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HuaweiTech: Trends, Insights, Innovation, Success

Building ICT Academies
Embracing the Intelligent Era

Issue098

Volume 01 (2025)

Special Issue of Huawei ICT Academy

Foreword

David Wang

David Wang

Executive Director of the Board and Chairman of the ICT Infrastructure Managing Board, Huawei

Technology + Practice: The Bricks and Mortar of Future Talent

We have truly entered an age of digital and intelligent transformation with more than 170 countries around the world having released national digital strategies. The need for digital and professional experts is growing by the day, but talent shortages still plague the industry. Huawei has always believed technology can be the bricks for talent development, while practice continues to be the mortar. This is why we are committed to building a comprehensive enablement system that can cultivate tens of millions of digital and intelligent professionals. We are also working hard to create a fertile space, a vibrant ecosystem, where digital and intelligent professionals will thrive. When people thrive, industry prospers and society can develop more sustainably. The Huawei ICT Academy is an integral part of this system, as it serves as a platform for collaboration between Huawei and the universities that nurture some of the world's greatest talent. Through this platform, we are able to cultivate a thriving digital and intelligent talent ecosystem. However, there is always more that can be done. Over the coming years, Huawei plans to continue reinforcing our professional development efforts in the field of ICT on three fronts.

First, we are prioritizing practice-oriented innovation to make sure our courses are aligned with real-world needs.

While the classroom is an indispensable source of knowledge, putting that knowledge into practice is critical for building real-world skills. The Huawei ICT Academy offers training courses in 22 different technical domains to share knowledge, but just offering standard courses isn't enough. And so, we are focusing on making sure these courses leverage practice and application to ensure we are not only building knowledge, but also capabilities. So far, we have crafted 85 high-quality, practice-oriented courses, and we've worked with professors like Dalian University of Technology's Ma Ruixin to develop courses like his System Analysis and Design, which have gained national recognition for their quality. We have also been collecting real-world projects and case studies and weaving them into our courses. All of these courses use the Huawei Cloud platform to help students bridge the gap between theory and practice and better prepare for their future careers.

We continue to develop high-quality teaching resources from around the world by working with the 6,000 universities that have chosen to work with us. Already, these efforts are benefiting more than 500,000 students each year and creating a valuable runway to connect students with industry.

Second, we are reinforcing industry-education collaboration and training for teachers.

Teachers play a pivotal role in education. They are the engineers co-shaping our future. To help them better equip their students with industry-ready skills, we are deepening ties between education and industry, providing educators with classes on our software platforms, as well as dedicated training camps. To date, more than 11,000 teachers have received Huawei ICT Academy certification and gone on to serve as pillars in their own growing practice-oriented training systems. In new tech domains, we are also actively exploring new teaching and research methods. For example, we are working with a consortium of universities in China, led by Wuhan University of Technology, to build a multi-site, virtual MindSpore teaching and research team for deep learning. The team has already made great strides in developing a new slew of teachers that will drive innovation in the field of AI.

The Huawei ICT Academy is now moving into a new chapter, as we aim to provide 10,000 new training opportunities for teachers each year and certify at least 20,000 teachers.

Third, we are focusing on building up cross-domain talent.

Cross-domain knowledge and skills are becoming increasingly critical as digital and intelligent transformation changes the world around us. We aim to integrate ICT with a number of traditional and interdisciplinary subjects such as machinery, transportation, biology, and medicine. By embedding ICT into the curriculum of more majors, we can cultivate a new generation of interdisciplinary talent with more diverse skillsets.

Chen Yucheng is a prime example of such interdisciplinary talent. He studied Ascend AI software through an industry-education collaboration project at the Huawei ICT Academy during his undergraduate communications program while at Dalian Minzu University. After graduation in 2024, his multi-disciplinary experience helped him successfully apply to Tsinghua University's Peking Union Medical College, where he is currently pursuing a graduate degree in the application of AI in biomedical engineering.

There are many more examples like Chen. Industry-education collaboration will remain a key driver of talent cultivation, and so we will continue working hard to nurture millions of developers for the broader ecosystem. By integrating science, technology, and education, we can bring the global talent ecosystem to new heights.

Talent is where true accomplishment and prosperity lie. So, we must look to the future, and work hand in hand with universities, partners, and ecosystem players to create an open and innovative approach to education based on real-world practice in order to cultivate more cross-domain and interdisciplinary talent. Talent is an inexhaustible source of momentum for corporate innovation and development. Only by investing in talent can we drive comprehensive industry upgrade and sustainable development of society.

Content

Huawei ICT Academy: A Bridge for University-Enterprise Collaboration
Course Co-Creation: Building Better Talent Development Solutions
Learning with Competitions: Unleashing the Potential of Innovative Talent
Industry-Education Collaboration: Exploring New Models of Collaborative Talent Cultivation

  • Publisher

    ICT Strategy & Marketing Dept. Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

  • Presented By

    Zhou Jun

  • Consultants

    Xu Yan, Luo Cai

  • Featured Consultant

    Sun Gang

  • Editor-in-Chief

    Xing Jingfan

  • Editor-at-Large

    Han Yu

  • Editors

    Xiao Li, He Yinping, Liu Wei, Xu Shoujuan

  • Art Editors

    Zhou Shumin,Xu Chuangliang

  • Editorial Board

    Tavsultanova Tamara, Himanshu Mahajan, Sharan Gouda, Pallavi Malhotra

No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent from Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

NO WARRANTY The contents of this document are for information purpose only, and provided "as is". Except as required by applicable laws, no warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, are made in relation to the contents of this document. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no case shall Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. be liable for any special, incidental, indirect, or consequential damages, or lost profits, business, revenue, data, goodwill or anticipated savings arising from or in connection with any use of this document.

Invited Articles

Meng Wanzhou

Sabrina Meng

Deputy Chairwoman, Rotating Chairwoman, and CFO, Huawei

Be Meticulous, Remain Dedicated, and Stay Persistent for a Bright Future

Meng Wanzhou

Sabrina Meng

Deputy Chairwoman, Rotating Chairwoman, and CFO, Huawei

On November 16, 2024, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen) held its Ninth Graduation Ceremony for Postgraduate Students in the Liwen Hall. As a special guest, Sabrina Meng was invited to give a speech.

It's great to be here with you witnessing this critical moment in your lives. Congratulations!

In today's era of information explosion, many of you may look to acquire as much knowledge as possible, and may be afraid of missing out on any hot topics.

Although knowledge knows no bounds, learning can be focused. There is no shortcut to learning, and only persistence can take us far.

The more choices we face, the more cool-headed and restrained we should be. We should spend our precious time and energy on learning and thinking, and cultivate a strong inner self to help us face the rapidly changing world.

I would like to share the stories about two Huawei teams. I hope these will leave you with some takeaways.

The first story shows us that true knowledge comes from practice.

After graduation, some of you may continue moving forward at the front of your fields, while some of you may step into real-world scenarios where you can apply what you've learned.

At Huawei, we have a team of PhD holders, who use their theoretical knowledge to solve the real-world problems our company faces. For example, they've used their specialized knowledge in communications, photology, and materials to solve a problem that has haunted the industry for over 20 years.

As they looked to solve the problem, they worked onsite under the scorching sun, in factories filled with rumbling machines, and alongside customers under torrential rain.

Through these efforts, they overcame the challenge. Their accomplishment has been hailed as one of the greatest-ever innovations in optical access networks, and has been used commercially at scale across the globe.

So, what was the challenge?

Throughout cities, there are massive fiber networks, spreading to places we may never see. Around the world, countless fiber cables are deployed across homes, residential areas, and cities, as well as over mountains and beneath oceans, connecting us all together. Whenever we make phone calls, use WeChat, or watch videos, fiber plays a crucial role.

Have you ever considered how faulty fiber cables are fixed? This is the very issue that has haunted the industry for years. Fiber cables are passive and cannot carry electrical signals.

Traditionally, we put a paper label on each fiber cable. Then, whenever a fault occurred, we sent people onsite, who had to check each and every fiber cable. That was extremely inefficient and costs were terribly high.

Our PhD holders raised the creative idea of printing an optical iris on every ODN port. This iris is essentially an optical QR code, giving every port a unique identity. To identify a port, one simply needs to scan the QR code, and optical sensing would do the rest.

However, there are many steps involved throughout the process, from an idea, to a product, and then to large-scale commercial use. It is rather difficult to print an optical QR code on each port, as it is similar to engraving a portrait of Venus on a piece of hair. As the team started putting their idea into practice, they encountered problems every step of the way.

Sabrina Meng

Sabrina Meng speaking at the Ninth CUHK-Shenzhen Graduation Ceremony for Postgraduate Students

Although the idea was theoretically viable, their experiments often failed due to a lack of consideration for the constraints of components. Even when verifications proved successful in labs, onsite verifications failed, because materials heated up under the glare of the sun. The failure of just one parameter could result in the failure of the entire system.

Furthermore, the production techniques of related factories were unable to meet requirements, so our PhD holders worked onsite to help them improve. Additionally, our suppliers lacked the required production lines, so our PhD holders helped them build some from scratch.

Upon finally achieving success, one PhD holder reflected, "Theoretical knowledge is far from enough to transform ideas into products. A huge gap exists between theories and products, and 70% of our time at Huawei is spent on bridging this gap."

To solve real-world problems, our PhD holders need to rely on the solid theoretical knowledge they have accumulated at university. What's more, they need to get their hands dirty and keep their feet on the ground. This is how they overcome challenges they have never seen in textbooks.

On New Year's Day, 1950, Peter Drucker, the "Father of Management", paid a visit to his teacher Joseph Schumpeter, a world-renowned economist. When asked a question, Schumpeter replied: "… it is not enough to be remembered for books and theories. One does not make a difference unless it is a difference in people's lives." Drucker said he had "never forgot that conversation". He believed that knowledge is useless until it has been translated into deeds.

If one has an idea, talks about it, or even writes it down, it is useless unless it is applied in practice.

I hope that, as you look to the stars, you will keep your feet on the ground. This is a "fundamental lesson" you should learn before entering society.

The second story shows us that focus leads to in-depth knowledge.

Being specialized is the basis upon which one stabilizes their inner self, and the cornerstone for creating value for an organization.

At Huawei Finance, there is a group of people who work quietly, unnoticed. What they do may seem simple, but they do everything to the best of their ability. They don't have eye-catching educational backgrounds or bios, but they deliver zero errors, and are thus outstanding in their own ways.

Outstanding has never been a word limited to one definition. PhD holders who use their theoretical knowledge to solve real-world problems are outstanding. Artisans who deliver high quality during everyday work are also outstanding. As long as employees meet their position requirements and work diligently, they are the outstanding talent we need.

For example, we have a contract verification position in our company. A contract verification accountant is responsible for checking whether contract handover information is consistent with procurement contracts.

Their everyday work involves comparing whether purchase orders are consistent with procurement contracts, identifying risky contract terms and conditions, promptly communicating with related personnel, recording issues, and keeping track of how related issues are handled.

On average, each employee working in this position compares 6,000 contracts a year, and they must ensure high-quality operations on every occasion. These employees understand both contracts and businesses, and are expected to provide improvement proposals or solutions for front-end business teams.

This may not sound like a thrilling job, but their accurate and error-free operations support our yearly payments of nearly 100 billion US dollars.

You do not need to stand atop a mountain to be seen. Praise is not reserved only for those who are great. The foundations of tall buildings are often laid by ordinary people, made possible through their dedication to a lifelong job, their persistence towards better quality, their meticulous work approaches, and their endless pursuit of excellence.

Excellence is the result of long-term efforts and determination to reach new heights.

If one is fully devoted to a craft, their skill will be consummate. If one is fully devoted to a job, they will have a successful career.

I truly hope that you will do every job to the best of your ability, perform your duties diligently, and never let up in your efforts, even on minor tasks.

Every line in your life story will be a gain. Every day of your long journey will be full of wonder. Every moment of your dedication will lay the groundwork for your future growth.

As long as you remain diligent and dedicated, you will make the extraordinary out of the ordinary.

Dear students, you will soon embark on a new journey in your lives, pursuing your dreams and creating value.

I hope that you will remain humble and persistent during this journey, and gain wisdom and courage along the way. I also hope that you will always keep your dreams in your hearts, and youth in your souls.

But please also remember: Life is not a fight for success, but a never-ending process of pursuing knowledge and finding your true self.

We are not born with knowledge, and knowledge itself is always evolving. We gain lasting access to knowledge only when we constantly explore and push beyond our cognitive limits.

I wish you all the best!

Thank you.

Invited Articles

Zheng Qinghua

Zheng Qinghua

Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Director of the University Computer Course Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education, and President of Tongji University

Cultivating Future-Ready Computer Talent with Industry-Education Collaboration

Zheng Qinghua

Zheng Qinghua

Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Director of the University Computer Course Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education, and President of Tongji University

A Chinese Ministry of Education Steering Committee has achieved remarkable results working with Huawei to cultivate more computer professionals.

Huawei is a renowned company now recognized around the world. Over more than three decades, it has grown from a Chinese start-up that developed alongside the nation as it stepped onto the international stage, into a global powerhouse and industry leader. What sets Huawei apart is not only its tireless pursuit of technological innovation and industrial breakthroughs, but its commitment to supporting universities and cultivating talent. It is no surprise the company has broken new ground and made extraordinary achievements in these areas over the years.

China's Ministry of Education (MOE) established the University Computer Course Teaching Steering Committee as part of its efforts to promote basic computer education in universities. The Committee's members are experts in the field of computer science from dozens of universities across China. They aspire to bring more and more university students into the world of computer science. The committee also aims to make computer science as popular as fields like higher mathematics, chemistry, physics, and biology, and to democratize computer skills as a form of basic literacy available to all.

Maintaining a focus on both theory and practice is crucial to these goals, as this is how we can achieve unity between knowledge and action. We need to be constantly looking at how to more closely combine knowledge learned with society's needs and the capabilities needed for practical application. This calls for meaningful integration between projects, platforms, resources, and teachers.

But this is easier said than done. Neither universities nor enterprises can do this alone. Instead, a collaborative university-plus-business approach is needed to steer both parties towards the same goals and facilitate mutual empowerment. Huawei has been exploring different ways to collaborate with universities in order to popularize education in computer infrastructure and related fundamental skills and capabilities.

This has created an opportunity for the Committee and Huawei to work together to develop new courses, train new instructors, and build new practice platforms. The collaboration so far has provided immense value for the ICT ecosystem by nurturing a new pipeline of professionals. This is especially important for the nation as we've made building a self-developed, self-reliant computing ecosystem a top priority.

This collaborative approach has proven feasible and necessary. Our collaboration has not only promoted computer education and improved wide-scale computer literacy among students, but also resulted in the development of new basic computer courses that reflect the latest technological advancements. In addition, these teaching materials have been widely applied in the education of computer knowledge and the training of various types of talent at all levels. The collaboration has been unquestionably productive. We have also been able to expand to other programs of study beyond computer science. This indicates that industry-education collaboration is a feasible way to meet real-world requirements, and is suitable for promotion to the larger community.

Moving forward, the Committee will deepen collaboration with the Huawei ICT Academy. There is so much more to explore in this collaboration: We can create teaching materials, especially materials focusing on digitalization, where we can make full use of AI and foundation model technologies to improve teaching methods and the presentation of teaching resources. We can build experiment platforms that combine theory with practice and facilitate industry-education collaboration. We can help improve students' basic capabilities and literacy in the context of an intelligent world, and we can explore new frontiers in training the next generation of teachers.

This is an era full of challenges but also opportunities. We need to deepen collaboration between industry and education, further engage industry in education, and put theory to the test through practice. We need to build synergies between all elements within our ecosystem. This is the only way to innovate more broadly, more deeply, and more productively.

This is exactly where the Committee and industry leaders like Huawei are heading. Closer collaboration between industry and education will help better equip universities to cultivate tomorrow's computer talent.

01.
Huawei ICT Academy:
A Bridge for University-Enterprise Collaboration

Huawei ICT Academy:
A Bridge for University-Enterprise Collaboration

Herleson Pontes

Professor Herleson Pontes

Federal Institute of Ceará (IFCE), Brazil

Moacyr Regys Simões Moreira

Professor Moacyr Regys Simões Moreira

Federal Institute of Ceará (IFCE), Brazil

IFCE & Huawei: Transforming Digital Skills in Brazil's Northeast

Herleson Pontes

Professor Herleson Pontes

Federal Institute of Ceará (IFCE), Brazil

Moacyr Regys Simões Moreira

Professor Moacyr Regys Simões Moreira

Federal Institute of Ceará (IFCE), Brazil

IFCE has worked with Huawei to set up Latin America's first IASC to cultivate digital talent and impact a broader community.

Brazil is going through a significant digital transformation process, driven by the need for modern infrastructure and connectivity. This shift is reshaping its economic landscape and promoting social inclusion. However, a major challenge remains: a shortage of qualified ICT professionals. Studies predict Brazil will need over 600,000 ICT specialists in the coming years, but technical training programs are still limited, particularly in less advantaged areas. Partnerships between educational institutions and tech companies are essential to accelerate professional training.

The Federal Institute of Ceará (IFCE) is part of a national network comprising 40 federal institutes, which collectively encompass 661 units across Brazil (see Figure 1). This network offers over 11,000 courses and has more than 1 million currently enrolled students, making it one of the largest technical education systems in the country. The federal network provides diverse levels and modalities of education. It offers students a comprehensive educational path starting with technical courses and, if desired, undergraduate, postgraduate, and even doctoral programs.

IFCE

Figure 1: Federal Institute of Ceará (IFCE)

The Huawei–IFCE journey

The partnership between Huawei and the IFCE was initiated in 2018, in large part by Professor Moacyr Regys Simões Moreira. He sought collaboration with leading technology companies, recognizing the need to provide students and professionals in the region with greater access to cutting-edge technologies and qualifications in a highly competitive ICT market. Ultimately, he found the ideal partner in Huawei.

The turning point occurred in May 2019, when the partnership was officially consolidated with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the IFCE and Huawei. From that moment on, the IFCE's Huawei ICT Academy continued to gain visibility and expand its activities beyond training small groups of students. Huawei began providing more resources and technical support, enabling the creation of a broader education program. As a result of this expansion, the academy transformed from a small laboratory into a leading center for training and certification in emerging technologies, including Huawei networking, 5G, and access laboratory equipment, in the state of Ceará.

Over the past few years, the program has had a clear positive impact, with significant growth in the number of students and teachers trained. Teachers and faculty staff have created new learning paths and integrated cutting-edge technologies into the curriculum.

The program began with a series of courses aimed at certifications in networking, including preparation for the Huawei Certified ICT Associate (HCIA) Routing and Switching Certification. From July 2020 to March 2021, this course trained over 200 students, leading to the certification of 51 individuals. As the program expanded, the IFCE began offering courses in other areas such as 5G and AI. Notably, the HCIA 5G Certification course conducted from December 2020 to July 2021 trained more than 700 students, resulting in 181 certifications. Similarly, the AI course trained over 400 students during the same period, with 67 students achieving certification.

These outcomes not only demonstrate the program's capacity to meet the growing demand for technical qualifications, but highlight the role of the Huawei ICT Academy in cultivating new professionals for the job market, addressing critical gaps in specialized labor training in Brazil.

In addition to courses for students, the Huawei ICT Academy at the IFCE has made substantial investments in training its teaching staff, resulting in a notable number of certified instructors across various fields. Currently, the IFCE boasts 9 certified teachers in Routing and Switching, 7 in 5G, 5 in AI, and 1 in WLAN. This expertise ensures quality instruction. The professional development of the teaching staff has established the Huawei ICT Academy as a leading example for training and lifelong learning. The scope of training has been expanded to attract not only students from within the institute, but professionals from other institutions and small businesses in the region.

Huawei ICT Competition: Where all started

The Huawei ICT Academy at the IFCE has excelled in training students and teachers and gained national and international recognition. A key highlight is the IFCE's strong performance in the Huawei ICT Competition.

Since joining in 2019, the IFCE has consistently ranked high, winning 1st place in the National Final and 3rd in the Global Final in 2019–2020. Success continued when they secured 1st place in the Regional Final and 2nd in the Global Final in 2021–2022. In 2022–2023, the IFCE secured 3rd place globally in the Network Track (as shown in Figure 2). Most recently, in 2023–2024, the IFCE achieved 3rd place in the Regional Final in the Computing Track, demonstrating their competitiveness and adaptability to new fields.

IFCE students

Figure 2: IFCE students perform excellently in the Huawei ICT Competition

Projects fundamental to social development

Another prominent project of the Huawei ICT Academy at the IFCE is "Student to Student", created by Professor Moacyr Regys and two students from the institution, Ana Beatriz Araújo Leite and Angel Coello de Jesus Chero. The project aims to promote a collaborative learning environment, where students themselves take on the roles of mentors and leaders, guiding classmates in the development of technical and leadership skills. This innovative student-run management and teaching model not only facilitates the transmission of knowledge, but creates a culture of cooperation and mutual support, essential for academic and professional growth.

The impact of "Student to Student" is reflected in the growing number of students involved and the creation of study groups and independent projects that use the Huawei Academy structure to promote new initiatives.

The Huawei ICT Academy at the IFCE also focuses on social initiatives for digital inclusion and tech literacy. One notable project is "Mommy, Auntie, and Grandma," which helps elderly women, many of whom lack access to digital technology. This initiative promotes digital independence for elderly women by providing them with a supportive space to learn basic computer skills and use devices like smartphones and computers.

IFCE as a Huawei ICT Academy Support Center

In 2021, the IFCE's Huawei ICT Academy became the first ICT Academy Support Center (IASC) in Latin America. This recognition allows the Huawei ICT Academy at the IFCE to act not only as a training academy, but a support center for other academies in the region.

In 2021, the IFCE's Huawei ICT Academy reached an important milestone by becoming the first ICT Academy Support Center (IASC) in Latin America, consolidating its position as a center of reference in the technological training ecosystem. This recognition allows the Huawei ICT Academy at the IFCE to act not only as a training academy, but a support center for other academies in the region. The center offers guidance, training, and technical support for the development and operation of Huawei's teaching programs in its ICT Academies in Brazil. This new role reinforces the IFCE's responsibility to strengthen the network of institutions that share the objective of promoting quality training and expanding access to education throughout Brazil and Latin America.

Expanding Huawei ICT Academies with the IFCE

The success of the Huawei ICT Academy at the IFCE also extended beyond the institution's walls through strategic partnerships with organizations such as National Service of Industrial Training (SENAI), the Secretary of Education of Ceará (SEDUC), and Federal Data Processing Service (SERPRO). Collaboration with these institutions has resulted in more than 5,000 trained students and 300 Huawei certifications issued in different areas, such as networking, cloud computing, and cybersecurity.

Collaboration with SERPRO, for example, enabled the training of public servants and IT professionals who work directly in government services, while partnerships with SENAI and SEDUC offered technical training courses for young people in vulnerable situations. These projects not only strengthened the Huawei ICT Academy's presence in the educational landscape, but contributed to the development of qualified professionals to meet job market needs.

The ICT Roadshow is another project carried out in partnership with the State University of Ceará and the Iracema Institute of Research and Innovation. On this road trip, a group of trainers travelled by coach to more than 25 Brazilian cities. They targeted regions with less access to technical training courses, reinforcing the IFCE's role as an agent of digital inclusion.

Despite the recognition garnered by the Huawei ICT Academy at the IFCE, the implementation and expansion of the program has faced several challenges over the years. One of the main obstacles was the English language barrier. For many students, proficiency in English presented itself as a barrier that limited not only their understanding, but their ability to obtain certifications that require command of a foreign language on top of technical knowledge.

The Huawei ICT Academy at the IFCE used a collaborative approach to overcome this barrier. This initiative resulted in a project called "Learning with Translation", an innovative solution where students with higher English proficiency translated materials and created study guides in Portuguese to help other students.

The success of the IFCE's various initiatives was recognized internationally in 2022 and 2023 with the Huawei Excellent Global Talent Ecosystem Partner Award. This honor highlights the IFCE's commitment to fostering a superb talent ecosystem on a global scale.

IFCE's roadmap

Building on a strong foundation, the academy aims to expand into new campuses and municipalities across Ceará, providing more communities with access to quality ICT training. This ambitious plan includes establishing new training centers focused on emerging technologies to prepare students for a competitive global market.

A key goal is to strengthen partnerships with local governments, educational institutions, and businesses to enhance program reach in remote areas. The plan is to create decentralized educational hubs that connect knowledge from main IFCE campuses with local initiatives to provide equal access to education for all.

The Huawei ICT Academy at the IFCE represents a significant advancement in technical training that addresses job market needs. This successful partnership continues to grow, impacting students and professionals regionally. The academy remains steadfast in its commitment to quality education.

Huawei ICT Academy:
A Bridge for University-Enterprise Collaboration

Suthiporn Truktrong

Dr. Suthiporn Truktrong

Vice President for Prince of Songkla University Trang Campus

Shaping the Future: PSU and Huawei's Strategic Collaboration for Thailand's ICT Talent Development

Suthiporn Truktrong

Dr. Suthiporn Truktrong

Vice President for Prince of Songkla University Trang Campus

Recognizing the challenges of the digital era, PSU is transforming its talent training programs through strategic acquisition of Huawei's solution.

In a groundbreaking initiative, the ICT Academy at Prince of Songkla University (PSU) has partnered with Huawei to establish the ICT Talent Development and Innovation Center in September 2024 (as shown in Figure 1). The center is the first public training facility for ICT talent in the Asia-Pacific region. It is equipped with cutting-edge ICT training devices and teaching platforms, and provides comprehensive services in teacher training, certification training, discipline consulting, and more. This collaboration signifies a major step forward in modernizing educational frameworks and equipping students and the wider community with vital skills to excel in the digital age.

Inaugurating

Figure 1: Inaugurating the PSU ICT Talent Development and Innovation Center

Founded in 1967, PSU is the largest university in southern Thailand, currently serving over 35,000 students. PSU spans five campuses and specializes in a wide array of fields, making it a vibrant hub for diverse knowledge and expertise. With a substantial proportion of its faculty holding doctorate degrees, the university is uniquely positioned to foster innovation and maintain high educational standards.

The digital era presents a myriad of challenges, particularly concerning the growing disparity in digital talent across ICT sectors. Recognizing this, PSU is dedicated to transforming its talent training programs to align with industry needs through the strategic acquisition of Huawei's solution. This reform is set to unfold in three primary areas:

Revising theoretical knowledge: Educational materials will be updated to reflect cutting-edge technologies and innovative industry practices, ensuring students are well-versed in contemporary developments.

Emphasizing hands-on practice: Bridging the gap between theory and real-world applications will be a key focus. Students will engage in practical training to stay up to date with technological advancements.

Enhancing teaching resources: The curriculum will cover industry-based training scenarios, providing students with insights into real-world applications of their learning.

To facilitate these reforms, the PSU ICT Talent Development and Innovation Center aims to train 10,000 individuals, both degree and non-degree learners, over the next five years. The training program will focus on six critical areas: cloud, artificial intelligence, internet of things, security, datacom, and WLAN. The center will offer comprehensive ICT training and experimentation opportunities, incorporating diverse interdisciplinary approaches, physical appliance simulations, and cloud systems. Its overarching vision is to connect global expertise, nurture top-tier talent, and train skills for the age of intelligence.

Holistic ecosystem development

The partnership with Huawei on the ICT Academy is strategically designed to strengthen the ICT talent ecosystem by fostering collaboration between academia, industry, government, and the public. This initiative positions PSU as a premier ICT talent development center, poised to make a lasting impact on Thailand's digital landscape.

Huawei brings its extensive expertise and resources to this collaboration, ensuring that PSU can offer cutting-edge training aligned with industry requirements. By leveraging Huawei's industry insights and best practices, the university aims to bridge the digital talent gap and prepare individuals for success in an increasingly digital world.

This collaboration not only addresses the current challenges of the digital era, but establishes a sustainable talent pipeline. By nurturing a new generation of ICT professionals well-versed in the latest technologies and industry trends, PSU and Huawei contribute significantly to the growth and competitiveness of Thailand's digital economy.

Empowering students and faculty

The impact of the PSU-Huawei collaboration is becoming increasingly evident. Over one hundred students and more than 15 faculty members are directly involved in programs facilitated by this partnership. This includes specialized training sessions, workshops, and collaborative projects designed to enhance skills and knowledge in ICT.

The partnership provides the faculty with access to Huawei's global network of resources and expertise. This allows educators to refine their teaching methods and curriculum, ensuring they remain at the forefront of ICT advancements. Faculty members can also participate in professional development programs, which enhance their skills and enable them to impart cutting-edge knowledge to their students.

Around 200 PSU students have since been recruited by Huawei and its partners, demonstrating the effectiveness of this initiative in aligning education with job market demands. The skills developed through the training programs not only prepare students for employment at Huawei, but open doors to opportunities with other industry leaders.

Dr. Suthiporn Truktrong

Figure 2: Dr. Suthiporn Truktrong discussing the PSU ICT Talent Development and Innovation Center at Asia-Pacific Digital Talent Summit 2024

Broader community impact

The PSU-Huawei collaboration extends its benefits beyond the university and directly impacts the local community. By providing training opportunities and resources, the initiative promotes digital literacy among various demographics, including professionals seeking to upgrade their skills and those looking to enter the ICT field.

Moreover, the center hosts workshops and outreach programs that target local schools and community organizations. These efforts aim to inspire younger students to pursue careers in technology. This fosters a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship within the region. By engaging with local businesses, the center also supports the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises by offering tailored training programs that address their specific ICT needs. This helps create a more robust local economy and strengthens the overall digital ecosystem.

The collaboration also aims to establish PSU as an ICT Academy Support Center (IASC), extending its influence beyond academia and industry. By engaging with government agencies and the broader public, PSU and Huawei are creating a holistic ecosystem for ICT talent development. This inclusive approach ensures that the benefits of their partnership resonate at a national level, which will significantly advance Thailand's digital economy.

Through partnerships with various stakeholders, including governmental organizations and private companies, PSU is working to develop a comprehensive national ICT framework. This framework will help align educational programs with labor market needs, ensuring that graduates possess the skills necessary to thrive in an ever-evolving job landscape.

Future prospects

Looking ahead, the PSU and Huawei partnership has the potential to serve as a model for similar collaboration across Southeast Asia and beyond. By prioritizing innovation in education and aligning training with industry needs, other institutions can replicate this successful framework, addressing the digital talent gap prevalent in many regions. As PSU continues to expand its reach and influence, the future looks promising for ICT education and innovation in Thailand. The shared vision of PSU and Huawei will help shape this future. These efforts are not only preparing students for the challenges of today, but for the opportunities of tomorrow.

The collaboration between PSU and Huawei in establishing the ICT Talent Development and Innovation Center demonstrates their commitment to excellence in ICT education and talent development. By harnessing their strengths and resources, they are set to make a meaningful impact on the digital landscape by equipping individuals with the necessary skills to thrive in the age of intelligence.

This partnership not only sets a new standard for industry-academia collaboration, but paves the way for a more dynamic and resilient ICT talent ecosystem. Together, PSU and Huawei are not just addressing current educational challenges, but actively shaping the future of ICT in Thailand, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence that will benefit generations to come.

Huawei ICT Academy:
A Bridge for University-Enterprise Collaboration

Muhammed Bashir Mu'azu

Muhammed Bashir Mu'azu

Professor, Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria Head of ABU–Huawei Advanced ICT Academy Support Center

ABU IASC: Bridging the Digital Skills Gap in Africa

Muhammed Bashir Mu'azu

Muhammed Bashir Mu'azu

Professor, Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria Head of ABU–Huawei Advanced ICT Academy Support Center

Huawei Nigeria partnered with ABU to establish the Huawei ICT Academy. ABU's HIA has quickly emerged as the leading Huawei academy in Nigeria.

Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Nigeria, is one of the top universities in sub-Saharan Africa. Established in 1962, it serves over 80,000 students across 108 departments in 18 faculties. The university also has 6 Centers of Excellence and 16 research institutes, along with a Medical College and a Division of Agricultural Colleges.

ABU is dedicated to providing top-tier education through state-of-the-art facilities and a multidisciplinary approach that welcomes students from all backgrounds. The university aims to generate innovative ideas and practices that meet the needs of its local community, Nigeria at large, and the world as well. ABU's core strategy is fostering partnerships with industry leaders, particularly in the field of IT. These collaborations enhance skills transfer, bridge the digital skills gap, and cultivate a pool of highly skilled IT professionals. Key partnerships include collaboration with Huawei, UNESCO's International Centre for Higher Education Innovation (UNESCO-ICHEI), and other prominent ICT organizations.

The ABU–Huawei collaboration journey

In August 2018, Huawei Nigeria partnered with ABU to establish the Huawei ICT Academy (HIA), aiming to equip students with essential ICT skills. This collaboration introduced multiple initiatives, including the Huawei ICT Academy program, Huawei ICT Competition, and Huawei ICT Job Fair. ABU's HIA has quickly emerged as the leading Huawei academy in Nigeria and, eventually, in the Huawei Southern Africa Region for skills development and talent cultivation.

ABU's HIA program began with just two certified instructors but has grown to over 20 certified professionals today. It benefits both the university and its students by providing valuable IT training at little to no cost, while promoting Huawei's certifications and technologies.

Nigeria's first Huawei ICT Academy Support Center

In November 2022, the Huawei ICT Academy Support Center (IASC) partnership was officially established, making ABU the first IASC in Nigeria. ABU IASC quickly kickstarted into motion, concentrating on key operations for associated ICT academies. As a result, ABU has become the primary hub for new and existing Huawei ICT academies, fostering their collaboration and innovation in Nigeria.

ABU IASC plays a crucial role in the relationship between Huawei, academies, instructors, and students. Additionally, ABU is developing strategies to integrate Huawei certification programs into traditional academic curricula and has implemented the Train the Trainer (TTT) model to equip instructors for new HIAs.

ABU has set up a Huawei lab where instructors and students can gain hands-on experience with networking and IT infrastructure equipment (as shown in Figure 1). The lab is equipped with routers, switches, access control, firewall, storage, and access points.

ABU IASC lab settings

Figure 1: ABU IASC lab settings, as well as supported tracks and certifications

ABU IASC is committed to delivering TTT programs for instructors at associated ICT academies, with a particular emphasis on Huawei courses, including in datacom, WLAN, security, AI, cloud, storage, big data, and computing (openEuler, openGauss, and Kunpeng). To support ABU IASC's success, Huawei provides on-demand cloud access to online labs specializing in AI and cloud. This support has empowered instructors to develop highly skilled ICT talent among students and enhance their learning and expertise.

Since 2022, ABU has successfully conducted over 20 TTT sessions, training more than 300 instructors and certifying over 80 instructors. This initiative significantly enhances the skills and expertise of educators, ensuring they are prepared to teach the next generation of ICT professionals.

The first Huawei Advanced ICT Academy Support Center

Between June and August 2024, ABU IASC was evaluated based on several key metrics, including the number of associated HIAs, certified IASC instructors, active IASC classes, HIA instructors, active HIA students, and active instructors from associated HIAs. Having met or exceeded the required benchmarks, ABU IASC was given the status of Advanced IASC.

In August 2024, the Huawei Advanced IASC Partnership was signed, allowing for the delivery of training programs globally. This milestone marks the first instance of an IASC in the Huawei talent development ecosystem receiving Advanced IASC status. The ABU Huawei Advanced IASC is associated with 90 certified HIAs from Nigeria, Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi, and Namibia, 27 Certified IASC instructors, and 100 Huawei Certified Academy Instructors (HCAIs) with associated ICT academies.

This Advanced IASC status empowers ABU IASC to oversee and manage any HIA on behalf of Huawei and to train instructors from any associated HIA, initially focusing on the Southern Africa region. Consequently, the cross-border TTT program was initiated, with 18 instructors in the Security track and 19 instructors in the Datacom track from universities in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi, and Namibia.

ABU's Huawei ICT Academy program began with just two certified instructors and has grown to over 20 certified professionals today. It benefits both the university and its students by providing valuable IT training at little to no cost, while promoting Huawei's certifications and technologies.

The official award ceremony took place in September at the Huawei IASC Roundtable in Shanghai, China, during HUAWEI CONNECT 2024. Huawei presented the award of Advanced IASC to ABU.

ABU helps Huawei ICT Academies make outstanding progress in university-enterprise collaboration and improve talent cultivation. ABU is promoting a long-term plan for all associated ICT academies to develop two more HCAIs, and looks to further integrate Huawei course materials into established curricula to bring tech to the classroom.

The operations of ABU IASC prioritize trust and efficient delivery, and enables a friendly 24/7 support system. This ensures:

  • Relevance of academic projects through curriculum integration
  • A growing community of certified trainers
  • Unlimited access to industry training materials
  • Reliable training delivery
  • Greater exposure to international partnerships and collaborations
  • Improved overall training results

The roadmap for the Advanced IASC focuses on expanding from the Southern Africa region to include the Northern Africa region. It also aims to engage non-English-speaking (Portuguese) instructors whenever feasible and to explore partnerships with international organizations to promote Huawei courses and skills development programs.

Playing a key role in transforming the future of students

Five students from the ABU HIA have achieved the prestigious Huawei Certified ICT Expert (HCIE) certification (as shown in Figure 2): Aliyu Isah (Huawei Nigeria), Hamza Beita (Huawei Nigeria), Fahad Danladi (Huawei Nigeria), Idris Muhammad Abubakar (Huawei SA Regional Office), and Abdulqadir Babagana Musa (Huawei Ghana).

Students from the ABU HIA

Figure 2: Students from the ABU HIA recognized as Huawei Certified ICT Experts (HCIEs)

It was a moment of immense pride for ABU HIA when one of its distinguished alumni, Aliyu Isah, now a Product Solutions Manager at Huawei, made a presentation to President Ahmed Bola Tinubu on September 5, 2024 in Beijing at the Huawei R&D Center.

Hailing from a humble background in Katsina, Aliyu earned his Diploma and Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from ABU Zaria. He honed his IT skills at ABU HIA, where he obtained HCIA and HCIP certifications in several tracks, including datacom, AI, storage, cloud, and big data. Additionally, he participated in the Huawei ICT Competition, winning First prize in the Cloud Track during its sixth edition. After graduating, Aliyu interned with Huawei and became the first Nigerian to be directly employed by the company. This moment marked an incredible milestone for ABU HIA, only surpassed by his extraordinary presentation to the President of Nigeria in China. It serves as a testament to the power of dreams nurtured at ABU HIA and employed by Huawei.

Huawei ICT Academy:
A Bridge for University-Enterprise Collaboration

Dr. Mardin Abdullah Anwer

Dr. Mardin Abdullah Anwer

Administrator, Huawei ICT Academy Support Center Assistant Professor, Salahaddin University-Erbil, Iraq

Salahaddin University and Huawei: A Collaborative Force for Educational Empowerment

Dr. Mardin Abdullah Anwer

Dr. Mardin Abdullah Anwer

Administrator, Huawei ICT Academy Support Center Assistant Professor, Salahaddin University-Erbil, Iraq

Huawei ICT Academy at SUE is a hub where students can engage in hands-on lab exercises and receive training in essential network skills aligned with the latest tech.

The Salahaddin University-Erbil (SUE), established in 1968, is one of the oldest universities in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. It has produced many distinguished leaders, including Iraqi prime ministers, presidents of the Kurdistan Parliament, ministers, and governors, as well as accomplished writers, engineers, and doctors. This legacy has earned it the title of the Mother University, reflecting its pivotal role in shaping the region's crème de la crème in various fields.

The university has 25,366 currently enrolled undergraduate students and offers over 100 majors for them to choose from. Beyond this, it caters to various levels of qualification from certificates all the way to doctorates. Students can complete their entire educational journey at the university.

SUE embarked on its journey with Huawei in 2019 with the establishment of Iraq's first Huawei ICT Academy. Despite the challenges of the pandemic in 2020, SUE maintained communication with Huawei, and the two parties signed an online MoU for setting up the Huawei Datacom Lab. The Huawei ICT Academy at SUE is a hub where students can engage in hands-on laboratory exercises for the datacom course. In this environment, they receive training and enhance their networking skills through practical device configuration and scenario implementation based on the course materials.

As of September 2024, the Huawei ICT Academy, which equips students with essential ICT skills, has benefited about 5,000 students in Iraq, including 2,000 from SUE. This initiative has significantly contributed to the nation's digital talent development.

Building on the success of the Huawei ICT Academy partnership, SUE was eager to explore Huawei's broader technological portfolio. SUE initiated collaboration in the cloud sector and received a three-month trial of Huawei Cloud services. Following this, SUE successfully migrated all its systems and applications to the cloud. This transformation in 2022 has allowed the university to address numerous challenges, including server downtime and resource constraints, leading to more efficient IT operations.

A milestone moment: Establishing the Huawei IASC at SUE

In 2023, our partnership with Huawei reached a significant milestone with the launch of SUE as a Huawei ICT Academy Support Center (IASC). The launch event, attended by government officials, university leaders, and Huawei representatives, demonstrated our dedication to enhancing technological education in the region.

The main objective of SUE IASC is to expand access to education in ICT, particularly in underserved communities. We aim to develop job-ready skills and provide reputable certifications, with the aim of fostering digital literacy and competence for a job market and economy that increasingly demands digital skills. SUE IASC currently runs an Institutional Partnerships and Faculty Development program, and our focus is on certification and accreditation.

SUE IASC began operations in 2023 with a few associated ICT academies and instructors, serving 3,136 students. By 2024, the number of associated ICT academies grew to 12, and the number of instructors grew to 73. Together, these academies have significantly expanded their Huawei course offerings, providing 189 classes across a diverse range of academic programs, including security, datacom, AI, and Python.

SUE IASC offers a state-of-the-art curriculum, practical learning opportunities, and comprehensive training and resources to empower instructors.

Huawei course integration: Industry standards and career success

SUE IASC attaches great importance to curriculum development, accreditation, and adaptation to technological advancements. Its primary goals include raising students' awareness of Huawei courses and enhancing instructors' skills.

To achieve these objectives, SUE established a strategic partnership with Huawei on several initiatives including the Instructor Skill Development Program, and began utilizing Huawei simulation tools. Furthermore, SUE IASC facilitated access to Huawei enterprise accounts and online labs focused on Huawei Cloud, all while implementing the Huawei curriculum framework to further assist students in their educational journeys.

SUE has integrated Huawei courses on datacom, cloud computing, cloud services, AI, Python, security and more into the curricula of four associated ICT academies. This integration followed a standardized process, with the departmental council conducting a comprehensive review of existing syllabi and curricula. As per the university's commitment to the Bologna Process, a key requirement was aligning academic content with market demands. Huawei courses emerged as the optimal solution, resulting in revised course titles and the incorporation of essential chapters into instructors' course outlines.

Huawei courses are designed to incorporate core elements. They emphasize an industry-aligned curriculum, comprehensive learning pathways, and cutting-edge technologies.

As a result, many students who completed Huawei courses have been recruited by the region's leading operators, including Asiacell, Korek Telecom, and Zain. To date, 76 graduates have secured positions with Huawei partner companies, and two have been directly hired by Huawei itself.

Student and instructor camps

Our main goals for the student and instructor camps were skill development, knowledge sharing, and community building. The inaugural Student Camp took place in the summer of 2023, following collaboration with several Huawei ICT Academies. The camp gave students further access to Huawei courses, providing them with essential ICT knowledge and practical skills to boost their employability and launch their careers.

Acknowledging the challenges of our initial implementation, such as accommodating students from diverse backgrounds and universities, we diligently gathered feedback and made improvements for the 2023–2024 camps. Key enhancements included expanding our YouTube channel with videos in three languages, providing comprehensive inductions on Huawei ICT Academy's operations, vision, and mission, and encouraging active participation from students in question-and-answer sessions.

Building on the success of the 2023–2024 Student Camps, SUE recognized the need to invest in instructors and their skillsets. In the summer of 2024, we launched the Instructor Enablement Camp, starting with a pilot program for a select group of educators. This initiative aims to equip instructors with advanced skills and knowledge, enabling them to navigate the evolving technological landscape and guide their students toward success.

Exploring Huawei-enabled education solutions at SUE

SUE prioritizes the establishment of academies in central and southern Iraq to expand our reach and improve accessibility and support for local students. Following the successful integration of the Huawei ICT Academy as a semi-department within SUE, we plan to implement a similar model in other universities, formally incorporating the Huawei ICT Academy into their organizational structures.

Following our successful collaboration in utilizing Huawei Cloud within our university system, we have received numerous inquiries from other universities and companies interested in learning from our experiences. In partnership with the local Huawei representative office, we conducted seminars for two universities and three companies, helping them explore Huawei Cloud services and identify the optimal solutions for their specific needs.

These achievements have reinforced our belief that Huawei's solutions and equipment are ideal for implementation in our new SUE Campus, which is set to be one of the largest universities in the Middle East. The campus will house all academic colleges and student dormitories. Our proposed network infrastructure will use Huawei equipment for networking, firewalls, and storage, alongside solutions from other communication providers.

We envision that we will create a smart campus. After experiencing the smart classroom solution at various exhibitions in Erbil and witnessing an impressive presentation by the Huawei team, we are confident that this solution aligns perfectly with our vision for the future of education at SUE. We are excited to see its implementation and look forward to the transformative impact it will have on our educational environment.

Overcoming challenges: SUE IASC's commitment to TVET education

SUE IASC is actively supporting Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutes at the request of the Kurdistan Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE). TVET typically provides two-year programs. However, two-year programs have their limitations, as this is a relatively short time to equip students with all the knowledge they need. As such, SUE IASC has established two academies in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah and will serve as a Technical Advisor for TVET institutes.

Our approach has three phases. First, we held a meeting with representatives from Huawei, the IASC, and the MOHE to align vocational programs with national standards, discussing key topics like accreditation and curriculum development. We also sought insights from successful vocational education models, with support from Shenzhen Polytechnic University.

The second phase focuses on updating regulations and the credit system for better flexibility. The final phase will include workshops and seminars to ensure implementation of our plans. In addition, to make learning more accessible for all, we have also developed plans to offer Huawei courses in Kurdish.

In conclusion, SUE as an IASC is committed to transforming the landscape of technological education in Iraq. By fostering collaboration with ICT academies, enhancing teacher training, and integrating industry-relevant Huawei courses, SUE is not only equipping educators and students with essential digital skills, but preparing them for the demands of the modern workforce.

As a Technical Advisor for TVET institutes, SUE will ensure that programs align with national policies and standards, supporting the country's broader economic and social goals. These efforts will not only foster innovation and job readiness, but create a stronger educational foundation for Iraq's future. Through these initiatives, SUE is playing a key role in shaping a more skilled and empowered generation.

Huawei ICT Academy:
A Bridge for University-Enterprise Collaboration

Muhammad Rashid Mukhtar

Muhammad Rashid Mukhtar

Assistant Professor, COMSATS University Islamabad, Pakistan

CUI Joins Hands with Huawei to Light Up Pakistan's ICT Talent

Muhammad Rashid Mukhtar

Muhammad Rashid Mukhtar

Assistant Professor, COMSATS University Islamabad, Pakistan

The collaboration between CUI and Huawei not only offers students a brighter future, but injects new vitality into Pakistan's ICT development.

Established in 1998, the COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI) became a Federally Chartered University in April 2018. CUI boasts seven campuses with a student body of 35,000, consisting of both domestic and international students. It ranks 711–720 in the overall QS World University Rankings, between 200–250 in Engineering, and 250–300 in Computer Science.

CUI & Huawei collaboration: The Huawei ICT Academy

Pakistan is a unique country, with 60% of its population aged under 30, representing over 100 million young individuals. This demographic composition makes Pakistan a promising market for ICT talent. However, despite these opportunities, the country faces many challenges. Around 10% of the youth are unemployed, and those who are employed often earn insufficient wages due to economic instability and inflation. Despite this, Pakistan's youthful population could prove to be a significant asset if given the right training and job opportunities.

This is where CUI plays a crucial role through its collaboration with Huawei. CUI and Huawei formed a strategic partnership and set up the Huawei ICT Academy in 2020. Their collaboration connects CUI's students with Huawei's cutting-edge technologies, helping them better prepare for a rapidly-evolving tech landscape. Beyond coursework, the partnership encompasses participation in Huawei ICT Competitions, job fairs, instructor training sessions, and certification programs, broadening the scope of professional development available to CUI students and teachers alike.

Collaboration through the Huawei ICT Academy has also enabled CUI to play a bigger role in cultivating Pakistan's digital talent. Huawei not only provides ICT training, certification, and competitions, but offers a pathway to meaningful job opportunities. This has enabled CUI to enhance the nurturing of talent and improve the overall quality of its graduates through various programs and initiatives.

Education transformation: Bridging the gap between theory and practice

With rapid advancements in technology and increasing demand for industry-ready graduates, there was a pressing need for CUI to shift its educational focus from purely theoretical knowledge to practical skills and real-world applications. This change began when CUI first partnered with Huawei. Ever since, Huawei's involvement has been instrumental in helping CUI bridge the gap between theoretical education and practical implementation, thereby enhancing the employability and skills of CUI graduates.

Course offering and certifications to students

Through the Huawei ICT Academy, CUI offers students a range of online courses designed to enhance their career prospects. Courses such as Information Security, Cloud Computing, Routing and Switching, and Big Data are all integral to this offering. These courses cover theoretical knowledge, hands-on experiments, and practical training. The practical methods involved can help students truly understand the meaning of theoretical concepts and better prepare for their future careers.

CUI also introduced Huawei's certification programs, allowing students to become certified through a range of online courses offered by Huawei. Over the past two years, more than 425 students have participated in these courses, with over 100 receiving their certifications. These certifications serve as valuable proof of students' mastery of the respective knowledge and skills. Additionally, CUI has distinguished itself in the Huawei Cloud Certified Developer Associate (HCCDA) program, enrolling 435 students – the most of any university in Pakistan – with over 200 completing the course and earning their certifications in just one month.

Through the Huawei ICT Academy's certification programs, faculty training, curriculum integration, and real-world projects, CUI has significantly enhanced its educational offerings. This transformation not only benefits the students by making them more employable but contributes to the development of a skilled workforce that can drive Pakistan's technological innovation and economic growth.

Faculty development

As a leading university in Pakistan, CUI ensures its faculty are well-versed in the latest technologies, including AI, cloud computing, big data, information security, and cybersecurity. Huawei's contributions extend beyond student education to faculty development. In the past year alone, 32 faculty members at CUI have received training on the Huawei Cloud platform and ModelArts AI platform, facilitated by Huawei Pakistan. These training sessions have equipped the faculty with the latest technological skills and knowledge, which they can pass on to their students.

ICT competition participation

CUI actively supports student participation in the Huawei ICT Competition, including the organization of Huawei ICT roadshows to promote the event (see Figure 1). Each year, hundreds of students register for competitions in the Network, Cloud, and Innovation Tracks. In 2024, CUI's team won the Middle East Regional Final at the Huawei ICT Competition. Moreover, a CUI teacher was recognized as the Most Valuable Instructor (MVI) and invited to the Global MVI forum held in Shenzhen, China. These achievements reinforce CUI's confidence in and dedication to advancing ICT education.

Huawei ICT Competition roadshow

Figure 1: CUI holds Huawei ICT Competition roadshow on its campus

Huawei course and final-year-project integration

CUI places strong emphasis on continuously updating its curriculum to keep pace with the latest technological advancements. CUI has adopted an innovative approach by incorporating Huawei ICT technologies into the final-year projects of its undergraduate Computer Science students. This initiative allows students to apply their knowledge in practical scenarios and enhance their projects through cloud deployment and ModelArts. It also provides opportunities for students to participate in the Innovation Competition at the Huawei ICT Competition, further improving their skills. By engaging in such practical projects, students develop critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities, which will be essential for their professional careers.

Job placement and career counseling

CUI provides a robust platform for its graduating students through bi-annual COMSATS Projects and Career Expos, which attract over 100 industrial partners looking to recruit fresh talent. Huawei is a regular participant in these events and also conducts exclusive recruitment drives on campus throughout the year. Thanks to the comprehensive training and certifications provided through the Huawei partnership, CUI's Computer Science (CS) program boasts a remarkable 90% job placement rate. Each year, many graduates from the CS and Engineering programs secure positions at Huawei, reflecting the significant impact of the collaboration on student career outcomes.

Today, many CUI graduates work at Huawei (see Figure 2). Mr. Nouman Butt, who graduated from the Electrical (Electronics) Engineering program of CUI's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has served as a Project Director at Huawei Pakistan for the last 8 years. Mr. Usama Abbassi, a graduate from the CS program, has taken an IT specialist position at Huawei. Mr. Zain Shafiq, another CS graduate, started his career at Huawei and has gone on to obtain a high position in the ICT sector. Another success story is that of Mr. Hamza bin Najam, a CS graduate serving as a Talent Ecosystem Manager at Huawei.

CUI graduates

Figure 2: CUI graduates hired by Huawei and Huawei's partners

Looking forward: Cultivating a dynamic ICT talent pipeline for Pakistan

The CUI–Huawei partnership has a bright future. Building on the successes achieved so far, CUI aims to further deepen this collaboration by continuously updating and expanding its curriculum with Huawei's advanced courses. There are also plans to integrate more Huawei ICT skills and technologies into student projects and increase students' participation in Huawei ICT Competitions. Additionally, ongoing faculty development programs will ensure that CUI's educators keep abreast of the latest technological advancements.

With Huawei's continued support, CUI looks forward to a bright future of collaboration, aiming to set new benchmarks in practical education and industry readiness. This partnership not only benefits the students and faculty of CUI but positions the university as a leading institution in bridging the gap between education and industry. CUI is committed to nurturing a highly skilled and innovative workforce that can contribute to technological progress and economic growth in Pakistan.

Huawei ICT Academy:
A Bridge for University-Enterprise Collaboration

Julius Yaw Ludu

Julius Yaw Ludu

Lecturer, Department of Computer Science, University of Ghana

Bridging the ICT Skills Gap in Ghana

Julius Yaw Ludu

Julius Yaw Ludu

Lecturer, Department of Computer Science, University of Ghana

Industry-education collaboration has enabled Ghana to align with the ICT industry at a global scale and achieve sustainable development.

The University of Ghana was established several decades ago and currently stands as the nation's foremost institution of higher education. It is dedicated to the advancement of university education, learning, and research.

In pursuit of its mission to excel in research and make significant national and international contributions, the University launched a Strategic Plan in 2014 which has been revised in 2024. This plan aims to leverage the University's strengths while adapting to the evolving higher education landscape both in Ghana and globally. The Department of Computer Science holds a prominent position at the University, and it has attracted considerable interest due to its specialized programs tailored to student needs.

The University of Ghana has forged a productive partnership with Huawei aimed at enhancing educational and professional opportunities for its students. This collaboration includes participation in the Huawei ICT Academy program, Seeds for the Future, the Huawei Job Fair, and more. It provides students with essential skills and certifications in information and communications technology. Through these joint initiatives and training programs, the University and Huawei are helping foster a skilled workforce and contributing to technological advancement both locally and internationally.

As a lecturer within this department, I have been able to deeply engage on the very front line of this collaboration. It has been an honor to witness not only the growth of the students, but the advancement of the ICT industry as well.

Enriching the curriculum with first-hand industry experience

At the University of Ghana, all courses undergo a rigorous accreditation process, requiring approval from the department head and subsequent endorsement from university management before integration into the curriculum. Aligned with our department's strategic vision to bridge the gap between academia and industry, we have incorporated Huawei datacom and security courses into our program. Furthermore, we are in the process of introducing other courses such as IoT, 5G, and openEuler to further expand our curriculum.

Our approach utilizes resources from Huawei's learning platform to enable students to engage in self-directed learning with comprehensive learning materials. This initiative not only enhances the depth of their technical knowledge, but also ensures alignment with industry standards and practices. In this way, students are better prepared for real-world challenges in the rapidly evolving field of ICT.

To enhance ICT talent development, we begin by supervising students' progress on the Huawei ICT Academy portal. Those who actively engage and achieve a learning rate of 50% or more earn additional marks towards their final assessments. Weekly quizzes aligned with the class modules are administered to maintain continual engagement with course materials and ensure readiness for subsequent assessments.

Given the scale of the classes, students are put in groups and assigned Huawei ambassadors and teaching assistants for support. These assistants are similar to tutors. They guide students through laboratory exercises and address any questions not covered during lectures. Practical simulations are conducted using Huawei's enterprise Network Simulation Platform (eNSP) to give students hands-on experience in scenarios with near real-world conditions.

Furthermore, to foster a comprehensive learning environment, we have adopted additional initiatives such as project-based learning and collaborative group task completion. We also organize regular feedback sessions and industry guest lectures to enrich students' practical understanding and readiness for the challenges in professional ICT fields.

Students and faculty challenge new goals in the Huawei ICT Competition

Encouraging active participation in various competitions has been a longstanding policy within our department. Since our start as an academy, our students have participated in the Huawei ICT Competition. Some of our students even made it to the Regional Finals in the latest edition of this competition.

Over the years, we have trained more than 1,000 students on various Huawei courses, with over 251 receiving certifications in various domains.

Looking forward, we aim to have a stronger representation from our university in future competitions, and we are actively working towards this goal. Over the years, we have trained more than 1,000 students on various Huawei courses, with over 251 receiving certifications in various domains. Our department received the Best Huawei Instructor Award in Ghana during the 2022 Maiden Huawei ICT Academy Awards ceremony as well as the Best Huawei ICT Academy Award.

Furthermore, in the recently concluded Global Finals, I was honored to receive the prestigious distinction of being named one of the Most Valuable Instructors of 2024. This recognition marks a significant milestone, representing the first honor of this kind we have received in the history of our university.

To ensure our students' success during their certification exams, we have made Huawei HCIx exam preparation a foundational component of our curriculum. Assessment involves the use of mock exams sourced from the Huawei portal, supplemented by my personal collection of over 1,000 MCQs, which I administer during university examinations. Despite our efforts, historical success rates have been modest, partly due to the long wait times students typically experience before taking the Huawei HCIx exams. And so, we are working with Huawei Ghana to arrange for our students to take these exams shortly after their main university examinations which will enhance their probability of success.

Connecting students with the industry's employment market

Throughout the years, we have remained committed to ensuring our graduates secure gainful employment. Notably, several students have completed their national service with Huawei Ghana and transitioned into permanent roles. Additionally, through collaborative efforts, such as job fairs and recruitment initiatives organized by Huawei and the Huawei ICT Academy at the University of Ghana, many of our students have secured positions with prominent IT corporations such as MTN, AirtelTigo, and Telecel.

The department has produced many students who are working with top companies and are making outstanding contributions to industry. We currently have about 30 graduates who are working with Huawei Ghana. These graduates include Quality & Compliance Specialist Esther Ampaabeng and CEM Engineer Petra Naana Ayiwa Sarpong who joined the company in 2021, and Project Plan Control Specialist Raphael Appiah-Kubi, IP Engineer Abdul Latif Seidu Kpebu, and Microwave Engineer Rodney Nartey who all joined in 2023.

Navigating today's competitive industries is a formidable challenge for aspiring professionals. Employers are also experiencing increasing difficulty in finding suitable candidates for different roles, often noting a gap between the skills they need and the skills graduates actually possess.

In response to these challenges, the Huawei ICT Academy and the University of Ghana are committed to equipping students in Legon with the essential knowledge and skills necessary for successful careers in the ICT sector. The University of Ghana has expanded its educational offerings to encompass multiple domains within the ICT industry, in collaboration with the Huawei ICT Academy. This partnership aims to facilitate global connectivity for the University, foster a community favorable to the exchange of knowledge and ideas among students, and empower students to expand their professional horizons.

With this mission at its core, the University of Ghana's Department of Computer Science, remains steadfast in its commitment to collaborating with Huawei to cultivate innovative ICT specialists. Together, we endeavor to create substantial value for industries and contribute to broader socioeconomic development. In the long term, this strategic partnership aims to address the disparity between the supply and demand of skilled talent, thereby promoting sustainable development within Ghana's growing ICT sector.

Huawei ICT Academy:
A Bridge for University-Enterprise Collaboration

Sui Wah Ma

Sui Wah Ma

Hong Kong Institute of Information Technology

Skilling for the Future: A Glimpse into Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET) in Hong Kong

Sui Wah Ma

Sui Wah Ma

Hong Kong Institute of Information Technology

VPET plays a unique role in cultivating IT talent by equipping our next generation with skills, expertise, and clear career pathways for success.

HKIIT: Hong Kong Institute of Information Technology

To address the growing need for IT talent in industry, Hong Kong's Vocational Training Council (VTC) established the Hong Kong Institute of Information Technology (HKIIT) on November 1, 2023. HKIIT was originally the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education's IT discipline department and is Hong Kong's first dedicated IT tertiary institute (see Figure 1). It continues to be led by an experienced teaching team in the 2024/25 academic year. This institution has been tasked with offering comprehensive IT and relevant technology programs for secondary school graduates, working adults, and industry professionals.

In addition to providing pre-employment training programs, HKIIT also offers an in-service training service called SkillsUP. The institute works closely with industry partners to provide reskilling and upskilling training programs for industry practitioners, corporate professionals, and working adults. This equips them with the digital skills needed for the digital economy, in line with the government's innovation and technology initiatives.

Students from HKIIT

Figure 1: Students from HKIIT, Hong Kong's first dedicated IT tertiary institute

HKIIT offers practical two-year Higher Diploma and one-year Diploma of Foundation Studies programs at multiple campuses to support students in different locations. These programs are closely aligned with industry needs to help cultivate students' professional knowledge and skills in the IT field, ensuring industry-specific educational content, facilities, and internship opportunities. Close collaboration with the industry ensures that our students are equipped with the latest skills and knowledge to excel in IT.

Earn and Learn Scheme: Two-year apprenticeship training

In 2021, we introduced a new initiative known as the Earn and Learn Scheme (see Figure 2). This scheme empowered 10 students to participate in a transformative two-year apprenticeship training program after completing their first year of their full-time Higher Diploma in Telecommunications and Networking. Over the course of 24 months, they attended classes on campus for one full day a week, while acquiring work experience with participating employers during the remaining four work days. This integrated approach combines on-the-job training with classroom learning, providing students with invaluable real-world experience and a stable income, as well as a recognized qualification. This scheme is now being extended to all students, with over 100 students enrolled and counting.

A participant of the Earn and Learn Scheme

Figure 2: A participant of the Earn and Learn Scheme

Empowering ICT VPET: Our journey with Huawei

In the same year, Huawei provided us with the ICT Academy platform. After successfully completing the examinations, my colleagues and I have proudly taken on the role of instructors. This exceptional platform offers an abundance of meticulously curated videos and practical lab exercises, and serves as a wellspring of knowledge for our aspiring apprentices. We have launched multiple online courses in Huawei Certified ICT Associate (HCIA)-5G, HCIA-Cloud Services, HCIA-openEuler, and many more to meet our students' job-related requirements.

One notable success story is that of student Mr. K.H. Cheung. Armed with the basic knowledge gained from the 5G and cloud services courses of the Huawei ICT Academy, he embarked on his apprenticeship journey at a renowned mobile network service operator in Hong Kong. With the support and guidance of his experienced mentors, he gained first-hand real-world experience implementing Huawei's equipment and management software, showcasing his potential and establishing a strong foundation for his future career.

The Huawei ICT Academy helps bridge the gap between talent supply and demand. The quality of the educational resources and learning materials provided by the Huawei ICT Academy is truly unparalleled.

Our apprenticeship program, the Earn and Learn Scheme, in conjunction with Huawei's cutting-edge ICT learning platform, serves as an essential catalyst for the growth and development of our students. In our role as instructors, we hold a key position in imparting the confidence and skills needed for success in the ever-evolving field of information technology. With unwavering conviction, we firmly believe that, upon graduation, students such as Mr. Cheung and his peers will emerge as a powerful force for innovation and change in the field of ICT.

Using the Huawei ICT Academy learning platform

Figure 3: HKIIT students using the Huawei ICT Academy learning platform

The Huawei ICT Academy helps bridge the gap between talent supply and demand. The quality of the educational resources and learning materials provided by the Huawei ICT Academy is truly unparalleled. The academy provides an enriching and easily accessible learning environment (see Figure 3). Its exceptional quality and user-friendly features have garnered much praise from our students.

Huawei ICT Competition: Fostering excellence in our ICT community

In addition to the transformative impact of the Earn and Learn Scheme, the introduction of the Huawei ICT Competition has sparked an unprecedented level of motivation and enthusiasm among all of our students. This includes those not enrolled in the Earn and Learn Scheme, as well as our colleagues. As instructors, we are proud to cultivate an atmosphere that promotes engagement and motivates students to pursue diverse opportunities for professional growth. Their unwavering determination to excel in the competition has inspired them to push their limits and strive for excellence in the ICT arena.

Students who achieved remarkable success in the Huawei ICT Competition

Figure 4: HKIIT students who achieved remarkable success in the Huawei ICT Competition

In the latest competition, our institute achieved remarkable success (see Figure 4). One of our student teams clinched the Second Prize in the Huawei ICT Competition's Computing Track, winning them a prize of HK$24,000. Moreover, all team members received offers for further education once they complete their Higher Diploma from prestigious programs such as HKUST's BEng in Computer Engineering, HKUST's BEng in Computer Science, and CityUHK's BEng in Computer and Data Engineering.

Our commitment to nurturing talent and fostering excellence remains unwavering. The Huawei ICT Competition serves as an excellent platform that guides our students toward a future where innovation knows no bounds.

The Huawei ICT Academy provides an enriching and easily accessible learning environment. Its exceptional quality and user-friendly features have garnered much praise from our students.

Enablement with openEuler: Bridging the gap between secondary school programs and Higher Diplomas

In the coming year, we intend to focus more on the openEuler OS. While Linux remains one of the most popular platforms on the market, our first-year students are still often unfamiliar with it. openEuler is a foundational platform that we would like to integrate into the Raspberry Pis we use as testing devices. This would allow our first-year students to explore the operational capabilities and portability of openEuler (see Figure 5). Furthermore, the compact size of these single-board computers makes them suitable for students to use at home. We encourage students to pursue the Huawei Career Certification Examination for openEuler, as having Huawei certification can open doors to professional opportunities.

Students onboarding with an openEuler-based platform

Figure 5: Students onboarding with an openEuler-based platform

Forward and beyond: Nurturing tomorrow's ICT talent

Within the dynamic landscape of the ICT industry, HKIIT's programs aim to address the in-demand and emerging IT skills needed by young individuals, primarily aged between 18 and 21. As their instructor, I have proudly witnessed their growth, as well as their dedication and the potential they hold to shape our shared future.

On behalf of our young talent, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Huawei and our industry partners for their support. Together, we cultivate talent ecosystems, which are instrumental for fostering innovation and propelling our industry towards a bright horizon.

02.
Course Co-Creation:
Building Better Talent Development Solutions

Course Co-Creation:
Building Better Talent Development Solutions

Tutun Juhana

Dr. Tutun Juhana

Dean at Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia

ITB & Huawei: Spearheading Indonesia's Digital Talent Transformation

Tutun Juhana

Dr. Tutun Juhana

Dean at Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia

The ITB–Huawei collaboration has fostered academic excellence and opened doors for several ITB graduates to join Huawei's global workforce.

Founded in 1920, Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) is one of Indonesia's top three universities (see Figure 1), currently ranked 281st in the QS World University Rankings and 60th in the QS Asian University Rankings.

Figure 1: ITB campus view

Figure 1: ITB campus view

As a prominent institution of higher education in Indonesia, ITB is committed to ongoing development. It aims to enhance its contributions to the fields of science, technology, and the arts while actively participating in the nation's academic development.

ITB has established multiple campuses, consisting of 12 faculties and schools, not only focused on the fields of STEM, but also arts and business management, and serving over 25,000 students. The ITB Ganesha Campus, designated as a Heritage Campus, serves as the hub for ITB's national and international academic collaborations, while the ITB Jatinangor Campus prioritizes the development of research and education that contributes to the socio-economic development of West Java.

ITB has built a strong partnership with Huawei in Indonesia, becoming a Huawei ICT Academy in 2018. By 2024, ITB has established practical laboratory environments for different fields. These include datacom, which is equipped with routers, switches, and firewalls; AI, powered by Atlas 200 DK; cloud computing, in collaboration with KooLabs; and 5G, utilizing 5.5G Lab equipment. This initiative has supported over 1,500 students at ITB and led to the certification of more than 150 professionals. Through this collaboration, students enhance their technical skills via practical device configurations and implementations based on their course materials, significantly contributing to the Golden Indonesia Digital Talent 2045 initiative.

ITB graduates thrive in Huawei's global ecosystem

The collaboration between ITB and Huawei has fostered academic excellence and opened doors for several ITB graduates to join Huawei's global workforce. Through rigorous training and certification programs offered by the Huawei ICT Academy, many students have gained valuable skills and recognition through international competitions, setting them on a path to success within the tech industry.

One such graduate is Ribka Tiarma Doloksaribu, who won the Global ICT Competition Network Track 2024 and received the prestigious Women in Tech Award for her exceptional contributions.

Perceived gender stereotypes have not held Ribka back from contributing to the field of technology, and this was recognized when she received the Women in Tech Award. During her time as a student, she also took on leadership responsibilities as the head of the professional division and served as the initiator of the Telecommunication Engineering Certification Assistant Program, driving her peers to earn at least one global IT certification before graduation.

Ribka's achievements paved the way for her to join Huawei, where she now works as a product technical engineer. Her journey from a Huawei ICT Academy trainee to a key contributor in Huawei's product and technical projects exemplifies the value of the training and support ITB provides to its students.

Another ITB graduate, Fandi Azam Wiranata, currently employed as a network and automation engineer at Huawei, has made significant contributions to Huawei's operations by developing and deploying automation tools that enhance efficiency and accuracy across multiple projects. His innovations have streamlined critical workflows, making an important impact on the company's network and automation.

In recognition of his outstanding performance, Fandi has received several prestigious global awards, including:

  • 2023 GTS President Award for Excellent New Employees, awarded to only 5% of new employees in the Asia Pacific region.
  • 2023 Frontline Best Practice Award from iTSC at the 2nd iTSC User Conference 2023.
  • 2023/2024 Green Garuda Talent Award, recognizing him as a high-potential employee.

ITB has emerged as a national hub for ICT instructor development

ITB has emerged as a critical partner in the national development of ICT instructors across Indonesia, thanks to its role as a Huawei ICT Academy Support Center (IASC). This collaboration, forged over more than a decade, focuses on strengthening the digital competencies of instructors at universities across the country, equipping them with the latest technological expertise and teaching them methodologies to nurture future generations of ICT professionals.

The establishment of ITB as an IASC in 2021 marked a pivotal moment in the national strategy to expand digital literacy and technological expertise. As an IASC, ITB's mission goes beyond student education. It is now a driving force in empowering other universities to elevate their ICT education standards. This is achieved through comprehensive Train the Trainer (TTT) programs organized by ITB, helping local institutions develop qualified instructors who can teach Huawei-certified courses across a range of technological disciplines.

The TTT programs hosted by ITB enable instructors to earn Huawei Certified ICT Associate (HCIA) and Huawei Certified Academy Instructor (HCAI) certifications, which are internationally recognized qualifications. Since becoming an IASC, ITB has trained more than 300 instructors from universities all over Indonesia. These instructors then return to their respective institutions and implement Huawei's certified curricula, thereby multiplying the impact of ITB's work across the nation.

Localization of ICT training materials for better accessibility

One of the significant achievements of ITB as an IASC is the localization of Huawei training materials to suit Indonesia's diverse linguistic and cultural needs. Recognizing that English can be a barrier for some regions, ITB has spearheaded the translation of key technical courses into Bahasa Indonesia. This initiative has made Huawei's cutting-edge technological education more accessible to universities across the archipelago, particularly in regions where English proficiency is lower.

Courses on datacom, cloud services, and AI that have already been translated have now been published on the Huawei Talent platform. These materials are accessible to students and instructors across Indonesia, ensuring broader participation and inclusivity. To date, over 3,000 students have utilized these resources, significantly enhancing their learning experience and enabling them to develop vital skills in emerging technologies.

Plans are also underway to expand this localization effort to more advanced subjects, including 5G, openEuler, and openGauss, ensuring that Indonesia's future ICT professionals are equipped with the knowledge needed to thrive in the global technology landscape.

Empowering students for the Huawei ICT Competition

Beyond training, ITB provides a robust platform for instructor empowerment through Huawei's ICT competitions. ITB organizes bootcamps and preparation workshops for instructors who are guiding student participation in the Huawei ICT Competition at national, regional, and global levels. These competitions foster a spirit of innovation and provide a stage for Indonesian talent to shine at an international level.

In 2023, ITB's bootcamps prepared over 150 instructors and 75 academies across the nation for Huawei's prestigious ICT competitions. By 2025, the IASC at ITB aims to double these numbers, ensuring that Indonesia remains a strong contender in global ICT competitions.

Fostering inclusivity in the tech industry

An often-overlooked aspect of ITB's work as an IASC is its focus on inclusivity. The university recognizes the importance of providing opportunities to all individuals, including women in technology and those from underrepresented communities. ITB has been a champion of gender equality in the tech sector, actively encouraging female participation through specialized programs. For example, in 2023, ITB collaborated with Huawei to promote women's involvement in technology through initiatives like the Women in Tech program, which offers scholarships and mentorship to female students and instructors.

Challenges and future goals

Although ITB has made significant strides in talent cultivation, the institution is still actively addressing a number of challenges. For instance, only 20–25% of associated instructors are certified in HCIA and HCAI, limiting the reach of Huawei's programs. To combat this, ITB has established initiatives to ensure more instructors obtain these certifications, providing personalized counseling and comprehensive guidance throughout the process.

Looking forward, ITB's IASC aims to become the Preferred ICT Academy Support Center in Southeast Asia by 2025. This ambitious goal involves scaling up its instructor training programs, introducing new courses on openEuler and openGauss, and expanding the IASC network to over 100 universities across Indonesia.

Through its role as an IASC, ITB has become a national leader in ICT education, playing an instrumental role in shaping the digital future of Indonesia. By equipping instructors from universities across the country with world-class certifications and teaching tools, ITB and Huawei are ensuring that Indonesia's ICT sector is ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow. The combination of localized education, cutting-edge research, and robust instructor empowerment programs places ITB at the forefront of Indonesia's digital transformation.

Course Co-Creation:
Building Better Talent Development Solutions

Xu Jimin

Xu Jimin

Deputy Director, Outreach Dept of Student Innovation Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Chu Pengzhi

Chu Pengzhi

Assistant to the Director of the Student Innovation Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

SJTU & Huawei: Transcending the Boundaries of Talent Cultivation with Industry-Education Collaboration

Xu Jimin

Xu Jimin

Deputy Director, Outreach Dept of Student Innovation Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Chu Pengzhi

Chu Pengzhi

Assistant to the Director of the Student Innovation Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

The SJTU–Huawei collaboration has enabled SJTU to transcend the boundaries of learning, disciplines, and campuses, and reshape the educational models.

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, the ICT industry continues to advance, and talent has become one of the most sought-after assets.

In 2017, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) signed an agreement with Huawei to establish the Huawei ICT Academy Innovation Talent Center, beginning a journey of exploration into talent cultivation through industry-education collaboration.

By the time the Center was established, SJTU had been selected one of China's first demonstration bases for entrepreneurship and innovation. This created the perfect opportunity for SJTU and Huawei to explore different ways to transcend the boundaries in talent cultivation.

In a bid to transcend learning boundaries, SJTU and Huawei developed the Student Innovation Center into a public innovation practice platform for the entire university. Additionally, to transcend disciplinary boundaries, students from different colleges and in different years of study came together to learn the IoT Inside Out – LiteOS + NB-IoT course (as shown in Figure 1). Furthermore, in an effort to transcend campus boundaries, SJTU and Huawei hosted cross-university summer training camps to cultivate ICT talent equipped with both a spirit of innovation and hands-on capabilities.

SJTU and Huawei jointly launched a course

Figure 1: SJTU and Huawei jointly launched a course on IoT technology

For the past seven years, the two parties have worked together to explore a new paradigm for talent cultivation through industry-education collaboration. They have been developing the talent most needed for the future workforce.

Transcending learning boundaries with an innovation platform

Using the Huawei ICT Academy Innovation Talent Center, SJTU has developed its Student Innovation Center into a public innovation practice platform for the entire university. The partnership provided SJTU with the opportunity to use leading ICT technologies to build a computing power platform that supports students' scientific innovation. Huawei's IoT development boards are managed from the device borrowing center, allowing students to borrow them at any time. In addition, Huawei's AI accelerator chips have been used on SJTU's proprietary intelligent vehicle platform to help SJTU explore autonomous driving solutions through device-cloud synergy.

SJTU also works with Huawei to integrate teaching materials and hands-on practice into courses, topics, and competitions. Students can choose the learning directions that interest them most, dive deep into topic-specific research, and make continuous progress in iterative development. They can also take full advantage of Huawei's technology platform, integrate their innovative ideas with this platform, and give full play to their curiosity and creativity.

Based on Huawei's Intelligent Base, which is intended as a talent-cultivation project through industry-education collaboration, the SJTU Student Innovation Center continuously strengthens educator cultivation, curriculum reforms, platform construction, and innovative practices. This is deepening the reformation of talent cultivation and advancing collaborative innovation. Furthermore, the open makerspace, along with a complete portfolio of engineering services, has been combined with the university's varying scientific and technological activities to create an atmosphere of innovation and set the stage for students to unleash their creativity.

To instill the spirit of technology in younger generations, SJTU is working alongside Huawei to bring the latest technologies like AI to middle-school students through a series of contests, such as the Yangtze River Delta AI Olympics Competition (YAIOC) and the SJTU Rongchang Cup competitions.

The YAIOC is a large-scale, AI-education event hosted by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission designed for the youth. Since 2021, SJTU and Huawei have taken joint charge of the planning of the competition. The two parties have combined the software and hardware of Huawei's AI platform, simplified its application, and made the platform accessible to more young students.

The SJTU Rongchang Cup competitions are open to middle-school students in China to test their capabilities in AI algorithm practices and mathematical modeling theories. These competitions are hosted by SJTU and supported by Huawei. The 4th SJTU Rongchang Cup competition held in 2023 attracted nearly 800 students from over 120 of the best middle schools in China. This competition helped students comprehensively improve their AI capabilities and practical skills at the solution level, proving an effective way to cultivate AI talent.

Transcending disciplinary boundaries to develop diversified courses

The Huawei ICT Academy Innovation Talent Center at SJTU places a greater focus on interdisciplinary and integrated innovation. The first course jointly developed by SJTU and Huawei was IoT Inside Out – LiteOS + NB-IoT, which was popular among students despite being scheduled at weekends. To date, nearly 70 SJTU students have participated in the course, coming from the School of Mechanical Engineering, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, School of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, School of Mathematical Science, School of Media and Design, and ParisTech Shanghai Jiao Tong.

Students taking different majors and in different years of study came together to learn about the latest ICT technologies and interact with industry experts. This not only broadened their views, but helped them build a more complete and realistic knowledge system, laying a solid foundation for future practice and innovation.

Over the past 7 years, SJTU and Huawei have jointly developed more than 10 innovative practice courses on cutting-edge technologies such as IoT, big data, AI, autonomous driving, cyber security, and HarmonyOS. These courses keep pace with industry development and combine theoretical knowledge with hands-on practice, intuitively presenting details in order to help students quickly acquire practical design and development capabilities. SJTU also provides open classes, elective courses, and holiday training camps to meet the diverse learning requirements of different students, and these programs have been well received. To date, SJTU has provided more than 30 classes, benefiting over 2,000 students.

SJTU has offered more than 30 classes in various forms, such as open courses, elective courses, and training camps, benefiting over 2,000 students.

Take the Deep Learning Practice Based on Huawei AI Platform course as an example. This course not only stays up to date with the latest trends in industry development, but perfectly integrates the cutting-edge platform with collaborative industry-education practice. The course aims to cultivate innovative and interdisciplinary talent for the needs of the industry, and it has been incorporated into the curriculum of SJTU's industry-education collaboration program. The course was first provided as an open course and then as an elective course. From 2020 to 2021, China carried out an online/offline hybrid teaching reform. Against this background, the course won the National Special Award and the Industry-Education Collaboration Award in China's Second National University Hybrid Teaching Design Innovation Competition. Furthermore, from 2022 to 2023, the course was recognized as a top undergraduate course of SJTU and a key course in the city of Shanghai.

Transcending campus boundaries to build a shared teaching practice platform

In 2019, the Yangtze River Delta Research University Alliance (the Alliance) was established. It consists of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Nanjing University, University of Science and Technology of China, and other universities from three provinces and one city (Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Shanghai)in the Yangtze River Delta region. The Alliance championed a jointly developed, shared teaching practice platform. As the organization heading this project, SJTU was first among the universities to provide cross-university summer training camps based on Huawei ICT Academy. These training camps proved an effective way of passing on ICT knowledge to more universities.

As the organization heading the jointly developed, shared teaching practice platform championed by the Alliance, SJTU leveraged the Huawei ICT Academy to pass on ICT knowledge to more universities.

The first Huawei Big Data Innovation Training Camp, which lasted one week, attracted 50 students from five universities in East China. During the camp, these students were able to achieve their learning goals, master new skills, and connect with their peers.

Ever since, SJTU has worked tirelessly to host more training camps over the years, even during the pandemic when conditions permitted. SJTU also organized both the Huawei Autonomous Driving Simulation Training Camp and Huawei Ascend AI (MindSpore) Innovation Training Camp. These events attracted students from even more universities across East China, including Tongji University, East China Normal University, and Shanghai University.

SJTU has been exploring new teaching modes and methods for cross-university training camps. Through flexible pre-training provided via online courses, students can access online resources before the camps begin, which helps them prepare for the training sessions. Online experiments are also possible thanks to cloud resources, ensuring that all students participating in the training camps can complete large-scale data training. Real-world industry scenarios and case studies have been introduced to training camp completion projects, providing more organic connections between the students and the industry. Hybrid project teams consisting of students from different universities are also established, helping students develop their networking skills and collaborate with their peers, all while solving practical problems.

In August 2021, more than 70 students from nine universities of the Alliance were selected to participate in the Huawei Autonomous Driving Simulation Training Camp. During this camp, the students were divided into cross-university hybrid teams and engaged in four days of theoretical study and practical tutoring, as well as one day of project learning and communication. The camp significantly enhanced the students' capabilities across numerous areas, such as team collaboration, learning for targeted application, and complex problem solving.

In August 2022, SJTU held the Huawei Ascend AI Innovation Training Camp, which was part of the Alliance's jointly developed, shared teaching practice initiative. The event attracted 43 students from eight universities across East China. The camp strengthened the students' communication capabilities, and provided them with opportunities to gain a more tangible view of the industry.

In August 2023, the four-day Yangtze River Delta MindSpore Innovation Training Camp was successfully held at SJTU (as shown in Figure 2). Teachers and students from universities across the Yangtze River Delta region came together to study the hottest topic at the time – large language models (LLMs). Students built a simplified version of ChatGPT and took a deep dive into how LLMs work and how to build them. This camp provided new opportunities for and injected new momentum into high-caliber talent development in universities across the region.

MindSpore Innovation Training Camp at SJTU

Figure 2: Yangtze River Delta MindSpore Innovation Training Camp at SJTU

In August 2024, the 2nd Yangtze River Delta MindSpore Innovation Training Camp was held at SJTU. This time, 79 students from 12 universities across an even wider area participated. They included SJTU, Zhejiang University, Fudan University, Nanjing University, University of Science and Technology of China, Tongji University, East China Normal University, East China University of Science and Technology, China University of Petroleum, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing Forestry University, and University of California, Los Angeles. The camp provided learning and practice sessions over four days. The students not only learned about avant-garde AI and foundation model technologies, but had the opportunity to put theories into practice through coding and experiment foundation model innovation, improving their practical and innovative abilities.

Today, the Yangtze River Delta Training Camp program is a stellar project in the Alliance's teaching practice. The teaching and learning experience derived from the camps has also been shared through the Yangtze River Delta University Teaching Innovation Forum.

Through in-depth collaboration with Huawei, the SJTU Student Innovation Center has developed an innovative talent cultivation model for the SJTU–Huawei ICT Academy. The resulting successful experience has been replicated in a number of universities such as Tianjin University and Harbin Institute of Technology. Cross-university training camps have also increasingly been jointly hosted by universities across Central China and North China, infusing immense dynamics into the development of the ICT talent pipeline.

SJTU has not only cultivated a slew of innovative ICT talent, but been recognized with multiple honors. The SJTU Student Innovation Center was awarded the Excellent Huawei ICT Academy Innovation Talent Center and won the Excellent Achievement Award of the Huawei–Ministry of Education Collaborative Education Project. A number of teachers involved in the camps have also received multiple honors, such as the Ambassador of Huawei's ICT Talent Ecosystem and Excellent Teachers of Huawei's Intelligent Base. Other achievements made during the teaching reform have been recognized with the Special Prize for Teaching Achievements in Shanghai, and Second Prize for National Teaching Achievements.

Moving forward, SJTU will continue working with Huawei to cultivate the talent most suited to China's digital future, redesign education based on new concepts, and facilitate learning driven by new measures. The partnership is set to contribute unique value to the building of the national talent hub and a beacon of innovation, and foster more innovative talent with the skillsets needed for the coming era.

Course Co-Creation:
Building Better Talent Development Solutions

Hao Jiasheng

Hao Jiasheng

Associate Professor, School of Automation Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Yang Lian

Yang Lian

Associate Professor, School of Information and Communication Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

UESTC & Huawei: A 3-in-1 Approach to AI Talent Cultivation

Hao Jiasheng

Hao Jiasheng

Associate Professor, School of Automation Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Yang Lian

Yang Lian

Associate Professor, School of Information and Communication Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

UESTC and Huawei have adopted an innovative 3-in-1 approach to cultivate AI talent for an increasingly intelligent world.

ICT is reshaping the world in a myriad of new ways. Industry-education collaboration is essential for cultivating the talent, especially the AI talent, needed to keep up with these major transformations. The School of Automation Engineering of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) has joined forces with Huawei to blaze a trail for AI talent cultivation.

UESTC and Huawei have adopted a 3-in-1 approach that integrates curriculum development, course collaboration, and competition engagement. This comprehensive approach covers all manner of educational resources, from entry-level experiments to competition, and from theoretical courses to open-source teaching materials. UESTC and Huawei's collaboration model ensures practicality by aligning educational resources with industry needs. The model's unique advantages in AI talent cultivation enable both innovative thinking and acquisition of practical skills. UESTC and Huawei's partnership will help stimulate industry growth and lay the groundwork for continued breakthroughs in AI technologies.

In-depth course collaboration: Igniting student enthusiasm for learning

The UESTC–Huawei collaboration is under the purview of the University-Industry Collaborative Education Program of China's Ministry of Education (MOE). UESTC's School of Automation Engineering and Huawei have worked closely to develop the Machine Learning premier course, which organically weaves highly sophisticated and abstract theoretical AI knowledge into the course.

The school has used Huawei's developer kit to develop an Ascend AI remote inference cluster and a beginner-friendly streamlined AI experiment system. This comprehensive platform built on Ascend AI offers a teaching model that covers the full pipeline of AI development and many aspects of AI fundamentals. The project was showcased at the 10th Best Case Exhibition of the MOE's University-Industry Collaborative Education Program.

In consideration of the diversity among students in terms of mastery and understanding of the subject matter, the school has used Huawei's developer kit to develop an Ascend AI remote inference cluster and a beginner-friendly AI experiment system (see Figure 1). This approach addresses challenges the school has previously encountered, such as a lack of original system devices, complexity of technologies, and high entry barriers of disciplines.

Explore AI applications

Figure 1: Students using the AI experiment system to explore AI applications

UESTC's lab environments provide paths to connect students, even those with no knowledge of AI subjects, with the world of AI. Students are given the opportunity to tangibly experience AI and develop a deeper understanding of AI applications such as image style conversion, target detection, and target recognition. The experiment system enables students to consolidate their theoretical knowledge while piquing their interest for further exploration and learning.

This holistic platform built on Ascend AI enables a teaching model that covers the full pipeline of AI development and diverse aspects of AI fundamentals. The platform was showcased at the 10th Best Case Exhibition of the MOE's University-Industry Collaborative Education Program. It won acclaim as one of the Best Cases Celebrating the 10th Year of the University-Industry Collaborative Education Program and won the Huawei Excellent Achievement Award.

With the aim of stimulating interest in AI, the school used the Intelligent Base jointly built by the MOE and Huawei to integrate Huawei's full-stack, all-scenario AI solution into its courses such as A Walk Through Artificial Intelligence and Embedded System Design. Students conducted extensive research and experimentation for their final assignments and gained a lot of practical expertise. On 16 separate occasions, teachers from the school have been invited to share their experience in industry-education collaboration at conferences such as the meeting of the University-Industry Collaborative Education Program. These presentations have been highly acclaimed. It is particularly worth mentioning Mr. Hao Jiasheng, who won the awards of Huawei Ascend Expert, Outstanding Campus Ambassador (Best Advocate), and Excellent Huawei Developer Advocate by Contribution, among other honors. He was also named an Excellent Teacher of the MOE–Huawei Intelligent Base Program in 2022.

Curricular innovation: Infusing the power of independent open source

In addition to innovation in practical courses, the university worked with Huawei to develop the textbook Operating System Basics and Practices Based on the openEuler Platform (as shown in Figure 2). This textbook is based on the top-class course synopsis outlined in the UESTC–Huawei Intelligent Base program. It breaks new ground by incorporating openEuler into teaching resources. openEuler is the operating system (OS) underpinning the next generation of open-source, home-grown digital infrastructure.

Operating System Basics and Practices Based on the openEuler Platform

Figure 2: Operating System Basics and Practices Based on the openEuler Platform jointly developed by UESTC's School of Automation Engineering and Huawei

The easy-to-understand book adapts OS theories to the openEuler context, and is designed to enable mastery of cutting-edge technologies and stimulate innovative thinking. The book was officially published in October 2024, and is included in the Excellent Training Material Incentive Program of the MOE–Huawei Intelligent Base for 2024.

The book aims to integrate the elegant design concepts of UNIX with the practices of Linux. This philosophy underpins many of the book's chapters, which closely combine operating system fundamentals and design concepts with practical applications. They also distill theoretical knowledge into easily accessible insights for learners. Carefully selected practical examples are used to enhance student understanding.

The textbook offers a wealth of practical examples based on the openEuler system to progressively guide learners through the contemporary Linux OS, from introduction to mastery. It also explores in detail the commonly used tools, internal mechanisms, and exceptional design ideas of the Linux OS. This courseware is useful for not only undergraduate and postgraduate students in computing specializations, such as automation, communication engineering, and electronic engineering, but also for engineers working in embedded Linux development and server system management and maintenance, as well as Linux OS enthusiasts. This prepares all manner of learners for future challenges in technological development.

Competition engagement: Creating a full circle in talent pipeline

Entrepreneurship competitions and technological innovation projects are excellent opportunities for students to improve their practical abilities. These activities allow students to put their skills to the test and strive for higher goals by solving real-world challenges.

UESTC encourages students to apply what they have learned in classrooms to real projects, transitioning from the lab to the competition arena to combine theory with practice. Many UESTC students participate in high-level competitions such as the Huawei ICT Competition and China International College Students' Innovation Competition.

Instructors at UESTC guide students through practical projects such as Ascend OpenMind Project's AlphaPose sub-project for estimating key points on the human body and style conversion sub-project, as well as the university's undergraduate final-year projects. These projects help students acquire a deeper understanding of Huawei's full-stack, all-scenario AI solutions and learn how to apply them. In this way, students can use Huawei technologies to explore applications of deep learning.

Throughout these competitions, students have made remarkable achievements. One such example is the Towards the Future – An Autonomous Driving Algorithm Verification Platform Based on Ascend Software project. Through this project, student competitors built an autonomous driving test platform, which won praise from industry experts for its exceptional cost effectiveness, availability, and reliability.

Many graduate and undergraduate students were recommended with entry-test exemption for postgraduate and doctoral programs at top Chinese universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Additionally, a number of students went on to pursue further studies at internationally renowned universities including Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Lund University in Sweden, and Texas A&M University.

At the Huawei ICT Competition, UESTC students demonstrated their practical abilities while deepening their understanding of Huawei's AI technologies. Their innovative efforts won them the Grand Prize for the Computing Track and Second Prize for the Ascend AI Track in the Practice Competition at the Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024 Global Final (see Figure 3).

Teams of UESTC won the Grand Prize

Figure 3: Teams of UESTC won the Grand Prize for the Computing Track (left) and Second Prize for the Ascend AI Track (right) in the Practice Competition at the Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024 Global Final

The tireless pursuit of innovation in teaching creates a complete talent pipeline that benefits institutions and students alike in more ways than one. Many UESTC students have earned honors through this process and made veritable achievements in academia and beyond. Many graduate and undergraduate students were recommended with entry-test exemption for postgraduate and doctoral programs at top Chinese universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Additionally, a number of students went on to pursue further studies at internationally renowned universities including Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), Lund University in Sweden, and Texas A&M University. Some students received offers from major companies such as DJI and Li Auto before finishing their postgraduate studies, and two postgraduate students who participated in the Huawei Ascend AI Competition and Huawei ICT Competition were hired by Huawei.

The cultivation of AI talent requires the joint efforts of universities, enterprises, and society. The collaboration between UESTC and Huawei is a benchmark for AI talent cultivation in universities and has injected vitality into the broader academic ecosystem. UESTC will continue to work closely with Huawei to explore new paths for industry-education collaboration. We will pivot our efforts on innovation and practical application to help students become innovators and creators. This will turn them into a dynamic force of progress in science and technology. We are unremitting in our efforts in industry-education collaboration, and we are committed to the cultivation of a vibrant pipeline of outstanding talent for the AI era.

Course Co-Creation:
Building Better Talent Development Solutions

Dr. Tan Soo Fun

Dr. Tan Soo Fun

Universiti Malaysia Sabah

Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Huawei: A Partnership for Future Technology Leadership

Dr. Tan Soo Fun

Dr. Tan Soo Fun

Universiti Malaysia Sabah

The UMS–Huawei collaboration exemplifies a productive fusion of education and industry, and is an effective method of cultivating a talent pipeline.

Pioneering ICT talent development in Malaysia

Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), established in 1994, is a leading educational institution in Malaysia renowned for its commitment to fostering academic excellence, research, and innovation. Situated in the scenic city of Kota Kinabalu, UMS has grown into a hub for scholarly pursuits. Over the years, UMS has cultivated numerous partnerships with global industry leaders to provide its students with cutting-edge knowledge and the most relevant skills.

One of the institution's most significant collaborations is with Huawei, a global powerhouse in information and communications technology (ICT). This partnership, which began in 2017, was formalized with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Huawei's Asia Pacific Innovation Day in Kuala Lumpur.

The establishment of a Huawei ICT Academy at UMS has been instrumental in advancing ICT talent development across Malaysia, and has significantly enhanced UMS students' technological capabilities, as well as their readiness for the global job market. This collaboration encompasses a range of initiatives such as specialized Train the Trainer (TTT) programs, students' professional certification training and examinations, curriculum enhancement, and participation in international ICT competitions. Together, these efforts are dedicated to nurturing Malaysia's next generation of ICT professionals and innovators.

Integrating Huawei courses for an enhanced curriculum

UMS has enriched its curriculum through the integration of Huawei's specialized ICT courses, ensuring that the skills students acquire are highly relevant in the industry. Led by dedicated lecturers who collaborate closely with Huawei experts, the curriculum is tailored to local educational standards and industry demands.

Huawei's courses, including Huawei Certified ICT Associate (HCIA) in Artificial Intelligence, Datacom, Security, and Cloud Computing, are tailored to meet regional needs while retaining global applicability. UMS lecturers also undergo rigorous training provided by Huawei so that they remain up to date in terms of technological advancements and effective teaching methods. This equips them with the tools they need to deliver courses that are enriched by real-world examples and local case studies, enhancing students' practical skills and learning experiences. Huawei's advanced ICT courses provide UMS students with hands-on experience and knowledge that is crucial for success in the evolving ICT landscape, preparing them to compete in global events like the Huawei ICT Competition.

Learning with hands-on practice: Bridging theory with real-world solutions

At the heart of the UMS–Huawei partnership lies practical learning, which is integral to the educational approach at UMS. Faculty members encourage students to participate in practical hands-on activities in labs, as well as real-world case study workshops, and to engage in project-based learning. The University's state-of-the-art labs, equipped with Huawei's latest devices and technologies, provide students with all the necessary tools to conduct experiments and hone practical skills.

Guided by their instructors, students tackle diverse projects encompassing network setup, configuration, and advanced telecommunications research. These projects are specifically crafted to address real-world challenges, thereby bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. Collaborative efforts with Huawei not only strengthen students' technical competencies but foster critical problem-solving capabilities and teamwork skills.

Participating in Huawei ICT Competitions: A showcase of the brightest talent

A cornerstone of the UMS–Huawei partnership is the active involvement of both students and faculty in Huawei-sponsored competitions, notably the prestigious Huawei ICT Competition. This global event challenges participants to demonstrate their ICT skills through a series of rigorous tests and practical problems.

UMS has consistently achieved remarkable success in these competitions. In recent years, UMS teams have distinguished themselves at Huawei ICT Competition Global Finals, securing top positions that highlight their technical expertise and innovative thinking. These achievements underscore the exceptional quality of education and training provided by UMS, backed up by Huawei's expertise and resources.

Participating in these competitions not only provides students with invaluable international exposure but enhances their employability through the recognition of their skills on a global stage. Moreover, UMS has been honored with the High Impact University-Industry Engagement Award, underscoring its commitment to fostering impactful collaborations that prepare students for careers in the dynamic ICT landscape.

Visualizing success: Key achievements of UMS

UMS, in collaboration with Huawei, had a Huawei ICT Academy established in 2019, which was upgraded to a Huawei ICT Academy Support Center (IASC) in December 2022. The UMS IASC has reached significant milestones, reflecting UMS–Huawei's shared commitment to excellence in ICT education.

UMS's Huawei ICT Academy supports 1,358 active students, 835 of whom have undergone HCIA training, with 396 earning their HCIA certifications. 713 students are engaged in the Huawei ICT student association.

UMS's Huawei ICT Academy boasts an impressive roster of 24 active teachers, with 17 Huawei Certified ICT Associates (HCIAs) and 10 Huawei Certified Academy Instructors (HCAIs). The academy has 1,358 active students, 835 of whom have undergone HCIA training, while 396 have earned their HCIA certifications. A total of 46 ICT courses have been conducted onsite, and 713 students are engaged in the Huawei ICT student association.

UMS's key achievements:

  • 2019: UMS received the Outstanding Achievement Award, recognizing its excellence in ICT education in Malaysia. Additionally, UMS came second in the Network Track at the National Final of the Huawei ICT Competition 2018–2019.
  • 2020: UMS was honored with both the University-Industry Engagement Award and High Impact University-Industry Engagement Award, highlighting its strong collaboration with industry partners. Furthermore, UMS came second in the Network Track at the National Final, and scooped up Third Prize at the Global Final of the Huawei ICT Competition 2019–2020.
  • 2021: UMS was awarded the Top Active Achievement Award and continued its success through the Seeds for the Future program across Brunei, Ireland, Malaysia, and New Zealand, earning First Prize in the Innovation Track at the Global Final of the Huawei ICT Competition 2021–2022.
  • 2022: UMS celebrated its recognition of women in technology by winning the Women in Tech Award and Second Prize in the Innovation Track at the Global Final of the Huawei ICT Competition 2022–2023.
  • 2023: UMS continued to demonstrate its excellence by winning the Women in Tech Award and Third Prize at the Global Final for the Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024. Additionally, UMS won the Grand Prize and First Prize in the Computing Track at the National Final for 2023–2024.

The impact of the UMS–Huawei partnership is best illustrated through the success stories of students. Many UMS graduates have gone on to join Huawei and its partners, making significant contributions to the ICT industry. Others have leveraged their Huawei certifications and UMS education to excel in the broader ICT field. These success stories inspire current students, showcasing the tangible benefits of UMS–Huawei collaboration. Such stories also underscore the dedication and excellence demonstrated by UMS and Huawei in cultivating a world-class ICT talent pool that is poised to make significant contributions to the global technology landscape.

Forging future ICT leaders: UMS–Huawei partnership in education and innovation

The partnership between UMS and Huawei has yielded incredible results, spanning from curriculum development to notable student successes in international competitions. Integrating Huawei's advanced technologies into UMS's educational framework has significantly elevated education quality, equipping students with the skills needed to thrive in the ICT industry.

Looking forward, UMS and Huawei are committed to further strengthening their collaboration. Planned initiatives include broadening the scope of available Huawei certifications, deepening research and innovation partnerships, and launching new programs focused on emerging technologies like AI and cybersecurity.

The collective vision is clear: To cultivate a dynamic learning environment that empowers students with the knowledge and tools needed to lead in a constantly evolving ICT landscape. By continuing their partnership, UMS and Huawei aim to foster innovation, drive technological advancements, and cultivate a skilled workforce that is capable of meeting global economic demands.

In summary, the collaboration between UMS and Huawei exemplifies a productive fusion of education and industry. Together, they not only enhance educational standards, but play a pivotal role in shaping the future of technology and preparing the next generation of ICT talent to lead tomorrow's success.

Course Co-Creation:
Building Better Talent Development Solutions

He Jianbiao

He Jianbiao

Vice Dean, School of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Shenzhen Polytechnic University

SZPU & Huawei: Innovating the Curriculum System for Shared Growth and Success

He Jianbiao

He Jianbiao

Vice Dean, School of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Shenzhen Polytechnic University

SZPU has partnered up with Huawei to explore a collaborative education model that benefits the university, its students and faculty, and the industry.

Ten years ago, Huawei started opening up and promoting its certification system. Shenzhen Polytechnic University (SZPU) seized this opportunity and started working with Huawei to build a dual-focus system that stresses both course development and certification, which has since proven successful.

As Huawei's certification system continued to grow and demand for technological breakthroughs increased, Huawei prioritized the development of fundamental technologies and started holding the Huawei ICT Competition. SZPU again responded quickly to this new development and deepened our collaboration with Huawei.

We furthered the dual-focus system by consistently incorporating Huawei's fundamental technologies into our new, technology-focused curriculum system. We have integrated the projects of the Huawei ICT Competition into our curricula, and combined professional education with the development of our student community. This has not only significantly improved the quality of our talent cultivation and academic development, but created a competition-oriented system within our university, meaning our teams are always ready for any competition, of any scale, at any time. For such competitions, our teams have a stellar track record full of honors. Our practices have shown that innovation in talent cultivation can go far and be productive only when it aligns with industry requirements and keeps pace with the times.

Restructuring the course system based on program clusters

SZPU has always believed that the development requirements of enterprises point a direction for vocational colleges to deepen school-business collaboration. In recent years, Huawei's technology ecosystem has been developing constantly, and SZPU is always considering how best to work with Huawei in this regard. There are several key factors that influence our decisions.

In response to the challenges resulting from trade friction and technology blockades, Huawei's proprietary technology ecosystem now extends from the field of communications networks to foundational software, further expanding the scope of collaboration between SZPU and Huawei. With the application and promotion of new technologies, such as Cangjie, HarmonyOS, openEuler, openGauss, and MindSpore, schools need to restructure course resources and talent cultivation systems accordingly. Moreover, Huawei has held ICT competitions as a regular mechanism for identifying and cultivating talent across the industry value chain. Universities must improve their talent cultivation models in the context of competitions and the need for professional certifications.

One of SZPU's major reform initiatives was to restructure our course system in the style of program clusters (see Figure 1).

curriculum system for the ICT program

Figure 1: SZPU's curriculum system for the ICT program cluster

For example, in the ICT program cluster, we have four core majors: modern communications technology, computer network technology, mobile Internet application technology, and IoT application technology. The courses in this cluster are then classified into three categories: basic courses, core courses, and extended courses.

Basic courses are positioned as the foundation for students to master professional knowledge and skills. By adopting a program clustering method, we then break down the basic courses of the four majors into four common modules: network technology, program design, electronic technology, and operating systems. Each module can include several courses, with content of varying scales and difficulties. These basic courses can be selected to create a combination for each major based on needs.

Core courses are key courses that guide students to systematically master professional knowledge and skills. Each major has three modules, and each module contains several core courses.

Extended courses are generally configured based on target positions or related technical fields, with a focus on employability. Each major has two modules, which are closely linked to the employment directions.

In addition, each student must earn a professionally-recognized technical skill certificate before graduation. Therefore, for each major, we recommend two Huawei certifications to our students. This then means we need to think ahead and integrate the learning content of these certifications into the courses of related majors to support our students. To meet such goals, SZPU takes the following approach:

  • For students majoring in modern communications technology, Huawei certifications in datacom and cloud computing can be considered. The learning content related to datacom is integrated into the basic courses (network technology A and network technology B) and core courses (such as the datacom module and wireless communications module). Extended professional courses under this major include a cloud-service module that supports students aiming to earn Huawei certification in cloud computing, and a data analytics module that integrates Huawei's big data technology to support students' certification-oriented studies.
  • For students majoring in network technology, Huawei certifications in datacom and network operation and maintenance (O&M) can be considered. These certifications largely cover similar or closely related content. The content of this major includes basic courses (network technology A and network technology B) and core courses (such as the network interconnection module and automated O&M module) to support students' certification plans.
  • For students majoring in mobile Internet application technology, Huawei certifications in HarmonyOS and cloud computing can be considered. The learning modules for this major include courses on mobile application development and HarmonyOS to support students aiming to earn Huawei certification in HarmonyOS. Students aiming to earn Huawei certification in cloud computing can choose the learning modules focusing on cloud services and Huawei cloud computing. Moreover, we have integrated learning content related to Huawei certification in datacom and IoT within the basic courses (network technology A) and core courses (device hardware development) of this major.
  • For students majoring in IoT application technology, Huawei certifications in IoT and HarmonyOS can be considered. To support learning related to such certifications, we provide core courses (IoT communications and IoT application development) as well as extended professional courses (smart homes).

Refactoring our course system into modular program clusters has benefitted us in numerous ways. We are able to facilitate co-creation and sharing between courses of different majors, cover multiple types and areas of Huawei certification in our teaching, and tailor students' learning to the most relevant technologies required for Huawei certification.

Developing Huawei technological courses

Huawei's certification system led to another of SZPU's key reform initiatives: We fully integrate Huawei's technologies with our major courses and develop new courses that incorporate Huawei's fundamental technologies.

Specifically, we match each learning program with potential target positions, corresponding courses, and technical areas covered by Huawei certification. For example, the ICT program cluster covers some courses required for Huawei Certified ICT Associate (HCIA) and Huawei Certified ICT Professional (HCIP) in the areas of datacom, cloud computing, HarmonyOS, and IoT, as well as the courses required by China's vocational skill grade certification (the intermediate level).

Through such actions, we have developed 13 major technical courses designed for Huawei certification. Some technical areas of Huawei certification do not precisely correlate with employment, such as openGauss, openEuler, and big data. However, these technologies are an intrinsic part of a holistic, solid foundation of ICT learning. For these technical areas, we have introduced the respective learning content into courses in the program cluster, such as those on network operating system, database, and data analytics.

Therefore, we have not only fully integrated the courses in our learning program with Huawei's technical certification, but aligned employment with Huawei's certification areas. Huawei certification has become a key advantage of graduates competing in the employment market. More importantly, Huawei's certification system is a premium and highly-recognized technical certification system in the industry. For this system, Huawei has developed comprehensive technical courses and a trainer enablement system. Building upon Huawei's certification system to develop our own ICT program cluster has proven an effective way for our university to rapidly establish a quality ICT curriculum system.

SZPU initially adopted the program-clustering method as a way to comprehensively introduce Huawei's fundamental technologies, and went on to promote the new technology curriculum system. We advocate the introduction of Huawei's fundamental technologies for developing new technology courses in the ICT field.

Last year, the Ministry of Education (MOE) piloted a program for reforming major courses in key fields, and has entrusted SZPU to head the reform of electronic information courses, which is one of the most important projects in the entire program. SZPU immediately identified Huawei as the ideal partner for this task, given our history of productive collaboration.

SZPU brought together 12 electronic information colleges and universities included in China's Double High-Level Initiative (a plan to develop high-level higher vocational education institutions and disciplines) to work alongside Huawei and jointly develop 10 fundamental-technology courses, including Cangjie language program design, distributed database technology, and operating system deployment and maintenance, and 4 fundamental-technology practice projects, such as hands-on training for HarmonyOS software development. We have now built an extensive new technology curriculum system based on Huawei's fundamental technologies, and promoted this curriculum to vocational colleges through pilot projects across the country.

Innovating talent cultivation models

Since 2019, SZPU has further improved the ICT program cluster based on the latest industry development requirements, and improved the talent cultivation model based on our established dual-focus system of developing courses alongside certification through alignment with industry competitions. We have organically integrated job requirements and skill competitions into talent cultivation, and explored an innovative, four-pronged talent cultivation model that covers jobs, courses, competitions, and certification.

First, as part of this process, we clarified the relationships between job requirements, professional courses, skill competitions, and industry certification. Through the dual-focus system of course development and certification, we intend to create a professional curriculum system based on industry certification requirements. We also aim to promote professional talent cultivation that meets industry development requirements by keeping track of the latest industry certification requirements.

The four-pronged model (jobs, courses, competitions, and certification) specifies that job requirements serve as the logical starting point for professional course construction. To ensure that we always have a solid understanding of job requirements, SZPU has run a "1,000-Enterprise Survey" program since 2020, through which all teachers at the university engage in an extensive annual interview with enterprises. This program has helped us gain valuable insights into the target job positions for professional talent cultivation. We then combine such insights with industry certification requirements to form a professional curriculum for each learning program cluster. Then, to prepare our students for industry competitions, we strengthen our talent cultivation system according to a hierarchical, progressive construction method, and improve the quality of talent cultivation through work-study integration. Finally, we leverage industry certifications to validate the quality of our talent cultivation.

In turn, these certifications ensure that the quality of our talent cultivation is both assessable and measurable. Through this model, we have gradually established an innovative system of communications-technology talent cultivation that is enhanced by job requirements, courses, competitions, and certifications.

Second, we align our talent cultivation system with skill competition requirements and strengthen this system through a hierarchical, progressive construction method. Our dual-focus system of course development and certification allows us to achieve more targeted training for students in a categorized, phased, and layered manner. This approach fits with the general rules of education, suits students' needs for progressive academic learning, and improves the quality of the talent we cultivate. By employing this categorized, phased, and layered teaching methodology, we are able to realize hierarchical training of students based on training goals.

The four-pronged model mentioned above facilitates a skill-competition-preparation mechanism, and encourages students to learn independently, train together, collaborate with each other, and participate in assessment and defense presentations while preparing for competitions. This positions students to progressively advance to higher-level coaching courses for competitions. With this hierarchical method, we have successfully laid out paths for students' progressive learning.

Third, we explore innovative ways to deepen industry-education collaboration through skill competitions. The dual-focus system of course development and certification drives shared success for both enterprises and universities based on industry certification and joint ecosystem construction. The four-pronged model (jobs, courses, competitions, and certification) is built on this dual-focus system, through which we base our efforts on preparatory training for skill competitions such as the Huawei ICT Competition. We also introduce enterprise resources to the training environment positioned for the competitions and constantly update such resources. This practice has led to many conducive results. One example is the Huawei ICT engineering training center we have built, which simulates real-world work conditions. Our teachers develop comprehensive practical training courses for this training center, introducing actual engineering projects from enterprises into our practical teaching. This has allowed us to reach a new frontier of integrated work-study teaching, through which we organically synergize course development, Huawei ICT engineering training, and classroom teaching. This has been particularly useful in addressing the difficulties in work-study integrated training in Shenzhen, and set a new paradigm for deepened industry-education collaboration.

Within the span of this collaboration project, we have developed more than 20,000 teaching materials, 51 smart vocational education courses, 565 courses based on the vocational education cloud, and 4 online courses in English. This courseware covers users in more than 200 areas across China, as well as some regions outside China, and has recorded over 10 million online learners by learning times.

A fruitful partnership that elevates education to new levels

SZPU and Huawei share the same goals and have been collaborating to innovate in education for about a decade. This collaboration has yielded remarkable results:

Course development has reached a new level of development. Based on the original national professional teaching resource library, SZPU has formulated 13 course modules based on the integrated planning and design philosophy of program clusters. We have also worked with enterprises like Huawei to update or establish 10 industry technical certification courses and develop 31 professional core courses. As part of this collaboration, we have developed more than 20,000 teaching materials, 51 smart vocational education courses, 565 courses based on the vocational education cloud, and 4 online courses in English. This courseware covers users in more than 200 areas across China, as well as some regions outside China, and has recorded over 10 million online learners by learning times. We have upgraded the communications technology resource library to a teaching resource library offering the modern communications technology program cluster, and developed one national high-quality online open course and four international courses.

The talent we cultivate has achieved great things. SZPU students from the communications technology program cluster won seven champion titles and one First Prize in the Global Final of the Huawei ICT Competition (as shown in Figure 2). They also once took home all three Grand Prizes of the Practice Competition at a Huawei ICT Competition. In this program cluster, over 300 students have become Huawei Certified ICT Experts (HCIEs), placing SZPU first out of all universities in China by number of HCIEs. This figure accounts for 2% of the total number of HCIEs worldwide. SZPU has preliminarily formed a training system on scale for Huawei HCIEs, and is constantly exploring ways for students to reach higher levels of study.

Students of SZPU winning awards in the Huawei ICT Competition Global Final

Figure 2: Students of SZPU winning awards in the Huawei ICT Competition Global Final

A strong team of dual-qualified teachers has been growing steadily. Based on the quality courses and trainer enablement resources that accompany Huawei's technical certification system, SZPU promotes project-based teaching and has developed a team of dual-qualified teachers (teachers qualified both as educators and vocational professionals). In the past five years, we have cultivated three teachers recognized as pioneers at the national level, one province-level esteemed teacher, one Excellent Teacher in Southern Guangdong, one Pearl River Scholar, and three national technical experts. We have also built one province-level teacher studio, one province-level communications-technology teaching innovation team, and two 1+X province-level teacher training bases. Our teachers have earned numerous honors in China. These include one Second Prize at the National Teacher Teaching Capability Competition, three First Prizes and two Second Prizes at the Province-Level Informatized Teaching Capability Competition, and two Second Prizes of the Province-Level Science and Technology Progress Award.

Our initiatives have benefited millions. With Huawei's unwavering support, SZPU has established a Huawei ICT Academy Support Center, making us the only vocational college in China to boast an IASC. The IASC provides functions such as teacher training, online platform support, technical services, and activity support, and supports the development and operation of more than 220 Huawei ICT Academies in China. Building on the IASC, SZPU has promoted the talent cultivation model and professional curriculum system that we have practiced through our information and communications program cluster across the entire country.

SZPU was tasked to partner with Kashgar Polytechnic Vocational and Technical College to design the college's modern communications engineering major. We helped the institution plan and develop this major, formulate talent development solutions, and cultivate faculty teams. In this regard, we have fully replicated the dual-focus system of course development and certification, Huawei's technical certification courses, and our dual-qualified teacher team development model to the college.

SZPU has provided technical services for small- and medium-sized enterprises on 300 occasions, provided technical skill training for more than 70,000 employees of small-, medium-, and micro-sized enterprises, and run the national Train the Trainer (TTT) project, all of which have helped promote Huawei's new technologies across the country.

Ten years ago, Huawei embarked on opening up and promoting its technical certification system. Ten years later, practices have shown that innovation in talent cultivation can yield fruitful results only when it keeps pace with industry requirements and resonates with the times.

Course Co-Creation:
Building Better Talent Development Solutions

Piotr Zwierzykowski

Piotr Zwierzykowski

Professor, Poznań University of Technology

Empowering Polish Students for the ICT Industry in Partnership with Huawei

Piotr Zwierzykowski

Piotr Zwierzykowski

Professor, Poznań University of Technology

PUT started partnership with Huawei through the training courses on the Huawei Talent platform, and has integrated these courses into its curriculum.

Poznań University of Technology (PUT) is one of the premier technical universities in Poland, with a rich history as an educational institution spanning over 100 years. Currently, more than 14,000 students are enrolled across nine faculties, and among them, nearly 10% are international students studying in English. This diverse student body reflects PUT's commitment to fostering an inclusive and globally oriented environment.

First Huawei ICT Academy in Poland

In 2015, Poznań University of Technology became the first university in Poland to join the Huawei ICT Academy program. We chose to participate due to the wide variety of courses offered, which extend beyond traditional computer networks. The program includes training in essential areas like mobile networks, access networks, and wide area network technologies. Huawei does a lot of business in Poland – the strong use of Huawei technology by businesses and government institutions, along with Huawei's willingness to collaborate, certainly strengthened our commitment to this partnership.

Figure 1: Robinson Hu (Country Manager of Huawei) and Prof. Tomasz Łodygowski (Rector of PUT) opening the first Huawei ICT Academy in Poland

Today, our team of instructors consists of 13 members, including faculty and PhD students from the Institute of Communications and Computer Networks at our university. Over the years, we have taught over 800 students, 500 of which enrolled within the last 3 years.

Putting emphasis on practical skills and professional certifications

Our partnership with Huawei began with training courses available through the Huawei Talent platform. We gradually expanded these industrial courses into an integral part of our curriculum. Today, much of the training for our networking pathway is embedded in our ICT degree. This integration has been supported by a network laboratory equipped with Huawei networking equipment.

In parallel, we translated and developed our own training materials, culminating in the 2024 publication of a laboratory manual. The exercises in this manual are organized according to the ISO OSI model, starting with Layer 2 protocols and Ethernet mechanisms, including VLANs, MSTP, and Ethernet rings. These exercises underwent a rigorous two-stage review process involving both instructors and students to ensure their quality and real-world applicability.

Future lab exercises will cover Layer 3 solutions, including IPv4/6 routing and IPSec, and network optimization techniques, with new sets planned for release in 2025 and 2026. These materials align with Huawei's HCIA, HCIP, and HCIE certification levels, providing students with the knowledge and skills required to succeed in the field.

The Academy's diverse courses, which are continually updated, attract students from various fields. Key areas of interest include datacom, WLAN, security, cloud, 5G, and AI. That being said, the majority of students go for the HCIA/HCIP Datacom training, as it complements their regular ICT and telecommunications courses. These programs emphasize practical, hands-on skills, with 70% of class time dedicated to lab work on over 40 real network devices, such as switches, routers, firewalls, and WLAN controllers.

Students access course materials through both the Huawei Talent platform and the university's own e-learning platform, where they can participate in discussions and seek instructor guidance beyond the classroom.

Recognizing the growing value of professional certifications in the job market, we encourage students to pursue certifications early in their studies. The most popular certification exams are the HCIA and HCIP in Datacom, with a success rate of over 65% in 2023. Students who complete certification exams may receive extra credits or be exempt from certain university exams, further enhancing their learning experience.

Empowering students through summer schools and hands-on learning

In order to offer our students better access to networking technologies, we began running networking schools over the summer. Our students have now been attending these extra summer courses for 3 years, organised and taught by our instructors. Participation was initially offered only to select students who showed a deeper interest in computer networking solutions. However, seats at our summer schools have become more and more sought after. As such, we plan to expand the program to provide more students with access to the workshops. To align with student interest, we are also planning to launch a hybrid format for English-speaking students. We are even working on a special edition of classes to prepare for the Huawei ICT Competition led by this year's competition winners.

Figure 2: Students getting to know networking equipment in their lab tour

During the summer school, students are split into groups to solve problems as their assignments, with each group given a specific networking issue. For each task, the instructor first introduces students to the surrounding theoretical issues, and then defines the problem that needs to be solved. Then students work in groups to find a solution. The group concludes by presenting their work and discussing it with everyone. At this stage, the instructor also shows other methods of solving the problem and underlines the advantages and disadvantages. Students that participated this year set up a community called 'NetWizards' dedicated to networking technologies. As part of their exercises, students themselves chose network issues that interested them and tested them in the network laboratory.

Our current focus is on offering students basic courses in the networking pathway. We plan to expand to include more advanced courses on cloud, 5G and AI.

Poznań University of Technology students shine in Huawei ICT Competition, winning top prizes in networks and cloud tracks

Through its partnership with Huawei, students at Poznań University of Technology now benefit from cutting-edge training materials. This collaboration has enabled five teams from our university to qualify for the regional finals of the Huawei ICT Competition, receiving their awards at the European Regional Award Ceremony held in March, 2024 in Istanbul, Türkiye.

Two of our teams – one in the Network Track and the other in the Cloud Track – earned invitations to the Global Final of the Huawei ICT Competition held in Shenzhen, China. During their four-day stay for the competition, students also participated in various other activities including a tour to Huawei's headquarters. Ultimately, our Cloud team finished in second place, while the Network team won the grand prize.

By sharing expertise and resources, we hope to elevate the standard of ICT education across the country, ultimately preparing a skilled workforce that can meet the demands of an evolving job market.

Looking ahead

We are looking forward to expanding our collaboration with Huawei within the Huawei ICT Academy program, as we plan to become the first Huawei ICT Academy Support Center (IASC) in Poland. This significant milestone represents a commitment to and expansion of the Huawei ICT Academy program, not just for our university, but for a wider community. We aspire to provide comprehensive training programs for students and instructors at other academies throughout Poland. By sharing expertise and resources, we hope to elevate the standard of ICT education across the country, ultimately preparing a skilled workforce that can meet the demands of an evolving job market.

Figure 3: Team PUT shines in Huawei ICT Competition

03.
Learning with Competitions:
Unleashing the Potential of Innovative Talent

Learning with Competitions:
Unleashing the Potential of Innovative Talent

Organizing Committee of the Huawei ICT Competition

Huawei ICT Competition: Igniting the Spark of Genius in University Students Worldwide

Organizing Committee of the Huawei ICT Competition

The Huawei ICT Competition provides students worldwide with the opportunity to unlock their creativity and hone their ICT skills for the future job market.

On May 26, 2024, the Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024 Global Final concluded with a momentous triumph for Algeria. The nation's participating students were honored with a congratulatory message from President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. In a tweet from his official account, he congratulated the award winners, stating, "I am very proud of our dear students for having won first place worldwide in one of the IT categories at the 'Huawei ICT Competition' organized in Shenzhen (China), and the Grand Prize for Information and Communication Technologies. Congratulations to Algeria on this new generation of scientists who are paving the way for a prosperous future for our country. My most sincere greetings and thanks to you all."

In a similar vein, the team from Türkiye achieved remarkable success by winning the Grand Prize in the Innovation Competition. Kaan Başkurt, the Turkish Consul General in Guangzhou, attended the award ceremony and presented the prize to the Turkish team, saying, "Congratulations to our students and their esteemed professors! We are proud of our team!"

Adding to the sense of ceremony, Kuwait's Network Team students received similar acclaim. Following their win, the local telecom provider Ooredoo illuminated the Ooredoo Tower with a spectacular light show, congratulating the Kuwaiti team on their third-place finish in the Global Final (see Figure 1). Ooredoo also pledged internship opportunities for one of the team members.

Light show for the country's award-winning students

Figure 1: Kuwaiti telecom carrier Ooredoo puts up a light show for the country's award-winning students

Much praise poured in for the winning teams from Algeria, Türkiye, and Kuwait, with representatives from their respective embassies giving a thumbs-up, high-ranking officials welcoming them at airports, and prime ministers meeting them – all showcasing each country's encouragement and appreciation for ICT talent.

For young ICT students worldwide, this may well be an unforgettable highlight in their lives.

On May 26, 2024, the Closing & Award Ceremony of the Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024 Global Final was held in Shenzhen. This 8th edition of the Huawei ICT Competition saw a record number of participants, with over 170,000 students from more than 80 countries and regions, representing over 2,000 colleges and universities. After rigorous national and regional rounds, over 470 contestants of 161 teams from 49 countries and regions reached the Global Final, competing for various awards. Notably, 19 teams from 9 countries – Algeria, China, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, the Philippines, Tanzania, Türkiye, and Uganda – were awarded grand prizes in both the Practice and Innovation Competitions at this year's Global Final.

Practice Competition: An 8-hour hands-on challenge of patience and teamwork

The Huawei ICT Competition consists of the Practice Competition and the Innovation Competition, with a three-tier advancement system of National, Regional, and Global Finals. Each team is composed of three students and one instructor.

This year's Practice Competition attracted over 160,000 students from around the world, a 39% increase from the previous year. After the National and Regional Finals, a total of 134 teams from 44 countries and regions made it to the Global Final.

This year's Practical Competition had four tracks: Network, Cloud, Computing, and Ascend AI. It examined the contestants' theoretical knowledge, hands-on skills, and teamwork abilities in the field of ICT.

The Network Track assessed knowledge in data communications, security, and WLAN. The Cloud Track focused on knowledge in cloud, big data, and AI. The Computing Track examined knowledge in openEuler, openGauss, and Kunpeng application development. The newly introduced Ascend AI Track covered knowledge in four technical domains: AI algorithms and applications, practices in the MindSpore development framework, full-stack Ascend AI platform, and Ascend AI application practices.

The Global Final was an 8-hour practical exam that followed the difficulties of the highest level of Huawei Certifications – Huawei Certified ICT Expert (HCIE). Students from all over the world gathered in Shenzhen to compete in both theoretical knowledge and hands-on skills.

As the technical support team for the competition, Huawei's Learning & Certification Services Dept assigned technical experts to design thought-provoking and practical topics based on the latest ICT and development trends. These topics tested the technical skills and problem-solving abilities of the contestants. To ensure the process was fair, just, transparent, and authoritative, a professional team of assessors conducted evaluations for the Practice Competition.

At the Practice Competition venue, teams from around the world competed intensely. The 8-hour lab exam tested not only the contestants' practical skills, but their endurance, concentration, and teamwork. Only through repeated training and close collaboration during the preparation phase could they hope to achieve something remarkable in the competition (see Figure 2).

Contestants competing

Figure 2: Contestants competing in the highly intensive Practice Competition

The team from the Guilin University of Electronic Technology won the Grand Prize in the Cloud Track of this year's Practice Competition. Reflecting on the experience, team member Chen Chonglin said, "Looking back on the competition, we raced against time, collaborated closely, and showcased our relentless daily training to its fullest extent, presenting a perfect culmination of our university journey. This honor recognizes our efforts and affirms our team spirit and innovation. It inspires me to pursue excellence and explore new frontiers."

The team from the Poznań University of Technology (PUT) won the Grand Prize in the Network Track of this year's Practice Competition (as shown in Figure 3). Team member Arkadiusz Niedziela said in an interview, "Through the Huawei ICT Competition, I have really improved my skills. Along the way, I've earned multiple Huawei certificates and broadened my academic horizons. The intensive training has elevated the skills of our team to a new level. This experience has made me better equipped for my future career."

Team PUT won the Grand Prize

Figure 3: Team PUT won the Grand Prize in the Network Track of Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024 Practice Competition

The Organizing Committee of the Huawei ICT Competition designs the competitions to promote learning through competition and stays abreast of the times by introducing new tracks to the Practice Competition. This means talented young people are given opportunities to engage with the latest trends in ICT, which sparks their interest in cutting-edge technologies.

Past ICT talent development primarily focused on networking. However, the rise of ecosystem-based sectors like computing, cloud, and AI has created new areas of vast growth potential, leading to an increasing demand for talent. The introduction of the Ascend AI Track in this year's competition aims to nurture and discover talent in Ascend AI technology. In the future, the competition will continue to steer the event by enabling talented competitors to focus on new tracks. This will help cultivate versatile professionals who not only understand network fundamentals, but are also well-versed in computing, cloud, and AI.

As the Huawei ICT Competition continues to take place each year, participating students' knowledge and practical skills continue to improve. Statistics show that the average score for all teams in the 8th Huawei ICT Competition was 562 points, an increase of 105 points over the 7th edition. Among the teams in the China Region, the average score reached 670 points, exceeding the 600 points required for the HCIE certifications.

After this year's competition, the Organizing Committee worked with Huawei's Learning & Certification Services Dept to publish a series of tutorials on exam question analysis for the Huawei ICT Competition. These tutorials contain past exam questions and detailed interpretations for the Network, Computing, and Cloud Tracks of the Practice Competition. They are designed to help students and teachers be better prepared for the next Huawei ICT Competition.

Innovation Competition: Inspiring ideas in ways bolder and more imaginative than ever

The Innovation Competition aims to cultivate innovative ICT talent, complementing the applied ICT focus of the Practice Competition. This year, the Innovation Competition centered on emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, big data, HarmonyOS, and Huawei Cloud. Contestants were tasked with addressing real-life challenges, integrating industry applications, and using cutting-edge ICT to develop solutions with both social and commercial value, while designing fully functional projects.

Aligned with the ethos of the Practice Competition, the Innovation Competition's tracks were designed to actively guide college and university students in innovating in emerging technology fields. Over the past two years, with the emergence of foundation models like ChatGPT and Sora, an intelligent world is unfolding faster than ever. AI will be increasingly linked with various aspects of our lives and work and become a key driver of future development.

This is why the 8th Huawei ICT Competition introduced the AI Innovation Track to encourage students to continually create and innovate with emerging technologies. This year's Innovation Competition attracted over 2,000 students from 38 countries worldwide. Through intense national and regional competitions, 27 teams from 16 countries were shortlisted for the Global Final, where they showcased their projects and competed on a global stage.

The Innovation Competition was conducted through presentations and panel assessments. After each team showcased their projects, assessors evaluated the projects based on five criteria: creativity, system complexity, technical complexity, societal benefits, and functionality. They asked questions, provided professional suggestions, and completed comprehensive assessments (see Figure 4 and Figure 5).

Innovation Competition

Figure 4: Innovation Competition of the China Region

The Hangji Team from Tongji University won the Grand Prize in this year's Innovation Competition for their Aircraft Engine Damage Detection System Based on Snake-shaped Robots showcased on stage. The project uses a range of Huawei Cloud technologies, including the ModelArts AI development platform, to train machine vision AI models for blade damage detection and classification, and the Huawei Cloud data visualization application to enable remote control of internal damage detection for aircraft engines.

The GrocPOS Team from Pakistan also won the Grand Prize in this year's Innovation Competition for their Visually-Controlled Intelligent Point of Sale (POS) Solution Based on Mobile Applications. Their solution uses the Huawei Cloud database, KooGallery, and storage, as well as MindSpore. It uses a smartphone camera to quickly and accurately identify three to four grocery items at a time. This solution streamlines the checkout process and is significantly more efficient than traditional barcode scanning. It can be used by local stores to modernize their operations for greater economy and convenience. The team members expressed their hopes to promote this solution in the retail industry in Pakistan.

Innovation Competition

Figure 5: Innovation Competition of regions outside the China Region

The Turkish team Edusyntech, which was also a Grand Prize winner in this year's Innovation Competition, focused on improving education for children with reading disabilities. Their DysTherapy application uses platforms and technologies such as MindSpore, ModelArts, Huawei Mobile Services (HMS), and Huawei Cloud to meet diverse learning needs by providing quality personalized educational content based on each child's reading level and cognitive ability.

There were many more innovative projects that also focused on real-world challenges in various industries and demonstrated commercial and social value.

Tech innovation with a human touch: Championing green and inclusive development

In addition to the Grand, First, Second, and Third Prizes, this year's Huawei ICT Competition Global Final also featured a series of honorary awards: the Green Development Award, TECH4ALL Digital Inclusion Award, and Women in Tech Award.

The Green Development Award recognizes contestants who focus on environmental protection and social sustainability by means of technology, applications, and skills. The TECH4ALL Digital Inclusion Award rewards contestants who make digital tech more inclusive and accessible, especially for vulnerable groups. The Women in Tech Award recognizes outstanding female participants in the competition to encourage more women to take part in technological innovation, promote ICT industry growth, and contribute to social development.

The Atlas Guardian – Smart Agriculture Inspection Robot project from the Charging Forward ICT Team of the Central China Normal University not only won the Grand Prize in the Innovation Competition of this year's Global Final, but received the Green Development Award. Wang Rong, one of the team members, said, "Digital and intelligent agriculture has become a major trend. We designed this project to address real pain points and social needs. Our smart agriculture inspection robot can navigate and patrol autonomously, and the robot's sensors can collect environmental information on crop growth and detect the health status of corps. When crop diseases are detected, the app sends a warning to the user."

The WildConnect Team from the Cebu Institute of Technology in the Philippines and the SJTUInsight Team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University won the TECH4ALL Digital Inclusion Award.

The WeiCare Heart Disease Detection App project from the WildConnect Team can warn users about the risk of heart disease using a smartwatch, reducing the adverse consequences of delayed diagnosis and treatment. It is expected to be widely used in the medical and healthcare industry.

The MindSpore-based Left-behind Children Learning Assistant project from the SJTUInsight Team can provide online education resources for educationally underdeveloped areas and left-behind children (children who remain in rural regions of the country while their parents leave to work in urban areas), and has been put into use by schools in Eryuan County in China's southwestern Yunnan province and other places.

These two projects, one promoting health and well-being and the other promoting equity and higher quality and balanced development in education, both embody digital inclusion.

Ritchie Peng, President of Huawei's ICT Strategy and Business Development Department, expressed his feelings about these projects, "The Huawei ICT Competition's innovative projects not only focus on application innovation, but resonate with the spirit of tech for good. The recognition of these projects at the competition is not only due to their relevance, but their social value and inclusivity."

The Women in Tech Award was won by four teams of all female members from Uganda, Morocco, Malaysia, and Kenya (see Figure 6). Explaining the reason for setting up this award, Vicky Zhang, Huawei's Vice President of Corporate Communications Dept, said, "We hope that women winners from the competition can encourage more women to join the ICT sector, and help them benefit from the digital world. We are delighted to see that more and more teams consisting of all women have participated in the Huawei ICT Competition in recent years."

Figure 6: Four teams of all female members from Uganda, Morocco, Malaysia, and Kenya won the Women in Tech Award in Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024 Global Final

Towards new ICT frontiers together

Eugene C. Busico, the instructor for the WildConnect Team from the Cebu Institute of Technology in the Philippines, said in an interview, "Being exposed to the Huawei ICT Academy and participating in the Huawei ICT Competition proved to be an immensely valuable journey for our university. There's a very big gap between academia and industry. Huawei provides a unique pathway to connect our students and faculty to state-of-the-art ICT."

In fact, as mentioned by Eugene C. Busico, many universities around the world have courses that are more focused on theory and are not relevant enough to market demands. That is why the Huawei ICT Competition and the Huawei ICT Academy program, as new models for talent cultivation and university-business collaboration, onboard university graduates with innovative ideas and knowledge on the latest industry trends. The competition helps to lay a solid foundation for them to pursue further academic development or commence their professional careers. This is one of the reasons why the competition is so popular.

The 8th edition of the Huawei ICT Competition saw a record number of participants, with over 170,000 students from more than 80 countries and regions, representing over 2,000 colleges and universities.

As one of the important talent cultivation initiatives of the Huawei ICT Academy program, the Huawei ICT Competition, after years of effort, has been officially included in the Ranking Lists of National Competitions for College Students published by the China Association of Higher Education (CAHE). It has become one of the most relevant and influential science and technology competitions oriented to universities. Outside China, the Huawei ICT Competition has been included in UNESCO's flagship projects for key partners of the Global Skills Academy, and its international influence continues to grow.

The Huawei ICT Academy, a school-enterprise collaboration program, has been in operation for over a decade since its establishment in 2013. As of now, Huawei has worked with more than 2,700 colleges and universities worldwide to establish Huawei ICT Academies in more than 110 countries and regions, and these academies have trained over 1 million students.

As the Project Director of the Huawei ICT Competition, Sun Gang, Head of the Huawei's ICT Talent Partner Development Dept, holds high expectations for the event. He explained that the theme of the Huawei ICT Competition is "Connection, Glory, Future". The event has three goals: First, to build a bridge for global connection and networking, promoting the integration of education, talent, industries, and innovation. This will foster learning, teaching, innovation, and employment through competition. The second goal is to provide a stage for glory, and offer a global platform for budding students as well as enhance the influence of teachers and institutions in the industry. The third is to create a future-oriented ecosystem that integrates education with economic, social, and industrial development, promoting digital transformation using AI, cloud computing, big data, and other ICT applications. This will encourage countries to increase their investment in ICT talent ecosystems, accelerating global digital transformation and upgrade.

Promoting digital skills and inclusion has always been the vision of the ICT Talent Partner Development Dept. As Zhou Hong, President of Huawei's Institute of Strategic Research, said at the Closing & Award Ceremony of this year's Global Final, "Digital technology should benefit everyone. Huawei hopes to join hands with more ICT youth to build an intelligent, connected world through technology and innovation. Together, we can reach for the stars and beyond."

There is an old Chinese verse, "With the wind, the great roc bird rises high, soaring ninety thousand li in the sky." In an increasingly digital future, innovation and creativity know no bounds. Huawei hopes that all ICT youth around the world will soar on the wings of the Huawei ICT Competition, scale new heights with their knowledge and skills, give full play to their dreams and aspirations, and contribute to an intelligent world.

Learning with Competitions:
Unleashing the Potential of Innovative Talent

Qi Peng

Qi Peng

Associate Professor, College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Tongji University

Song Zhengfei

Song Zhengfei

College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Tongji University

Li Xinzhuo

Li Xinzhuo

College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Tongji University

Jiang Boyu

Jiang Boyu

College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Tongji University

Tongji University's Hangji Team Shines at the Huawei ICT Competition

Qi Peng

Qi Peng

Associate Professor, College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Tongji University

Song Zhengfei

Song Zhengfei

College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Tongji University

Li Xinzhuo

Li Xinzhuo

College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Tongji University

Jiang Boyu

Jiang Boyu

College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Tongji University

Hangji Team won the Grand Prize at the 8th Huawei ICT Competition Global Final and aspires to contribute to China's aircraft industry.

On September 27, 2024, the Shanghai chapter of the 9th Huawei ICT Competition kicked off at Tongji University. The venue was buzzing with enthusiastic students crowding together to sign up for the various events of the competition. For our team, it was reminiscent of the Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024 Global Final that had been held just four months earlier.

During those finals, our team – Tongji University's Hangji Team – won the Grand Prize in the Innovation Competition for our Aircraft Engine Damage Detection System Based on Snake-shaped Robots. The thunderous applause and cheers we were greeted with on stage were worth more than that the trophy we were being presented. It meant all the hard work we poured into our preparation for the competition had paid off (see Figure 1).

Hangji Team receiving the Grand Prize

Figure 1: Tongji University's Hangji Team receiving the Grand Prize in the Innovation Competition at the Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024 Global Final

Aviation safety assurance for a new era of home-grown aircraft

Some wondered why we chose aircraft engine damage detection as our project for the Innovation Competition. What inspired us though was the success of China's first home-built passenger plane.

On May 28, 2023, China's first home-grown passenger jet, the C919, officially entered commercial use. This marked a major milestone for China's civil aviation. It meant China was capable of building large passenger planes on its own. The engine is the heart of an aircraft, but it has to be built in such a way as to withstand extreme stress conditions, handling high temperatures and pressure without cracking, breaking, or corroding. Any of those issues would create huge safety threats. The aviation sector – just like the broader transportation industry – is undergoing digital and intelligent transformation, using intelligent technology in more ways. We wanted to use that technology to more quickly and accurately detect aircraft engine damage.

Tongji University is located in Shanghai, giving it a few unique advantages when it comes to aviation research. Shanghai is a civil aviation hub, with highly concentrated industry resources thanks to the many major aerospace players located in the city. This facilitates our scientific research. In 2003, Shanghai Aviation Industry School was placed under the management of Tongji University, which made aviation research a higher priority for the university. All of these factors drive our enthusiasm for exploring aviation research. The idea to develop an intelligent robot dedicated to detecting aircraft engine damage was the ultimate result of this passion. Ever since then, the direction of our study has become more and more clear.

As it so happened, the timing of the Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024 Global Final was perfect for us. During that competition, students started by identifying real-life needs and factoring them into industry applications. They were encouraged to use AI and other technologies like cloud computing, IoT, big data, Kunpeng, and HarmonyOS to develop complete solutions that demonstrate both social and commercial value. Huawei then provided a powerful cloud platform, a wide array of IoT devices with excellent performance, and an industry-leading AI technology system for them to work with.

Under the guidance of our mentor, the three of us – who were all from different faculties and years of study – partnered up as a team for the Innovation Competition. We decided we were actually going to go through with building our dream aircraft engine damage detection robot.

With Huawei's tech prowess, our idea blossomed into a concrete prototype

This was an ambitious goal, and the journey turned out to be full of hurdles challenging us during every step of the process.

The biggest challenge we faced was figuring out how to use AI to implement more automated and accurate damage detection. To achieve this goal, we needed a massive amount of raw data inputs. This data couldn't just come out of nowhere or be simulated purely based on our imagination. This challenge stumped us for quite a while before our mentor found a leading aircraft engine lab in China that was willing to work with us. We went to their site to collect high-quality damage datasets from experiments on their aircraft engine blades. These datasets significantly improved the accuracy of the model we were building.

Throughout the Innovation Competition, Huawei's vast range of technologies was tremendously helpful to us, especially the cloud platform, their computing power, and their algorithms.

With the raw data in place, we proceeded to the practice stage. Huawei's vast range of technologies was tremendously helpful to us, especially the cloud platform, their computing power, and their algorithms. These resources allowed us to focus on developing the detection system without worrying about all the other moving parts.

Huawei's technologies have been a critical part of our project, from the initial idea conception to implementation. Our team used 5G and Wi-Fi technologies to build an intelligent IoT robot control system. We used Huawei's IoT devices and technologies to implement access, including IoTDA for device access, ModelArts for AI development, and Astro for low-code development. Our data was also transmitted and stored on the Huawei Cloud platform.

To quickly and accurately identify damage, we developed the Youle recognition and classification model based on Maxbar and trained the model using ModelX. This allowed us to make training more efficient and development optimization faster. All through data collection and preprocessing, data segmentation, and model training and evaluation, our model became much better at aircraft engine damage identification.

In addition, we built a data screen for the inspection and maintenance center so that they could observe the inspection work in real time. Using Huawei Cloud, we then implemented secure data transmission and storage for the robot's inspections, and realized full-lifecycle monitoring for the aircraft engines.

Learning through competition, growing through innovation

After toiling through the night for weeks, we finally made it to the Global Final in May 2024. It was a technological gala that gathered some of the world's brightest minds in ICT. The venue was located in Shenzhen – a city bursting with innovation and vitality.

This competition was the most rigorous test we had faced in university. It also honed our expertise and gave us the opportunity to combine solutions with real-world applications. Competing and being recognized at the international tech arena of the Huawei ICT Competition has been a most valuable and rewarding experience to us.

For the Innovation Competition, contestants from all over the world showed their most creative ideas. The jury panel weighed in with unique insights from professional perspectives and evaluated every entry in a stringent, fair, and authoritative manner. The jury also provided clear guidance for each project on future research and implementation directions.

Our team stood out despite the fierce competition because of the originality of our design concept, the quality of our demonstration, and our performance during the on-site presentation (see Figure 2). Ultimately, we took home the Grand Prize for the Innovation Competition. The moment they announced our win, it felt like the world had recognized all of our hard work and persistence in solving the myriad of problems encountered along the way. Holding the trophy in our hands, our hearts swelled with pride.

The Hangji Team demonstrating the system solution

Figure 2: The Hangji Team demonstrating the system solution at the Innovation Competition of the Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024 Global Final

There is a Chinese poem that goes: Through repeated tempering the sharpest sword is forged, and through a bitter cold winter the most fragrant plum blossom blooms. This rings true for our story. The strenuous competition ended up also being a journey that pushed all of us to grow. Through this competition, we not only developed a firmer grasp of technical knowledge and skills, but improved our abilities to think and innovate. This competition was the most rigorous test we had faced in university. It also honed our expertise and gave us the opportunity to combine solutions with real-world applications. Competing and being recognized at the international tech arena of the Huawei ICT Competition has been a most valuable and rewarding experience to us.

It was not only an opportunity for intense learning and growth for us, but for our teachers. Our teacher, Qi Peng, became an active communicator and steadfast practitioner of Huawei's technologies as he guided our journey. He has now been appointed as a Huawei advocate (see Figure 3). Mr. Qi said that the competition tests the quality and effectiveness of education and teaching, while also motivating more teachers to integrate Huawei's innovative technologies into daily teaching. Teachers like him are inspired to cultivate more talent who have both an innovative spirit and practical abilities. These students go on to become the professionals needed in this era of rapid technical advancement.

Qi Peng

Figure 3: Qi Peng (right) being appointed as a Huawei advocate

Continued collaboration bears abundant fruit

To a degree, the honor and achievements embodied by the Grand Prize of the Innovation Competition represent the years of close collaboration between our university and Huawei.

Tongji University began working with Huawei in the field of ICT in 2020 and has since been actively promoting teaching reform and curriculum optimization. The university has integrated Huawei's technologies into its curriculum to help cultivate students' innovation abilities. This process has allowed Huawei and the university to establish a new collaborative education mechanism that deepens industry-education integration. Through various models such as the university-enterprise curriculum system and innovation workshops, they provide students with new learning resources and practice opportunities, comprehensively consolidate the professional knowledge foundation, and significantly improve students' abilities to create and innovate.

This collaboration continues to deepen today. In September 2024, the Advanced Huawei ICT Academy, jointly established by Huawei and Tongji University's College of Electronic and Information Engineering, held its inauguration ceremony, marking a new milestone of the partnership. The university will continue to run the Huawei ICT Academy in a spirit of industry-education collaboration, further integrate Huawei's tech into the university's curriculum system, and cultivate more outstanding technical talent.

As the curtain drops and rolls up again, we are set for an even more wonderful stage. Now, the registration for the Innovation Competition of the 9th Huawei ICT Competition has closed, and it is time for new teams of students to embark on a new journey. More than 2,000 students from seven competition regions around the world, brimming with hope and aspirations, have signed up for this year's competition. It has been a great honor for us to be one of the pathfinders in this journey, and we have benefited a lot from it. To those getting ready for the upcoming competition and beyond: Stay brave, stay sharp, keep pace with times, and boldly tackle the most pressing issues in the real world. Build your solution by deeply integrating hardware and software, and shine at the 9th Huawei ICT Competition.

As we look up at the stars and set our feet firmly on the ground, we are driving towards new territories, and the best is yet to come. We are the next generation that will lead the ICT industry, so we must work together to innovate and make the world a better place with the power of tech.

Learning with Competitions:
Unleashing the Potential of Innovative Talent

Zhao Yulong

Zhao Yulong

Business Manager of Tanzania, Eastern Africa Multi-country Mgmt Dept, Southern Africa Region, Huawei

From a Small Village to the Global Stage: Tanzanian Students Dazzle with Tech

Zhao Yulong

Zhao Yulong

Business Manager of Tanzania, Eastern Africa Multi-country Mgmt Dept, Southern Africa Region, Huawei

Three students from Tanzania won the Grand Prize in Huawei ICT Competition, accolades from their Prime Minister, and Huawei internships.

Despite its growing youth workforce in recent years, Tanzania's ICT talent pool still lags behind industry needs. Three young students from the University of Dar es Salaam, the oldest and biggest public university in Tanzania, decided to buck this challenge and chased their dreams all the way to the global stage of ICT competitions. Their story is a testament to how hard work can pay off, and how successful Huawei's investment in ICT talent development has been.

According to the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Report 2023–2024, Tanzania ranks 167th among 193 countries by human development composite indices and is classified as one of the world's least developed countries. Since entering the Tanzanian market in 2007, Huawei has focused on building our roots in local communities. Huawei provides ICT training and enablement for local college students, cooperation partners, and delivery partners as part of our efforts to build local ICT capabilities. We have taken on a mission to help every young Tanzanian rewrite their destiny with ICT.

Since entering the Tanzanian market in 2007, Huawei has focused on building our roots in local communities. Huawei provides ICT training and enablement for local college students, cooperation partners, and delivery partners as part of our efforts to build local ICT capabilities.

James Amos Magesa, Matimu Charles Mahimbo, and Dickson Grayson Mram, the three students from the University of Dar es Salaam, all participated in Huawei's ICT Academy program. With the guidance of their mentor, Jummane Ally, they worked together to take home the Grand Prize at the Global Final of the Network Track of the 2023–2024 Huawei ICT Competition.

During the Tanzania Annual ICT Conference 2024, Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa Majaliwa himself presented the team their trophy. The Prime Minister's commendation signifies how important he believes the ICT education industry is to the country's future development. In addition, the team members were given internships at Huawei, which are likely to transition into full-time job offers at the end of their program.

Planting a dream: The ICT aspiration of a young man from a remote village

Hailing from a remote village in Tanzania, James Amos Magesa studied telecommunications engineering at the University of Dar es Salaam. The Huawei ICT Academy club was just one of many endorsed by some of his older classmates, but it was also the one he was immediately interested in. The Huawei ICT Academy would not only broaden his knowledge and hands-on capabilities, but also open up opportunities for him to earn professional certifications – improving his chances of getting a job in his desired field after graduation. He signed up immediately.

James met many like-minded peers at the Huawei ICT Academy. They tackled technical problem sets together and discussed new content from their courses. The Academy also provided exposure to the latest ICT technology trends, expanding their views like nothing else. The Academy helped James further hone his professional knowledge, his teamwork, and his ability to put theory into practice and tackle challenges. James also received Huawei certifications in datacom, network security, and WLAN.

This experience was immensely enriching for James, and sparked his interest in Huawei's ICT Competition. And so he approached his peers, Matimu and Dickson, who were computer engineering and information technology majors, about signing up for the competition. Throughout the competition, they explored the factory operation model for network systems, built wireless networks, and sorted out complex data processing processes. They ended up making huge progress developing their skillsets, especially those in data security.

After successfully finishing the National Final in Tanzania, they went on to compete in the Southern Africa Regional Final. After that, they made it to the Global Final. James was well aware that if their team wanted to stand out in this global technical competition, they had to work harder than they normally did. So, instead of their normal schedule of four hours of study a day, they doubled their workload. In addition to their normal studying for school, they met up from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. every school night to go over even more material and prepare for the competition.

After a few months, James, Matimu, and Dickson's efforts paid off. They emerged winners in the fierce regional competition and moved up to the Huawei ICT Competition's Global Final. At the regional award ceremony held in Tanzania in May, 2024, the Minister of Information and Communications Technology Nape Moses Nnauye himself handed the three young men their tickets to Shenzhen. He was not only recognizing their achievement, but also letting them know he believed in their future potential.

Journeying on: Dazzling the world stage

As their plane took off from Tanzania, James, Matimu, and Dickson were excited, but slightly nervous. This was their first international flight, and they were about to not only visit Huawei's headquarters in coastal Southern China, but start a new chapter in their lives. They were also well aware that the contestants they were about to meet in Shenzhen would be some of the world's best and brightest in ICT.

Once they landed in Shenzhen, they were impressed with the lush beauty of the city. As ICT enthusiasts though, what was more interesting was the signs of digital transformation around the city. There were clear signs of automation around, almost every car on the road was an EV, and their guides pointed out other smart city applications the municipal government was trialing. The team's curiosity was sparked and they were excited to explore more of the local technological innovations.

But as the competition kicked into gear, they became laser-focused, sometimes even forgetting to break for lunch (see Figure 1). And that focus paid off.

Team Tanzania

Figure 1: Team Tanzania waiting for the opening of the test at the Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024 Global Final

At the award ceremony of the Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024 Global Final, the Tanzanian team stood on the podium and received the Network Track Grand Prize for the Practice Competition. Dickson remembers that moment with crystal clarity, standing side by side, arm in arm, singing the Tanzanian national anthem and celebrating their moment of glory, "At that moment, we were no longer isolated individuals. Instead, we were closely united as one, representing our country with glory, honored and praised by people from all over the world."

Contributing more and more to the country's technology development

At the Tanzania Annual ICT Conference 2024, a special ceremony was hosted to celebrate the team's historic win. Tanzania's Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa Majaliwa, presented the award to the team (see Figure 2), expressing his support and expectations for the ICT education industry and its future development in Tanzania. He hoped more young people would be encouraged to embrace the surging wave of technological innovation.

The team received an honorary award from His Hon. Kassim Majaliwa Majaliwa

Figure 2: The team received an honorary award from His Hon. Kassim Majaliwa Majaliwa (third from the right), Prime Minister of Tanzania, after returning home

The award and experience were not the team's only prizes. They also returned home to internship offers from Huawei. They currently plan to enter Huawei's internship program in 2025, putting them on track to receive further job offers in the near future. This opportunity will not only help them further integrate their knowledge with practical skills, but also allow them to experience the life of an ICT professional at Huawei's Tanzania Rep Office, and begin to contribute to ICT development in Tanzania.

The Huawei ICT Competition was not only a platform of growth for the team. It also unleashes their bright talents that will be infused into Tanzania's ICT industry. This is the ultimate goal of Tanzania's national ICT education and development drive. Their story is already encouraging more Tanzanian youths to pursue their dreams and tackle bigger and bigger challenges in the world of tech. These young people will undoubtably be ready to take their country to the next step of its own digital journey and intelligent future.

Learning with Competitions:
Unleashing the Potential of Innovative Talent

Christopher Ivan Katoogo

Christopher Ivan Katoogo

Fixed Network Product and Solution Manager, Uganda Rep Office, Southern Africa Region, Huawei

Empowered by Opportunity: From Huawei ICT Competition to Professional Excellence

Christopher Ivan Katoogo

Christopher Ivan Katoogo

Fixed Network Product and Solution Manager, Uganda Rep Office, Southern Africa Region, Huawei

Christopher's journey with the Huawei ICT Competition has witnessed his transcendence from a university student to an ICT professional.

Building blocks of a successful career

I have been on an incredible journey since first embarking on the path that shaped my career in ICT. My journey in the ICT industry began with a Bachelor of Computer Science from Ndejje University, Uganda. Alongside my studies, I pursued qualifications as a Huawei-certified engineer across various ICT domains, which laid the foundation for my career. However, a pivotal moment in my life came when I attended the Huawei ICT Job Fair. This was a decision that would shape my future in unexpected ways.

At the Huawei ICT Job Fair in Uganda, I was introduced to the Huawei ICT Academy and its diverse range of courses. Intrigued by the possibility of deepening my technical knowledge, I enrolled in multiple courses, including Datacom, Security, and WLAN, later expanding into the 5G and Cloud domains. These courses equipped me with critical skills and fueled my passion for technology. Little did I know, this would set me on a path toward competing on a global stage at the Huawei ICT Competition 2022–2023.

The ICT Competition: A global learning experience

Preparation: Building a foundation for success

Huawei played an instrumental role in ensuring that we had a conducive learning environment throughout the preparation phase of the competition. This included detailed study materials, the provision of fully operational laptops, and support to maintain a healthy state of mind during this highly-competitive event.

Additionally, Huawei provided us with a dedicated instructor to guide us through the learning experience. The use of Huawei's simulation tools, particularly the enterprise Network Simulation Platform (eNSP), Huawei's in-house tool, was a game-changer. These tools allowed us to gain hands-on experience in real-world environments by working on command line interfaces for routers, switches, firewalls, and wireless equipment such as access points and access controllers.

An instance of the Huawei eNSP interface

Figure 1: An instance of the Huawei eNSP interface

This practical exposure significantly enhanced our understanding of network architecture and troubleshooting, enabling us to approach the competition with confidence. The comprehensive preparation and resources provided by Huawei not only enhanced our skills, but gave us a deeper appreciation for the role of technology in solving real-world challenges.

The Huawei ICT Competition is much more than just a contest – it is a platform for growth, collaboration, and innovation that connects students from around the world. I am proud to be part of Huawei's commitment to driving digital transformation and enhancing global connectivity, and I look forward to continuing to innovate and make an impact in this exciting industry.

Advancing to the global stage

The Huawei ICT Competition was more than just a contest – it was a platform for growth, collaboration, and innovation, connecting students from around the world. My experience at the competition involved several rigorous stages: preliminaries, national competitions, regional finals, and ultimately, the global finals in Shenzhen, China.

Teamwork was essential. Our team of three, with the guidance of a mentor, aligned our efforts to master the Network Track, focusing on network architecture, security protocols, and wireless technologies. During the theory-based preliminary and national stages, our efforts paid off as we excelled and advanced to the regional finals for the Sub-Saharan region.

Team Uganda secured second prize

Figure 2: Team Uganda secured second prize in the Network Track at the Global Final of Huawei ICT Competition 2022–2023

At the regional stage, the competition became even more demanding, incorporating both theory and practical elements. After rigorous preparation, we were thrilled to earn a place in the global finals. The moment that we received our invitation to China was unforgettable, as was our grand send-off which reflected the pride our nation had in us.

Upon arrival in Shenzhen, China, we were warmly welcomed by Amb. Judyth Nsababera, the Ugandan Consul General in Guangzhou, further demonstrating the importance of our journey. Uganda was represented not only in the Network Track but also in the Cloud and Computing Tracks, showcasing the country's growing ICT capabilities.

The 8-hour practical exam during the global finals was intense, requiring exceptional focus, resilience, and adaptability. Despite the pressure, our hard work was rewarded, and we secured second prize on the international stage. This achievement gave our team immense pride and put Uganda firmly on the global ICT map.

From competition to career: Growing through opportunities

After our team's return to Uganda, Huawei extended us employment and internship opportunities. After successfully completing the interview process, I was enrolled as a Product Configuration Engineer, where I gained practical experience across various ICT sectors.

The knowledge and exposure I gained, combined with lessons in teamwork, problem-solving, and resilience, helped me excel in my role. Within a short time, I was recognized for my contributions and honored as one of Huawei's Employees of the Year. Ten months into the job, I had become better known within the organization, and I was transferred to a new department as a Fixed Network Solution Manager.

Huawei Employees of the Year

Figure 3: Huawei Employees of the Year (author fifth from right)

Making an impact through technology and leadership

In my current role, I've had the privilege to participate in significant events, including the Mini MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Uganda, where I shared insights into the latest technologies with key customer accounts. I was also honored to give a speech at the second ICT Job Fair in Kololo, attended by His Excellency, the President of Uganda. This gave me the opportunity to share my story and inspire others pursuing careers in ICT.

Throughout my career at Huawei, I've learned the importance of remaining customer-centric and resilient in a dynamic and fast-changing industry. Exposure to cutting-edge technologies and collaboration with customers has deepened my understanding of how digital transformation can drive societal impact.

Throughout my career at Huawei, I've learned the importance of remaining customer-centric and resilient in a dynamic and fast-changing industry. Exposure to cutting-edge technologies and collaboration with customers has deepened my understanding of how digital transformation can drive societal impact.

Looking ahead: A commitment to innovation and digital transformation

The journey from being a university student to competing on a global stage and taking on leadership roles at Huawei has been both humbling and inspiring. The Huawei ICT Job Fair was the gateway to a series of opportunities that have shaped my career, and is a testament to the power of determination, teamwork, and embracing every opportunity encountered along the way.

To those beginning their ICT journeys: Seize every opportunity, as the choices you make today will shape your future. I am proud to be part of Huawei's commitment to driving digital transformation and enhancing global connectivity, and I look forward to continuing to innovate and make an impact in this exciting industry.

The author participating in high-profile events

Figure 4: The author participating in high-profile events

04.
Industry-Education Collaboration:
Exploring New Models of Collaborative Talent Cultivation

Industry-Education Collaboration:
Exploring New Models of Collaborative Talent Cultivation

Xu Xiaofei

Xu Xiaofei

Expert Team Lead of the MOE's University-Industry Collaborative Education Program, Vice Chairman of the Alliance of Emerging Engineering Education for Information Technologies, and Professor of Harbin Institute of Technology

Moving Forward: Industry-Education Collaboration in the Intelligent Era

Xu Xiaofei

Xu Xiaofei

Expert Team Lead of the MOE's University-Industry Collaborative Education Program, Vice Chairman of the Alliance of Emerging Engineering Education for Information Technologies, and Professor of Harbin Institute of Technology

The MOE's University-Industry Collaborative Education Program is leveraging "3I's" (integrated, intelligent, and international) to advance the future.

Ten years ago, China's Ministry of Education (MOE) launched the University-Industry Collaborative Education Program. This signaled the start of a journey of collaborative talent cultivation. In this program, the government stipulates overarching policies and implementation directives while enterprises provide support and engage with universities to jointly develop projects and share the project achievements to augment the projects' influence. This method has successfully brought all of these parties together and helped continually deepen their collaboration.

In the ten years that have followed, the program has yielded strong results. The program team is headed by the MOE and supported by the concerted efforts of experts, universities, and numerous enterprises. As their collaborations advanced, the areas covered by the program have expanded.

The program started with a fund of CNY500,000 and eight enterprises. Now, it has grown to include over 2,000 enterprises and 1,100 universities. About CNY4 billion has been directly invested into the program, along with roughly CNY24 billion worth of software/hardware platforms and devices provided. More than 100,000 projects have been set up, involving over 300,000 teachers and benefiting millions of students. We are proud of the dynamic talent pipeline the program has nurtured.

Thanks to these outstanding achievements, the program has been included in China's undergraduate education and teaching evaluation index system, and has become a national benchmark of industry-education collaboration.

Since 2017, Huawei has been actively participating in the University-Industry Collaborative Education Program. Over the past seven years, Huawei has established nearly 800 projects, covering more than 200 undergraduate universities. Huawei has also worked with educators to develop nearly 100 online courses and dozens of tutorials. Some of these courses have won awards as first-class courses in China among other awards.

Huawei has been actively participating in this program since 2017. Over the past seven years, Huawei has invested more than CNY300 million by providing practice resources and funds, and established nearly 800 projects, covering more than 200 undergraduate universities.

Huawei has also worked with educators to develop nearly 100 online courses and dozens of tutorials. Some of these courses have been recognized as first-class courses in China among other awards. Huawei has also been named an Excellent Partner of the University-Industry Collaborative Education Program by the MOE and the Expert Team for many consecutive years and Huawei currently ranks first among enterprises in the number of Outstanding Projects supported.

Since 2024, in order to improve the quality of project collaboration, achievements, and management, the Expert Team has adjusted the program's coverage, goals, content, proposal methods, operation models, and accreditation methods under the guidance of the MOE's Department of Higher Education. The Expert Team has also built a three-level implementation system involving the MOE, provinces and cities, as well as universities and enterprises, and has continuously deepened the system both in depth and breadth.

In addition, in accordance with the goals of China's National Education Conference, we are also exploring new models, contents, and methods for the program's future development. This exploration aims to help transform the nation's digital education from its 3C's strategy (Connection, Contents, and Collaboration) to a new 3I's strategy (Integrated, Intelligent, and International).

The specifics of 3I's for university-industry collaborative education are as follows:

Integrated

An integrated approach is important to strengthen project management. Taking an integrated approach means focusing on enhancing the three-level system, building support platforms, consolidating resources, and fostering an integrated ecosystem. In this way, synergies can be created between experts, projects, universities, enterprises, platforms, and data. These synergies will better position us to build a new ecosystem for industry-education collaboration.

Enterprises and universities need to work together to draw upon their areas of strength, run projects with a platform mindset, and use these platforms to build integrated industry-education collaboration environments both internally and externally. During this process, they should continue building their own project case libraries and keep them open for joint development and sharing with other stakeholders in the ecosystem. This will foster the development of teaching resources and tools.

Success stories of collaboration between enterprises and universities should be shared on project platforms using standardized templates and interfaces. By integrating these platforms, we can form national and provincial project case libraries that systematically present content, workflows, and management mechanisms.

In the future, the University-Industry Collaborative Education Program platform will be a comprehensive platform supporting multiple functions including information release, project inquiries, monitoring and management, industry-academia interconnection, service support, and data analysis. This platform will enable the construction of a larger ecosystem for industry-education collaboration.

We hope that Huawei will continue its role as an exemplary enterprise in the University-Industry Collaborative Education Program and keep exploring new frontiers in collaboration models, platform building, project practice, and management.

Intelligent

Universities are embracing AI for higher education and enabling education with foundation models. This means intelligence should be a cornerstone of the University-Industry Collaborative Education Program. We need to use intelligent technologies such as foundation models and big data to enhance student and faculty capabilities and to improve all aspects of education, including learning, application, management, evaluation, training, and certification. AI will help us tap into new opportunities in industry-education collaboration.

Intelligent learning: Leveraging the integrated project platform, we can develop projects supported by foundation models. Then, we can help large numbers of universities and enterprises jointly create featured teaching courses and virtual experiment environments. In this way, we can promote the application of foundation models in classroom teaching. Teachers can also use foundation models to develop intelligent teaching materials and tools that facilitate students' independent and personalized learning.

Intelligent application: We need to actively explore AI-enabled industry-education collaboration models and methods for cultivating problem-solving capabilities using foundation models. We can also use big data analytics and foundation models to build AI talent cultivation hubs and training centers. These hubs and centers will set the stage for developing innovative IT talent with skills in foundation models and generative artificial intelligence (GAI), which are essentially the capabilities needed in the future market.

Intelligent management: We can use big data and foundation models for project statistics analysis, management, and governance. AI can be used to perform preliminary reviews of project guidance and promptly detect problems in project execution. Big data analytics can also be used to intelligently check duplications and analyze project achievements.

Intelligent evaluation: Project evaluation also needs to become intelligent, and AI needs to be used for capability improvement and the evaluation of such improvement. We need to study and develop the standards, training methods, and evaluation systems for using GAI to solve problems and rate capability levels. This will drive a shift in our education system, transforming it from being knowledge-focused to capability-focused.

We are currently working with Huawei to study the ICT position capability assessment model and certification system, and hope that the study findings can help improve and evaluate students' capabilities through AI.

International

The MOE advocates the internationalization of China's digital education. The University-Industry Collaborative Education Program therefore needs to give full play to the international and regional advantages of different enterprises, and focus on quality international collaborations that follow clear guidelines to elevate the collaborations to a new stage.

Specifically, these guidelines call on enterprises and universities to respond to China's calls to action and promote international industry-education collaboration both with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and other countries around the world. We should use the advantages of large multinational enterprises such as Huawei in their international layout and operations to help achieve this. For example, through the Huawei ICT Academy project, Huawei has worked with universities and enterprises outside China to jointly develop new courses, jointly design projects, train educators and vocational professionals, jointly run schools, and mutually recognize credits. The achievements and experience of this kind of industry-education collaboration have increased the international influence of our projects and set a benchmark for the internationalization of China's digital education and industry-education collaboration.

Industry-education collaboration is an important way to further the development of emerging engineering education. Collaborative education is also an effective way to cultivate innovative talent with sustainable competitiveness in a constantly evolving industry landscape. There is still much potential we have yet to unlock in industry-education collaboration. Let's work together towards this future and unleash the potential of ICT talent cultivation.

Industry-Education Collaboration:
Exploring New Models of Collaborative Talent Cultivation

Ma Ruixin

Ma Ruixin

Executive Dean and Master's Tutor, Qiu Shi College, Dalian University of Technology

DUT & Huawei: A New Model for Software Engineering Education

Ma Ruixin

Ma Ruixin

Executive Dean and Master's Tutor, Qiu Shi College, Dalian University of Technology

DUT and Huawei's Dalian model for university-enterprise collaboration is bridging the gap between talent cultivation and enterprise needs.

University-level software engineering programs in China are primarily established to respond to the technological talent needs of the country and enterprises. These major programs aim to cultivate high-caliber engineers across multiple disciplines who have strong innovation capabilities, can adapt to economic and social development requirements, and are able to directly enter professional roles. This initiative in China is part of the country's new industrialization push as it repositions itself as an innovative hub that produces world-class talent. However, R&D and product iteration in the ICT industry is moving at speeds that the education sector struggles to match. The misalignment between software talent and enterprise capability requirements has become a common pain point for universities and enterprises alike.

China's Ministry of Education (MOE) has laid out a blueprint of Emerging Engineering Education (3E) which emphasizes that software engineering majors need to be trained based on the specialized knowledge and dynamic requirements of different fields. Considering the nation's current talent shortage and future development needs, new talent cultivation models that prioritize a solid grasp of fundamental knowledge, key capabilities, subject-matter mastery, and social awareness are needed. This is currently the largest issue facing software engineering education in China.

And so, Dalian University of Technology (DUT) and Huawei decided to partner up to address this issue.

Reshaping core curricula

Based on the Huawei ICT Academy model, DUT integrated technologies like GaussDB database, Huawei Cloud Computing, AI, big data, and openEuler into their software engineering courses and decided to emphasize knowledge acquisition, thinking, capabilities, and competency in their curriculum. At the same time, we also focused on shaping student's mindsets, instilling in them a sense of social responsibility and a spirit of innovation – something that Huawei shares. We have also fostered a deeper relationship between the university and Huawei in terms of our training goals, resources, and teachers. Our program highlights cutting-edge theories and their applications, is driven by mission, and is backed by a quantitative and controllable software talent quality assurance system. We aim to cultivate talent that can solve the problems related to the most critical technologies and we want our students to be able to innovate continuously and adapt to the rapid industry development. Figure 1 illustrates our educational philosophy.

Figure 1: DUT's course cluster design and educational philosophy

Software technologies are often linked to advanced theory. After introducing Huawei Kunpeng and its cutting-edge resources and technologies to our curriculum, we reconstructed our core course cluster, broke down the enterprise's advanced skill system and integrated it into our own, and accordingly aligned the technologies with corresponding courses (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: DUT's core course cluster for software engineering

By reshaping the core course cluster through the university-enterprise integration initiative, DUT has developed enterprise-level practice cases that are woven directly into our curriculum. This allows us to cultivate students' ability to identify and solve problems at different levels through progressive practice projects.

We have also designed teaching content that facilitates tiered, progressive learning, starting from the fundamentals and aiming for higher-level goals (see Figure 3). We set clear capability development paths for students and show how they can progress through a series of concrete, but challenging, goals. These development paths cater to both students who are starting from scratch and students who are at the later stages of their education. This way, our course cluster helps students realize personalized, differentiated learning goals.

Figure 3: Tiered teaching content that helps students achieve their learning goals

Igniting interests

Most of our current students are from the post-2000's generation, and many are passionate about gaming. This inspired DUT to approach teaching from a different angle: Instead of ignoring or downplaying the role of gaming, why don't we turn it into a positive example that can guide our students? This student-centric mindset means we are looking at things from our students' perspective. In games, they often assume different roles, and they often work in teams to reach higher levels. In addition, the positive feedback loop they experience when leveling up in the game and seeing their rankings rise also provides a direct reward mechanism that drives them forward.

So, DUT synthesized these knowledge points into soft skills, engineering capabilities, and innovation capabilities. From there, we designed our development paths to function more like they would in a game. We broke the capabilities down into eight levels. Each level is then divided into tasks of varying degrees of difficulty, and the tasks are accordingly labeled as beginner, intermediate, or advanced tasks (see Figure 4).

Figure 4: Game-style knowledge point level system

Figure 5 shows an example of how we divide tasks by level of difficulty. To complete a login system design task, students only need to use SQL to implement system login according to the textbook requirements.

Figure 5: An application of the level-by-level challenge in a real-world course

Another benefit of this game-style course design is that we can quantify more learning data. In this way, we can more easily analyze and assess how well the students are doing and how they are mastering different knowledge points. Then, we can build multi-dimensional learning profiles for each student that incorporate different data points, like their assignment progress, engineering capabilities, project contributions, grades, achievements of each class, and personal achievements. In addition, we created a ranking system to foster an immersive, game-like experience where the students are encouraged to learn from and compete with each other and to excel. Building this learning model is already paying off. About 60,000 students in China have participated in the project.

Multiple wins with the Dalian model

Throughout Huawei and DUT's collaboration, multiple teachers and students have worked with Huawei on real-world problems and three Huawei technical certifications were received in this process. One student has even been directly recruited into Huawei's Top Mind Plan.

This university-enterprise collaboration not only transcends the boundaries between universities and enterprises, but also introduces advanced technologies and methods into teaching practices. It has enabled participants to develop practice cases that encompass entire course clusters, and improve student engagement in innovation through hands-on projects. The collaboration has opened up many opportunities for students looking to participate in high-level competitions and earn professional skill certifications.

In addition, we have woven actual business requirements into our teaching. In our courses, we identify topics that can help solve the most critical technical challenges facing the industry. Teachers and students work together on these topics to find practical solutions. Our Dalian model delivers wins on multiple fronts thanks to this, covering many aspects of university-enterprise collaboration (see Figure 6).

Figure 6: The wins enabled by the Dalian model

Outstanding innovation achievements

DUT and Huawei have made remarkable achievements through their university-enterprise collaboration projects.

First, the curriculum and teaching materials we developed are being adopted by many universities. Our System Analysis and Design and Compilation Technology were among the first national top-level courses. Java Program Design, Software Engineering, and Database System were recognized as top-level courses in Liaoning province. The national top-level courses we have developed through university-enterprise collaboration have also been launched on multiple platforms, such as iCourse (a leading Chinese university MOOC website), XuetangX (a MOOC platform founded by Tsinghua University), and Huawei Cloud. Nearly 300,000 students and more than 200 universities have used the highly acclaimed courses.

The textbooks jointly produced by DUT and Huawei are among the first textbooks in China to have incorporated proprietary software technology for teaching. The MOE's Software Engineering Teaching Steering Committee also designated these textbooks as approved resources and they have been adopted by many universities and by companies like Huawei. Over 200,000 copies of these textbooks have been printed to date.

During the pandemic from 2020 to 2022, we livestreamed our online courses for students across the country. The streams were lively thanks to the participation of two important cohorts: the industrial cohort of tutors from various enterprises and the academic cohort of teachers from universities. The courses were streamed on multiple platforms, including Douyin, Kuaishou, Huawei Cloud, and Mudu. The programs have been viewed by nearly 60,000 students from more than 100 universities in China, and the MOE named them collectively as one of the nation's top premium courses. Media platforms such as Toutiao and the National University Ideological & Political Work Net have also promoted this program.

In addition, the program has been recognized as an excellent project under the MOE's University-Industry Collaborative Education Program, a best case under the "Double 100" Program for University-Enterprise Collaboration, and as a best practice for the Emerging Engineering Education initiative.

Our second primary achievement has simply been the marked improvement in our students' innovation capabilities. This reflects the effectiveness of our innovative education model. Despite the difficulty of our paper tests increasing every year, the students' average scores also increased instead of decreasing. Our courses are all rated as five-star courses on the iCourse platform and have high self-learning completion rates and goal achievement rates. Most students taking the courses advanced to higher levels in the game setting of the project. 95% of students who have taken these courses have gone on to receive Huawei certifications and the number of DUT graduates recruited by Huawei is also increasing year by year.

We also introduced important competitions into our teaching plans. Student projects are refined through competitions, and students can use the knowledge they have learned to compete in innovation competitions. This helps them prepare for the workforce, apply their knowledge through practice, practice innovation, and become inspired to create more.

Our third main achievement is the success of our innovative teaching model in developing top-level courses and teachers. Over the past three years, the head teacher team of our course development program has been recognized more than 20 times by authoritative institutions. These recognitions include their courses being named the first top-level course in this field in China and a demonstration course for cultivating social responsibility. The team has won the Second Prize of National Teaching Achievements, the First Prize of Provincial Teaching Achievements, the First Prize of the National Teaching Innovation Contest for College Teachers, and the Grand Prize of the National Hybrid Teaching Innovation Competition. Some members of the team were also named Provincial Renowned Teachers and received the Baosteel Excellent Teacher Award. Personally, I have been honored by being named one of the first Huawei developer advocates and a Huawei Certified ICT Expert (HCIE) for AI models, and have won the Huawei Industry-Academia Collaboration Achievement Award as well as an award for the Excellent Teacher of the Intelligent Base program.

The course we developed on emerging engineering is available on multiple MOOC platforms such as iCourse and Huawei Cloud. Nearly 100,000 students from more than 40 universities in China have taken this course already. It is rated an excellent industry-academy collaboration course on emerging engineering and an excellent project case under the MOE's industry-academy collaboration program. DUT teachers have also published more than 20 papers, one of which won the first prize for papers at the National University Program Design Education Conference in 2023.

Finally, we are extremely proud of the number of teachers and students who have directly benefited from the courses. DUT has been invited to deliver more than 100 specialized reports on this model at events like the Computer Education Conference of China (CECC) and the Computer Education Conference and Emerging Engineering Education Conference. A special booth was also set up at the HUAWEI CONNECT exhibition to promote the achievements of these courses (see Figure 7).

Figure 7: DUT teacher introducing the courses

The course we developed on emerging engineering is available on multiple MOOC platforms such as iCourse and Huawei Cloud. Nearly 100,000 students from more than 40 universities in China have taken this course already. It is rated an excellent industry-academy collaboration course on emerging engineering and an excellent project case under the MOE's industry-academy collaboration program. DUT teachers have also published more than 20 papers, one of which won the first prize for papers at the National University Program Design Education Conference in 2023. The in-depth university-enterprise integration model we explored through the development of this course is called the Dalian model by Huawei and is now being widely promoted in universities across China. The head teacher was also recognized as Huawei's Most Valuable Instructor (MVI) and a Huawei advocate.

The collaboration between DUT and Huawei has shifted from being driven by market demand to being driven by China's national strategy for software talent cultivation. This transition has shifted our focus from training professional talent that follows the software industry development to cultivating advanced interdisciplinary talent with independent innovation capabilities. Now, instead of simply pursuing talent cultivation, we are prioritizing both talent cultivation and technical breakthroughs in accordance with national strategic requirements. DUT has reconstructed our curriculum system in multiple ways, including core value education, course content, and practicum. We have compiled a series of textbooks that integrate China's independent software technologies, and instructed students in development software based on the BiSheng compiler, lightweight operating system based on HarmonyOS, and GaussDB database which is based on Kunpeng. The results of these efforts are clear for all to see.

Moving forward, DUT will continue infusing our curricula with Huawei technologies such as their foundation model technology and Cangjie programming language. We look forward to expanding our collaboration with Huawei into more domains and working together to cultivate the innovative software talent that is needed for the future.

Industry-Education Collaboration:
Exploring New Models of Collaborative Talent Cultivation

Wang Kun

Wang Kun

Party Committee Secretary, School of Computer Science, Central China Normal University

Xie Wei

Xie Wei

Vice Dean, School of Computer Science, Central China Normal University

Dong Mingyue

Dong Mingyue

Lecturer, School of Computer Science, Central China Normal University

CCNU & Huawei: Cultivating a New Ecosystem for Emerging Engineering Education

Wang Kun

Wang Kun

Party Committee Secretary, School of Computer Science, Central China Normal University

Xie Wei

Xie Wei

Vice Dean, School of Computer Science, Central China Normal University

Dong Mingyue

Dong Mingyue

Lecturer, School of Computer Science, Central China Normal University

The 7-year collaboration between CCNU and Huawei on cultivating ICT talent for the digital era has proven to be both innovative and productive.

In November 2017, Central China Normal University (CCNU) and Huawei established the Innovation Talent Center of the Information and Network Technology Academy, later known as the Huawei ICT Academy Innovation Talent Center. In September 2020, they deepened this collaboration by establishing the Intelligent Base, a University-Industry Collaborative Education Program championed by China's Ministry of Education (MOE) and Huawei.

Over the past seven years, CCNU's School of Computer Science has incorporated a number of Huawei resources into its curriculum through the Huawei ICT Academy. This includes courses on the company's cutting-edge technologies and guidance from their expert tutors. With these resources, CCNU has pioneered a 3-in-1 approach to industry-education collaboration that encompasses innovations in courses, practice, and competitions.

Now, these years of hard work are beginning to pay dividends as CCNU and Huawei have become pathfinders in China's Emerging Engineering Education (3E) exploration.

Building together: A curriculum platform for Emerging Engineering Education

One of the key steps CCNU and Huawei have taken over the past few years is exploring ways to jointly innovate in curriculum development, classroom teaching, and practicum. The Huawei ICT Academy and the Intelligent Base program have both played an important role here.

CCNU's School of Computer Science first annually selects a cohort of 45 high-potential undergraduates, which is named the Huawei Course Team and receives specialized training. The first cohort was named in 2020. Each Huawei Course Team is assigned a class coordinator, a deputy class coordinator, and a professional mentor – all of which are seasoned teachers from CCNU, and engineers or managers from Huawei. The cohort is also assigned a team of mentors, with each mentor providing guidance to two or three students as they study, participate in trainings and subject-specific competition, and pursue other innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities.

The second joint innovation CCNU and Huawei have achieved is the development of 21 courses (see Figure 1), including Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing. These courses incorporate cutting-edge topics into the existing curriculum system, and cover areas like deep learning, natural language processing, and computer vision. Some of the courses (such as those on databases and cloud computing) also focus specifically on how to use Huawei's technologies like openGauss databases, Kunpeng processors, Ascend computing, and Huawei Cloud services.

Courses jointly developed by CCNU and Huawei

Figure 1: Courses jointly developed by CCNU and Huawei

These reforms to CCNU's course catalog have updated its teaching resources including synopses, courseware, and experiment guidance, and ensured its teaching delivers both theoretical and practical knowledge while staying up to date with the latest tech advancements.

20 teachers from the School of Computer Science were selected to design these courses based on their practical capabilities, research achievements, and teaching skills. This benefited not only the cohorts, but the school's teaching team.

Huawei's AI experts are also regularly brought in to give exhaustive lectures on theory and lead hands-on practicum where students explore Huawei's devices and the latest AI technologies. Students' professional practical capabilities have already greatly improved thanks to these practice projects. Some examples of the projects they've completed include implementing edge-cloud collaboration via the Atlas 200 DK developer board and Huawei Cloud, developing object detection algorithms based on MindSpore, and developing object detection applications based on Huawei's Compute Architecture for Neural Networks (CANN), the basic AI software of Ascend.

Another successful program we've run is the Golden Course program under the Intelligent Base initiative. This program saw us developing two well-funded, experiment-based courses: Database Principles and Principles of Computer Composition. In 2023, CCNU's School of Computer Science Associate Professor Ge Fei also had their book Basic Practices in HarmonyOS IoT Development published by the Tsinghua University Press.

One more project worth mentioning is the Ministry of Education (MOE) Virtual Teaching and Research Office that we co-established with Huawei as part of the MOE's broader University-Industry Collaborative Education Program. This office is tasked with developing courses on databases, and has already undertaken 20 sub-projects, and 5 of its teachers have been named Huawei advocates.

One more project worth mentioning is the Ministry of Education (MOE) Virtual Teaching and Research Office that we co-established with Huawei as part of the MOE's broader University-Industry Collaborative Education Program. This office is tasked with developing courses on databases and has already undertaken 20 sub-projects. 5 of its teachers have been named Huawei advocates.

Our students have been able to hone their innovation and practical capabilities thanks to Huawei's technical courses. Some of our undergraduates have since been accepted – sometimes even being exempted from standard qualification testing – by China's top postgraduate programs like those at Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, and Wuhan University. Our other graduates have been directly recruited by top enterprises.

Zhao Xiaofan, for example, was a member of CCNU's first Huawei Course Team. In 2020, while still a student, Zhao worked on an AI-assisted cervical cancer diagnosis system. The system represented a breakthrough in AI-assisted image interpretation and is the first of its kind to realize automatic report generation for cervical biopsy detection systems. Zhao's team took this project to the 18th Challenge Cup National College Student Extracurricular Academic and Technological Works Competition, where they won the Grand Prize. Zhao has since been selected for postgraduate and doctoral study at Zhejiang University, where she will continue to research computer systems.

Her year-mate, Guo Junyan, was their team's class representative in 2020. Guo has also brought in many honors at heavyweight competitions like the Internet+ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, where he was recognized for his excellent research and leadership capabilities. During his time as an undergraduate, he received a government sponsorship to study at the University of Victoria. Since graduating, he has gone on to further study at the University of London.

CCNU has received much acclaim both for the model it has created for university-enterprise collaboration and for the outstanding quality of its graduates. CCNU has been named an Excellent Huawei ICT Academy Innovation Talent Center for two consecutive years, in 2019 and 2020. In 2022, CCNU won the Award of Collaboration for Excellent Huawei ICT Academy Innovation Talent Center. In 2024, Huawei also presented CCNU with the Global Talent Alliance Partner Award.

Training together: The extracurricular practice driving talent cultivation

Beyond developing classroom-centric courses, CCNU and Huawei have gradually expanded their collaboration to extracurricular training programs. We have worked together to host multiple MindSpore Innovation Training Camps and Huawei Ascend AI Innovation Training Camps (see Figure 2 and Figure 3). The results have been remarkable.

The MindSpore Innovation Training Camp

Figure 2: The MindSpore Innovation Training Camp held by Central China Normal University

The innovation training camps are intended to help students from key universities in Central China improve their capabilities in AI, innovation, and entrepreneurship by providing lessons in theory, hands-on practice, and project presentation. More than 200 students have participated in the camps and benefited immensely.

Huawei's technical experts, including MindSpore advocates, ecosystem experts, and senior lecturers, help run these camps, providing lectures on subject-specific technologies and interacting directly with trainees. Their lectures cover AI fundamentals, the MindSpore AI development framework, and Huawei's Ascend AI full-stack solutions. Students are also given personal access to Huawei Cloud ModelArts AI development platform and the MindNLP suite during these camps, creating ideal opportunities for practice.

The MindSpore Innovation Training Camp

Figure 3: The MindSpore Innovation Training Camp held by Central China Normal University

The training camps encourage trainees to take on group projects related to both AI innovation and their individual professional backgrounds and interests. At the end of the camp, trainees present their projects in front of a defense panel. Throughout this process, they receive guidance and feedback from experts, which combined with classroom teaching, helps deepen their understanding of new theories and technologies. This method has had a clear positive impact on students in emerging engineering subjects.

The trainees themselves come from a range of different backgrounds. Most are from leading universities in Central China, but their foundational knowledge can vary, meaning each of them takes away unique insights from the camp:

Some trainees have little previous exposure to large language models (LLMs). They start by learning basic attention mechanisms and eventually move on to using MindSpore to develop multimodal model prototypes capable of processing images and texts.

Some trainees have prior experience with LLMs but none with MindSpore. They are placed under the guidance of technical experts who teach them how to migrate the experience they accumulated in PyTorch to MindSpore. They start with the MindSpore framework before going on to conduct in-depth research and testing on the ChatGLM foundation model. Some have even discovered and verified potential security issues within this model.

Some trainees have previously been active in the MindSpore community during their undergraduate study. They contribute to the implementation versions of multiple typical deep learning algorithms in MindSpore, and have been directly given Huawei internships.

Although these trainees are all starting at different places, the chance to meet and interact with their peers during the training camps while tackling the technical side of the MindSpore all-scenario converged AI framework and the MindSpore foundation model platform has benefitted them all. Through practice, they have laid solid groundwork for future research and innovation in the fields of AI and foundation models.

Growing together: Professional competitions that tackle real-world problems

CCNU views professional competitions as both an important means to improve students' innovation capabilities and an effective method to validate the quality of the talent we cultivate. During the 2023–2024 Huawei ICT Competition, our students competed with top talent from around the world and set themselves apart with their professionalism and ability to tackle real-world problems (see Figure 4). A CCNU team won the Grand Prize at the Global Final of Huawei ICT Competition's Innovation Competition.

Team CCNU

Figure 4: Team CCNU stands out in Huawei ICT Competition 2023–2024 Global Final

The team was led by instructor Peng Xi, who helped Wang Rong, Peng Ruofei, and Wang Yiting develop a smart agricultural inspection robot with many intelligent functions, such as intelligent inspection and disease identification. Their project won the Grand Prize of the Innovation Competition at the Huawei ICT Competition Global Final. The project used an Atlas 200I DK A2 control board – one of Huawei's proprietary designs. Based on Atlas 200I DK A2, they used the DevEco Studio and ArkTS UI development framework along with the Gold-YOLO algorithm for crop disease identification. On top of this, they developed a HarmonyOS app for users.

A second CCNU team consisting of Wang Qingyan and Tan Tingting focused on applying engineering to healthcare. With the coaching by their instructor Yao Huaxiong, they worked on an intelligent medical consultation system based on MindSpore. Their project won the Grand Prize in the National Final of the Innovation Competition. This project uses multiple Huawei technologies, including MindSpore, Ascend, ModelArts, and HarmonyOS, along with a fine-tuned LLM, the LangChain framework, and knowledge bases, to design three application entities: a smart medicine cabinet, a HarmonyOS app, and a drug delivery robot. This project explores possibilities in community health work, such as AI-powered general consultations, over-the-counter treatment services, and first-aid Q&A.

These professional competitions help students gain a deeper understanding of the knowledge they acquire in the classroom and hone their research and innovation capabilities. Importantly, they also give the students a platform to shine and show the world their outstanding qualities. In September 2024, Wang Rong, Peng Ruofei, and Wang Yiting were all admitted to the prestigious postgraduate programs at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University, and Beijing Normal University, respectively. Wang Qingyan and Tan Tingting went on to pursue master's degrees at Northwestern Polytechnical University and Xiamen University, respectively. Li Jingzhe, enrolled to CCNU in 2020, also showcased an outstanding AI project when he participated in the 2021–2022 Huawei ICT Competition, where he won the First Prize in the National Final, Third Prize in the Global Final, and a TECH4ALL honor. He also went on to join the renowned Fudan University for further study.

CCNU and Huawei will continue to deepen our collaboration. By leveraging each of our unique advantages, this partnership will create a strong foundation for shared success. Together, we are better positioned to foster a flourishing ICT talent ecosystem, and nurture innovative, self-reliant, interdisciplinary computer professionals who are well-versed in multiple domains. Together, we can build a stronger talent pipeline to drive progress with innovation.