Huawei has announced the opening of a Huawei ICT Academy Lab at the Community College of Qatar (CCQ) in an effort to strengthen Qatar’s digital talent ecosystem while deepening Huawei’s efforts to nurture a rich ICT talent pool, in line with national objectives.
The official opening ceremony of Huawei ICT Academy Lab was held at the Community College of Qatar in the presence of HE Dr Ibrahim Bin Saleh Al Nuaimi, Undersecretary of Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Dr Mohamed bin Ibrahim Al Naemi, President of Community College of Qatar, Liam Zao, CEO of Huawei Gulf North, and other officials from all parties.
The ICT Academy Lab will train individuals in a real-world environment using Huawei equipment before graduating with high-level Huawei Certifications. It will also support CCQ’s research programs by providing cutting-edge technology and platforms and inspire innovations by conducting industry and university collaborative projects and research.
In his speech during the ceremony, HE Dr. Ibrahim Bin Saleh Al Nuaimi, Undersecretary, Ministry of Education and Higher Education, noted, “Qatar’s ability to attract foreign investment and foster innovative startups is directly related to our ability to produce the right ICT talent. This is why the Qatar government encourages and supports forward-thinking learning initiatives such as the Huawei ICT Academy. We look forward to seeing the original ideas that will emerge from the Lab.”
From his side, Dr. Mohamed bin Ibrahim Al Naemi, President of Community College of Qatar, added, “It gives us a great pleasure to open Huawei ICT Academy Lab at the Community College of Qatar, as part of our strategic partnership with Huawei, to provide our students with a state-of-the-art educational platform that combines classroom learning with industry experience. We are confident that the Academy will promote CCQ’s leading role in developing and honing the skills and knowledge of national professionals in the field of ICT to meet the growing needs of the local labor market. It will also reinforce CCQ’s commitment to supporting Qatar’s digital transformation efforts and its transition to a knowledge-based economy, and contributing to the realization of human development goals, a key pillar of our National Vision 2030.”
Liam Zao, CEO, Huawei Gulf North, said, “We are delighted to complement the tremendous efforts by Qatar and Qatari universities to nurture ICT talent. Exposing CCQ students to a real-world ICT environment ensures that the students graduate with the right combination of theoretical and practical skills to thrive in a highly dynamic and demanding field. The Lab complements our other skills development initiatives, allowing us to build a complete value chain covering the entire process of learning, certification and employment.”
Governments and private enterprises alike realize talent is the ICT industry’s most important resource. While Qatar ranks high globally in promoting digital skills, the scale of the country’s ambitions to nurture a knowledge economy requires that the digital skills development pipeline be fast-tracked. Collaboration between universities, industry and technology companies has proven successful in advancing this goal.
Huawei ICT Academy Lab is the latest initiative by Huawei to develop digital talent in Qatar. The Huawei ICT Academy has signed cooperation programs with various universities to supply a high-quality workforce for the sector’s development.
Meanwhile, Huawei’s flagship CSR program, Seeds for the Future, celebrated another successful season in 2021, with students from three universities, including CCQ, graduating with ICT and cultural trainings in cutting-edge technology such as 5G, cloud computing, AI, and IoT.
Last year also saw students in Qatar participate in the newly launched Tech4Good project to generate ideas on how to leverage technology to address the region’s most pressing social and environmental issues.
