
The event that took place at Makerere University College of Computing and Information Science was attended by the Vice Chancellor of Makerere Professor Barnabas Nawangwe, Executive Director of NITA-Uganda Dr. Mugasa Hatwib, Deputy Vice Chancellor Finance and Admin Professor Hisali Eria ,Huawei Managing director Mr. Gaofei, the and Principal College of computing Professor Tonny Oyana among others.
The Huawei ICT Academy was launched in May 2019 at Makerere University and is to train and certify 1000 students free of charge in the next two years. Huawei has also opened seven ICT academies more in Ugandan Universities to fulfil its pledge;
Upon receiving the donation, the Vice Chancellor of Makerere Professor Barnabas Nawangwe commended Huawei for the donation and them being an industry leader.
“Today Huawei Technologies 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 am grateful to Huawei for this donation. I know them (Huawei) and I have been to their headquarters, they are a market leader and have heavily invested in research and development,” He said.
Dr. Mugasa Hatwib, the executive Director of NITA-U and also the guest of honor. expressed his passion for research and innovation and stressed that the donated equipment by Huawei shall aid the college of computing of Makerere in this role. He commended Huawei for their fulfillment and pledged constant support to the university.
“Thanks to Huawei for this wonderful donation. This is part of the commitment that Huawei undertook to train 1000 students and equip their learning institutions. 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 said.
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 aide in the hands-on study in the academy.
“The reason we are here today is to donate the ICT Academy equipment to aid this ICT 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 course combines both theories and practical operations which range 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.
