Corporate News
A Huawei stand at a fair in Fuzhou, southeast China. The Chinese IT
firm is scouting for interns from Kenya’s 21 public universities.
Photo/FILE |AFP
By OKUTTAH MARK
In Summary
- It currently only selects engineering trainees from the University of Nairobi, Moi University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
- Huawei will be recruiting six students who will be attached at its local office and headquarters for two months throughout the three years they will undergo training.
Chinese IT firm Huawei Technologies has widened its
search for engineering trainees to benefit from its programme targeting
100 interns in the next three years.
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Huawei said Thursday it will be scouting for talented
engineering students from Kenya’s 21 public universities and 14 private
colleges.
It currently only selects engineering trainees from
the University of Nairobi, Moi University and Jomo Kenyatta University
of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
Thursday, the firm signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Information on the programme.
Huawei will be recruiting six students who will be attached at its local
office and headquarters for two months throughout the three years they
will undergo training.
“The internship opportunities (will go) to
engineering students in fourth and fifth year of study commencing July
this year. The initiative will see top 10 attaches offered a chance to
further their skills in China,” Dean Yu, Chief Executive Officer Huawei
Technologies Kenya, said yesterday during the signing of the MoU.
Huawei also said it will employ some of the best interns in its Kenyan office on graduation.
The applicants for the programme can apply online (https://www.kenet.or.ke/).
The Kenya Education Network KENET will manage the selection process and
will also be the liaison partner to all the universities.
The programme aims to fulfil specific partnership
programmes informed by the recently launched National ICT Masterplan
2017 that have identified skills gap in ICT , especially in the public
sector.
The ICT masterplan launched in April notes that the
lack of structured ICT professional development is especially acute in
government and many not-for-profit public sector institutions
(universities, schools and hospitals).
It says this is partly because of the inability of
these institutions to attract and retain high-end ICT professionals who
could then mentor and train junior professionals.
“This also means that such government departments
or institutions do not have a career growth plan that can be matched by
the private sector in terms of training and remuneration,” reads part of
the ICT master plan.
“Research has showed that we have a scarcity of
high-end ICT skills with many ICT companies hiring expatriates to bridge
the gap. This shows that in addition to strengthening courses at the
University level, companies should offer practical on-the-job training
which will up-the skills of our graduates,” said Fred Matiang’i, the ICT
secretary.
“As the government embarks on major ICT
infrastructure projects, local talent is at the heart of (their) success
and there is need for our local graduates to handle these projects.”
mokuttah@ke.nationmedia.com
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