Huawei Technologies has opened a free online 5G training course to some Engineering and Computer Science students at the University of Ghana.

This forms part of the tech giant's efforts to develop and grow the country’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) talent pool.

The initiative which is currently benefitting 70 university students forms part of the Huawei’s broader agenda to develop over two million IT Professionals over the next five years.

This is also in line with fulfilling the tech giant’s commitment to government to train over 5000 Ghanaians in ICT by 2024.

It is also the first major training under the recent MOU agreement between Huawei Ghana and the Education Ministry to offer professional ICT training and hands-on experience to selected tertiary institutions in Ghana.

Under the theme, “Debunking the 5G Myth”, the two weeks intensive online course will seek to equip the participants with a fundamental understanding of the key requirements, capabilities and usage scenarios of 5G and the key innovations behind it.

It will also guide the participants to identify the various opportunities offered by 5G.

Participants will also be aware of issues and challenges confronting 5G deployment.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, which was held remotely via video conferencing, Deputy Managing Director for Huawei Ghana, Kweku Essuman Quansah, reiterated the relevance of the course.

He said, “We’ve been hearing about the promises of 5G wireless: greater networking capacity, throughput up to 10 times faster, better connectivity and more secure access.

"As with most new technologies, there is a lot of excitement about the capabilities. This short course is therefore intended to equip Universities Students and assist them in understanding 5G technology, from the perspective of technology, standards, regulation, policy, economy, society and environment.”

Mr. Quansah added that, as a company with over 30 years’ experience in the ICT ecosystem and the global leader in 5G, Huawei believes in knowledge transfer.

“Giving these students the opportunity to learn, appreciate and embrace the 5^th Generation Telecommunications Technology is one of our key goals of giving back to society through knowledge transfer” he noted.

Speaking on behalf of Dr. Abdulai Jamal, the Head of Department of Computer Science at the University of Ghana, lecturer at the faculty, Julius Yaw Ludu, hinted on the need for industry to collaborate with academia.

He mentioned “for a country to develop, it is necessary for educational institutions and the industry to collaborate. It is important students brainstorm widely and come up with novel solutions using 5G technology.”

The instructor for the training, John Mwasi who will be conducting the class remotely from Windhoek, Namibia encouraged the student to make an effort to be punctual. He also gave them a gist of what they should expect during the training.

Speaking on behalf of the students Joshua Eyram Wordey, Huawei ICT Academy student Ambassador and a level 300 Computer Science Student at the University of Ghana thanked Huawei Ghana for the opportunity presented.

“We are very grateful to Huawei for giving us this opportunity, 5G is the future of technology and as students, we will do our best to utilise and apply what we are learning in this class to contribute positively to society”.

Globally, Huawei cooperates with more than 600 universities to set up Huawei ICT academies, helping the universities improve their ICT teaching abilities.

In Ghana, Huawei has partnered with the University of Ghana and over 10 top Ghanaian Universities as authorised Huawei ICT Academies and has trained over 3000 students in latest ICT technologies.

The Huawei 5G online class which started July 22, ends on July 31, 2020.