Huawei Kenya has today concluded 6 days of 5G training online for over 240 university students from 13 universities around the country including the University of Nairobi, the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Strathmore and Zetech University among others as part of broader efforts to prepare the country to take advantage of this new transformative technology.
Many countries and economic blocks around the world have already launched 5G strategies and plans that have identified how important 5G will be to their economies in both creating jobs and creating economic output. They have found that 5G has the ability to rapidly roll-out high-speed connectivity for homes, businesses, schools and hospitals; it enables step-changes in industrial productivity in sectors such as manufacturing and transport; it creates opportunities for entirely new business models and services in industries such as tourism, entertainment, gaming and broadcasting; and it does all this with lower carbon emissions per megabyte of data.
This year has seen 5G rolled out in over 80 networks globally reaching 70 million subscribers already, twice as fast as 4G achieved. 5G is able to handle many more connections at much faster speeds, and more securely. As with most new technologies, there is a lot of excitement about its capabilities and how it can help with Kenya’s economic and social development once it gets rolled out here.
As a leader in 5G, Huawei identified a need to create a course to give students in Kenya the tools to understand and navigate this technology. The students conducted a 2-hour interactive course, 90 minutes of lectures and 30 minutes of Q&A each day with a different group. The course has greatly assisted the students in understanding 5G technology, from the perspective of technology, standards, regulation, policy, economy, society and environment.
The trainer for the course was Huawei global specialist Ding Yajie who was able to answer many of the student’s questions as well as ask them questions to test their understanding at the end of each session. Topics that Mr Ding covered included 5G architecture, different deployment scenarios, application uses and challenges.
This year has seen 5G rolled out in over 80 networks globally reaching 70 million subscribers already, twice as fast as 4G achieved. 5G is able to handle many more connections at much faster speeds, and more securely.
“The Huawei 5G Training was a really great course and presented by Ding Yajie in an enthusiastic way. The course helped to compound the knowledge I have about networking in general and in wireless technology. The videos used in the training really made it interesting and gave the training a better look and understanding, in that, for example, when talking about intelligent connected cars, it is one thing to just have some slides on the same but it’s on a whole new level having a video demonstrating how the same can be done and helps to kind of visualize the same,” said Evans Kiprotich, a third-year BSc Telecommunications and Engineering student at JKUAT.
The courses were conducted in two parts: 5G Technology and Trends and 5G Use Cases and Business Models.
“Training the group of University students from Kenya this week has been a pleasure, they have been thoroughly engaged and eager to delve deeply into the understanding of 5G,” trainer Ding Yajie observed.
One of the students who joined the specialist training was Sylvia Jebet Kipkemoi, also a third-year BSc Telecommunications and Engineering student at JKUAT. About the training, she said, “The 5G Huawei Training session was a very informative and eye-opening session. As far as I was concerned, I only knew 5G as the next level after the LTE with no further details. But the session clarified a lot on the 5G deployment and evolution, as well as its application and generally how it works. With well-explained diagrams and videos to accompany it, the session was very effective. The models and statistics illustrating the comparison of 5G with LTE (4G) and 3G also really put into perspective just how the 5G platform is superior and stronger. Now that I have the facts on 5G, I must say, I am quite eager to use it and explore more.”
Mr Samuel Kinuthia, the head of the Centre for Professional Certifications at Zetech University noted:
“This course was beneficial to the university students in that they were able to learn new concepts and application scenarios of 5G technology. Some of the benefits of 5G to institutions of higher learning will be; immersive lessons with AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality), smart classrooms, the assistance of students with special needs, flexible learning, among others. Students will learn from the experts in the industry and this will broaden their knowledge and skills and prepare them for their future careers. The 5G course is recommended to IT students eager to learn new and emerging trends in 5G technology.”
Dr Michael W. Kimwele, Director School of Computing and Information Technology (SCIT), JKUAT, expressed his gratitude,
“We are grateful to Huawei for giving our students an opportunity to undertake the Huawei 5G training. This goes a long way in sharpening their skills and making them competitive. The skills gained in the training will contribute towards their professional growth both in campus and in the work environment. I expect the trainees to be good advocates of 5G technology. They should be able to create solutions, in addition to becoming Huawei ambassadors”.
Huawei continues to advance online learning and training. Earlier this month, Huawei organized an online job fair for students to take up internships and permanent jobs with the company. The chief guest at the job fair was Jerome Ochieng, the Principal Secretary for ICT and Innovation in the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology, who thanked Huawei for enabling growth in the sector and in creating jobs. “I thank our partners in the private sector, including Huawei, who have supported this and other programs such as Seeds for the Future and the Ajira Digital Program which has trained over 100,000 youths,” he said.
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