Pakistani students secure top positions in Huawei ICT competition

Celina Ali

Islamabad: The students from Pakistan won the second and third prizes in the Network Track and third prizes in the Innovation Track at the Huawei ICT Competition 2022-2023 Global Final concluded at Huawei Headquarters in Shenzhen, China.

The first to be held in person since 2019, the event’s culmination was a competition between finalists in 146 teams from 36 countries.

Before the Final, more than 120,000 students from more than 2000 universities in 74 countries and regions around the world took part in the ICT Competition, said a news release.

The winner of the second prize in the Network Track comprised of Muhammad Faeez, Asad Anwer and Faheem Yar Khuhawar from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro and Maryam Fareed from Lahore College for Women University while the team made of Fatima Shafique from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro, Eman Yaqoob from Lahore College for Women University, Umar Raza from FAST-nu Islamabad and Muhammad Zubair from University of Engineering and Technology Lahore bagged the third prize in the same category, among other teams globally.

Additionally, both Team Glam from Pakistan comprising Hasan Ali Khattak, Moaaz Tameer and Sidra Farooqui and Team Quran Ustads comprising Minhal Zafar, Hyder Ali, Muhammad Shaheer and Noor-ul-ain from FAST – National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Islamabad won the third prize in the Innovation Track, among other teams globally.

This year, the proportion of female contestants in the global final exceeded 21%, an increase of 8% compared to three years ago.

Shunli Wang, VP of Huawei Middle East & Central Asia said, “I would like to congratulate all the winning teams from Middle East. Digital talents and skills will be the foundation for the digital economy development- a key part of Middle East countries future plans and visions- and Huawei will continue to be committed to build the ICT ecosystem with a focus on local talents nurturing and bringing ICT education resources to more academies and universities in the region.”

Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, sent her wishes for the Huawei ICT Competition through a video. She said that Huawei ICT Competition not only improved students’ digital skills, but also explored feasible solutions for the sustainable development. She expressed that UNESCO fully supports Huawei’s efforts in the education industry to improve global connectivity and digital skills.

Teams from the Middle East and Central Asia performed with distinction at this year’s event. Apart from the Pakistan teams, the teams from the UAE and Kazakhstan won the first prize in the Network Track while teams from Iraq, Jordan, and Bahrain won the second prize in the Network Track among other teams globally. Additionally, the team from Saudi Arabia won the third prize in the Network Track among other teams globally, and the teams from Jordan and Kazakhstan won the third prize in the Cloud and Innovation tracks.

The Huawei ICT Competition aims to provide a platform for global college students to compete and communicate with each other in the ICT field.

As of the end of 2022, Huawei has cooperated with 2200 universities to build Huawei ICT Academies, helping to train more than 200,000 students each year. Since its initial launch in 2015, more than 580,000 students from 85 countries and regions around the world have participated in the competition.

Globally Huawei is committed to build 7,000 Huawei ICT Academies in total by 2026, train more than 1 million students every year, greatly improving students’ digital literacy and skills for a more dynamic and inclusive digital world.

In the Middle East region alone, Huawei has trained over 150,000 ICT talents and is committed to achieving more in collaboration with its partners while over 57,000 people have obtained Huawei certification. Also, the number of Huawei ICT Academies in the region has reached to186.