Huawei opens free online 5G course for University of Ghana students
Global telecommunications company, Huawei Technologies, has, as part of efforts to develop and grow Ghana’s ICT talent pool, opened a free online 5G training course to some engineering and computer science students at the University of Ghana.
The initiative, which is currently benefitting some 70 university students, forms part of the Huawei’s broader agenda to develop over two million information technology (IT) professionals over the next five years while fulfilling the ICT giant’s commitment to the government of Ghana to train over 5,000 Ghanaians in ICT by 2024.
It is also the first major training under the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Huawei Ghana and the Ministry of Education to offer professional ICT training and hands-on experience to selected tertiary institutions in Ghana.
Equipping participants
The two weeks intensive online course on the theme, “Debunking the 5G Myth”, will seek to equip the participants with fundamental understanding of the key requirements, capabilities and usage scenarios of 5G and the key innovations behind it, while guiding the participants to identify the various opportunities offered by 5G.
The participants will also be aware of issues and challenges confronting 5G deployment.
Knowledge transfer
At the opening ceremony, which was held remotely via video conferencing, the Deputy Managing Director of Huawei Ghana, Mr Kweku Essuman Quansah, said the short course was, therefore, intended to equip university students and assist them in understanding 5G technology, from the perspective of technology, standards, regulation, policy, economy, society and environment.
He added that as a company with over 30 years of experience in the ICT ecosystem and the global leader in 5G, Huawei believed in knowledge transfer.
“Giving these students the opportunity to learn, appreciate and embrace the 5th Generation Telecommunications Technology is one of our key goals of giving back to society through knowledge transfer,” he said.
On behalf of the Head of Department of Computer Science at the University of Ghana, Dr Abdulai Jamal, a lecturer at the faculty, Mr Julius Yaw Ludu, stressed the need for industry to collaborate with academia.
He said: “For a country to develop, it is necessary for educational institutions and the industry to collaborate. It is important that students brainstorm widely and come up with novel solutions using 5G technology.”
The instructor for the training, Mr John Mwasi, who would be conducting the class remotely from Windhoek, Namibia, encouraged the students to make an effort to be punctual.
Speaking on behalf of the students, the Huawei ICT Academy Student Ambassador who is also a Level 300 Computer Science Student at the University of Ghana, Mr Joshua Eyram Wordey, thanked Huawei Ghana for the opportunity presented.