President Arif Alvi Attends Closing Ceremony of Huawei ICT Competition

The closing ceremony of the third Huawei Pakistan ICT competition was held in the Pakistan Higher Education Commission (HEC).

President of Pakistan Dr. Arif Alvi, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Mr. Yao Jing, Minister of Education and Professional Training Mr. Shafqat Mahmood, Chairman of HEC Dr. Tariq Banuri, Huawei Technologies Pakistan(Pvt) Ltd CEO Mr. Saif, vice chancellors, and students participated in the ceremony.

President Arif Alvi during his speech said:

I would like to congratulate HEC and Huawei for holding the ceremony and competition, an exemplary cooperation between industry and academy, it also gives me great pleasure that Huawei and HEC have joined hands to promote healthy competition of ICT services and I’m impressed also by that fact that 14 authorized information network academies have been set up by Huawei and today they mentioned that they are going to set up another 8 and add to their cooperation of improving the science and technology interests in Pakistan.

Huawei ICT Competition Pakistan 2018-2019 was launched on September 6, 2018. Roadshow and workshops were held at 53 universities and academic institutions across Pakistan, making it one of the largest events in Higher Education in Pakistan and also the largest in the overseas area of Huawei ICT Competition globally.

Yao Jing, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan said education is very important in every country. China will focus more on social development sectors in Pakistan and will try to help Pakistan’s education transformation.

The number of participants at the roadshows was 15,000+ while the successful online applicants in Pakistan have reached 10,672. More than 30+ locations and 5000+ students attended the exam conducted on Huawei‘s e-learning platform. Top 300 students are invited to attend the Round 2 from which 171 students passed HCNA Certification out of 270 certification exam attendees. The Top 100 students took part in the National Final and the most competitive Top 6 students were selected for the ME International Final in China

The Minister of Education said: “This competition is an amazing idea and allows the students to compete and come up with, fresh new ideas,” he also congratulated all the winners of this competition.

Pakistani students performed exceptionally well in the Middle East International Competition. One out of the two participant teams’ succeeded in seeking the third position among thirteen participant teams from different countries in the ME region. In May 2019 the Top 3 students shall participate in the Huawei ICT Competition Global Final in China with other regional winners from all over the Globe.

Chairman HEC Dr. Tariq Banuri during his speech said:

Huawei’s partnership with HEC over the past decade, in development of PERN and other R&E activities, is playing a vital role in shaping a prosperous future for Pakistan.

Saif Chi, CEO of Huawei Pakistan, said:

In Pakistan, Huawei has three talent ecosystem components which are “Huawei ICT Academy”, “Seeds for the Future” and “Huawei ICT Competition”. We certify more than 3000 ICT talents each year under our talent ecosystem components. These talents will help realize the digital transformation of Pakistan.

He also announced to provide job opportunities to the top 6 students.

With the support of HEC, Huawei has established an ICT Academy with 14 high-quality universities in Pakistan. UET Lahore, COMSATS University Islamabad, and UET Taxila have won the Excellent Huawei ICT Academy in 2018.

In addition, NUST and GIKI’s 2 lecturers won the title of Excellent Huawei ICT Academy in 2018. With the further development of cooperation, the number of Huawei ICT Academy is expected to reach 22 in 2019, and more than 3000 people are expected to be trained.