(This article was first published on January 12, 2023)
By Kellen Owente
Five Ugandan universities are expected to represent the country at the Africa Regional Finals of the Huawei Information and Communications Technology competition 2022/2023.
The five universities will field three students each.
The universities include Gulu, Kabale, Makerere and Kyambogo, which will compete in the network track, and Muni, which will compete in the cloud track.
The annual regional finals, which are expected to take place in Johannesburg, South Africa, in March, shall be conducted in both written and practical.
The ranking and awarding will be done by Huawei Africa Regional offices; the successful teams will be promoted and later head to China for the global finals in May.
Competition kick-off
This edition of the competition kicked off with the registration of participants from July to September 2022.
Huawei Uganda public relations officer Allan Kyobe said over 4,500 students from 25 universities in Uganda registered to take part. This was followed by a preliminary competition in October-November.
Kyobe added that later, a national final was conducted where over 1,200 students from 19 universities qualified.
“The participants were taught extensively, and between November 15 and 18, 2022, they did their final exam, where Kabale, Gulu, Kyambogo and Makerere universities emerged winners in network track and Muni emerged best in cloud track,” he said.
The students who will represent Uganda include:
- Gulu University: Ssozi Malik, Carol Mutesi and Maria Namuddu
- Kabale University: Ritah Viola Wakooli, Sharon Ajaa and Ambrose Okullo
- Makerere University: Kenneth Magoola, Stephen Okello and Ivan Katoogo
- Kyambogo University: Tadeo Mushemeza, Hamza Nsereko and Emmanuel Ekirapa
- Muni University: Elly Tumwijukye, Patience Amusolo and Daniuel Kirigwajjo
The Competition
The annual Huawei ICT Competition is a key piece of the ICT Academy campaign.
The Academy was a result of a pledge offered by Huawei to President Yoweri Museveni during his visit to China in 2019.
Huawei pledged to train over 1,000 Uganda ICT talents through the ICT Academy.
“It targets university and college students worldwide, aiming at facilitating communication between schools, enterprises and governments while building a robust talent ecosystem,” Kyobe said.
Through this competition, he mentioned that Huawei aims at challenging the students’ ICT knowledge as well as the practical and application skills, and ultimately, inspire innovation.
After seven years of development, he said the competition has become one of the biggest events of its kind in Africa.
He adds that it covers the latest technologies, such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, mobile networks and big data, that are pertinent to students’ competitiveness in the job market.
