Story: Mary Ankrah
AN International Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solution provider, Huawei, has handed over an ICT laboratory to the Faculty of Engineering Sciences at the University of Ghana to enhance the teaching and learning of ICT.
The laboratory, valued at $200,000, is equipped with 40 computers, routers, switches, firewall software, projector, furniture and a two-kilometre fibre cable connection to enhance Internet connectivity and data transfer within the faculty.
In addition, Huawei intends to provide possible research projects, telecommunication networks and device designs and development, software development or other related areas of interest for the students of the computer engineering department of the university.
The laboratory is among one of the four laboratories the company promised President Evan Atta Mills during his visit to the Huawei headquarters in China, Shenzhen, in September 2010.
In fulfilling that promise, Huawei last year donated two ICT laboratories to the University of Cape Coast and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
The facilities are to help students in computer engineering gain practical and hands-on experience with ICT softwares and equipment.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony in Accra yesterday, the Deputy Managing Director of Huawei, Mr Daniel Guo Zhi, said the company was committed to contributing to the sustainable development of social, economic, health and safety environment as well as education in the country.
He said Huawei had recently donated a telepresence conference system to the government, adding that it would engage in public and private partnership ventures in meeting the needs of society through strategic collaboration efforts for the benefit of Ghanaians.
As part of the company’s commitment to empowering students in the Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Mr Zhi said the company would recruit graduates from the department of computer engineering for national service placement and prospective job offers.
“Huawei would provide all the facilities and direct sponsorship initiatives to enhance quality training of graduates and undergraduate students of the Computer Engineering Department, he added.
Mr Zhi noted that the company had the capacity to bring ICT solution to the educational sector through the provision of a comprehensive network infrastructure in the sector, noting that it would “better enhance a more effective and efficient educational system for the entire country.”
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Guo Jianzhong, maintained that the donation by Huawei would strengthen the co-operation and relationship between China and Ghana and encourage the company to continue to make such donations “as long as the company does business in Ghana”.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, commended Huawei for building the first major laboratory for the university to facilitate the training of students to promote research in telecommunication networks that would lead to finding solutions to the problems of industries in the country.
He said Ghana was committed to having an ICT driven economy, and for that to be fully achieved required high skill training of students in such a field and computer engineering was well placed in the university to provide the leadership role and declared that the lab would be known as the “Huawei ICT lab”.
In appreciation, the Dean of the faculty, Prof. Richard J. Bani, thanked Huawei for the gesture and pledged that the laboratory would be used appropriately for the benefit of the students and the school.
As part of the event, Huawei signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Faculty of Engineering Sciences to engage in various activities with the department.
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