Kenyan ICT students participating in the global final of the 8th global Huawei ICT Competition put on a strong showing at the event. The competition was held in Shenzhen, China from May 23-26.
18 Kenyan students to take part in the Huawei ICT Competition final in China and 2 network track teams won Global first track. The full list of prizes won by Kenya are below:
- First Prize: Kenya Network Team 1, Kenya Network Team 2
- Second Prize: Kenya Computing Team 1
- Third Prize: Kenya Cloud Team 1, Kenya Cloud Team 2, Kenya Computing Team 2
- Women in Tech Award: Kenya Cloud Team 2
The 2023-2024 Huawei ICT Competition circuit attracted more than 170,000 students from over 2,000 universities and colleges across more than 80 countries and regions. It was launched in 2015. More than 160 teams consisting of over 470 contestants from 49 different countries and regions reached the global final in Shenzhen.
Dr. Esther Thaara Muoria, Kenya Ministry of Education Principal Secretary, State Department for TVET, Ministry of Education, said of the global final: “When you stay in your country you compete with others within your area, within your space, but when it is an international [event] like this, you are gearing up to meet on an international stage, and therefore you are striving to not only be the best in your environment but to be the best in the globe.”
At the same ceremony Kenya School of TVET was awarded as a new Huawei Instructor Support Center in Kenya. The school will function as a center for ICT training for TVET teachers in Kenya.
At the Huawei ICT Competition 2023-2024 Final Closing & Awarding Ceremony, Zhou Hong, President of Huawei’s Institute of Strategic Research, addressed the finalists, saying: “To make sure everyone can truly enjoy the benefits of digitalization while such technologies are making radical progress, Huawei believes it is crucial to guarantee that digital technologies are accessible to all.”
On the same day, Huawei also held the ICT Accelerating Education Transformation Summit. At the summit, Huawei awarded 24 instructors the title Huawei ICT Academy Global Most Valuable Instructor for the first time. This award aims to show gratitude for the important contributions these instructors have made to talent development, and mark them as role models that show how the brightest minds can develop even brighter minds.
19 teams from nine countries (Algeria, China, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, the Philippines, Tanzania, Türkiye, and Uganda) won the Grand Prizes of the Practice and Innovation Competitions. The Best Social Media Popularity Award was won by a team from Pakistan. The Green Development Award was won by two teams from China and Morocco. The Women in Tech Award was granted to four teams from Kenya, Malaysia, Morocco, and Uganda. And the TECH4ALL Digital Inclusion Award was won by two teams from China and the Philippines.
The Huawei ICT Competition is an annual contest held by Huawei for global university and college students. Through the competition, Huawei aims to provide students with an international platform for healthy competition and the exchange of ideas. Since its launch in 2015, the competition has helped students enhance their ICT knowledge and practical skills, while also increasing their ability to innovate by using new technologies and platforms.
Huawei launched the ICT Academy in the Sub-Saharan African region in 2013. As of now, there are 478 participating academies in the region, the most for any region outside of China. To date, over 24,000 students from over 5,000 universities and colleges have participated in the ICT competition. Huawei has involved over 100,000 students and over 1,500 teachers in the ICT Academy in the region.