Huawei Pakistan together with the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan has launched the Seeds for the Future program 2020, a 5-day long culture and ICT technologies learning program where 32 brilliant engineering students from Pakistan will attend the online training together with students from Kenya. The program first launched in Pakistan in 2015. Since then, 55 students have benefitted from it. Each year the selection criteria is extremely thorough. This is the 5th time seeds for future is happening in Pakistan, 32 students have been nominated by the Higher Education Commission out of a total of1173 applicants. They are all undergraduate engineering students. The initial period of the learning is about Chinese culture and Chinese language. They will also get technical training from Huawei and industry ICT experts who will share their expertise on a wide range of courses covering 5G, cloud computing,AI,strategic leadership, smart homes, IoTand cybersecurity. Must Read: Brand Spectrum wins Best Social Media Campaign at Pakistan Digital Awards 2020 Unlike previous years when whole batch of the nominated students could travel to China for the study trip, because of COVID-19, the program has been moved online. However, at the end of the week,2 of the top students will be selected and sent to China in 2021 for further study. The Seeds for the Future program has been a successful addition to Huawei’s social-enterprise partnership goal in Pakistan since the first batch of Pakistani students traveled to China in 2015. The aim of the program, which has been active in over 126 countries & regions since its inception in Thailand, has been to nurture upcoming STEM talent from around the world. As a global ICT market leader, Huawei has taken it upon itself to promote local ICT industries as part of development in their operational regions. The ICT industry is one of the fastest growing in Pakistan, and the world. The demand for qualified and market-ready professionals in the field is growing rapidly — it is becoming a need, in our burgeoning online-based globalized reality. Programs such as Seeds of the Future address this long-term possibility of deficiency with appropriate foresight.
HEC and Huawei to Quadruple ICT Training Program
The Huawei ICT Academy program will increase the number of training slots for Pakistani students four fold, from 800 per year to over 3,000 per year. A strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed between the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Huawei Technologies Pakistan. HEC and Huawei to Quadruple ICT Training Program. Under the MoU, Huawei ICT Academies will be established in eight new universities,which will join existing 15 academies by the end of 2020, bringing the total number of universities to 23. In addition, the Training Academies in 5 of the existing universities will be upgraded. The program will provide important support for the government’s Digital Pakistan initiative. Chairman HEC Tariq Banuri graced the virtual signing ceremony as chief guest. The event was also attended by Parliamentary Secretary for Federal Ministry of Education and Professional TrainingMs. WajihaAkram, Executive Director HEC Dr. Fateh Marri, Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications, Huawei Middle East Li Xiangyu (Spacelee), and a large number of Vice Chancellors. Must Read: Prudent provisioning due to COVID contained Bank Alfalah’s PAT to Rs. 5.584 billion Addressing the ceremony, Chairman HEC said that the government is keen to bring about the technological transformation of the country, especially through the Digital Pakistan initiative, and the Huawei ICT Academy Programwill provide a great contribution to this objective. He said that the program also supports HEC’scommitment to investing in the practical skills of Pakistani youth. He mentioned that HEC has launched the new undergraduate education policy,which includes a major focus on enhancing practical learning. “The new undergraduate program will offer students a menu of options to acquire practical skills, including through internships, entrepreneurial training, participation in social clubs, and sports. IT skills have become essential for future success in every field of endeavor. The Chairman advised the Vice Chancellors to leverage the opportunities provided by the Huawei ICT Academy Program, not only to enhance students’ skills, but also to harness technologies in the universities operations, developing collaboration with other universities, and mobilizing revenues. He concluded by saying that the MoU was a milestone in the longstanding relationship with Huawei, and is a reflection and reaffirmation of the deep-seated friendship between Pakistan and China. “Each step that we, the Pakistani and Chinese entities, take will further strengthen the Pakistan-China relations”. Ms. Akramcongratulated the HEC and Huawei on taking forward the ICT Academy Program. She said the academia-enterprise cooperation projects, like the Huawei ICT Academy Program, will help build the ICT talent ecosystem in Pakistan.“I would like to thank Huawei technologies for their efforts and investment in Pakistan, and entrusting our youth, specifically those from the rural areas.” Mr. Spacelee said Huawei has, for many years, been privileged to contribute to the development of Pakistan’s ICT ecosystem together with local partners like HEC. “We are excited to be working with HEC again to expand the opportunities available through the Huawei ICT Academy.” He appreciated HEC’s proactive leadership in the promotion of the digital economy in Pakistan. Earlier, Dr. Marri shed light on the background of Huawei ICT Academy Program. He said that 800 students have been trained through the program on yearly basis, and that the MoU will provide an opportunity to increase the number to over 3,000 per year. He stated that HEC and Huawei have a shared motive to extend services and expertise in the field of IT and Communications. The Huawei ICT Academy Program is a global initiative aimed at promotion of ICT technology skills. The program was launched by HEC and Huawei in 2017. It features industry-academia linkages and cooperation with universities in different countries for development, training and certification. It is based on Huawei’s advanced technologies in the ICT area and leading market solutions. Twenty six universities submitted their proposals to the HEC for joining the program. Following an open and competitive selection process, eight universities were chosen to host the next set of ICT Academies. Theseare Mirpur University of Science and Technology, University of Central Punjab, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Agricultural University, Khawaja Fareed UET, Usman Institute of Technology, Sindh Madressatul Islam University, UET Peshawar and the University of Peshawar. The five existing academies which will be upgraded, based on their past performance, are COMSATS University Islamabad, NUST, UET, NED University of Engineering and Technology, and Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute (GIKI).
Federal Minister Education praised HEC and Microsoft for organizing Imagine Cup 2020 Global competition
Microsoft Pakistan today announced the Pakistan winners of Imagine Cup 2020 at at Pak-China Friendship Center, Islamabad. Imagine Cup is a Global competition for students aged 16+. For nearly two decades, students from around the world have participated in Microsoft’s global technology competition to bring their unique tech solutions to life.Throughout the Imagine Cup competition, Microsoft Pakistan continues to foster innovation among students and enables them to transform their ambitions into reality. The Imagine Cup Pakistan winner With a clear vision the winning team from NUST – Flowlines (aka.ms/flowlines), their idea to use augmented reality to connect it’s users with the physical world was the winner among 60 finalist teams from across the country. Congratulating the winners of this year’s national finals Dr Tariq Banuri; Chairman HEC said “Imagine Cup is all about innovation, transformation and what comes next. Imagine cup continues to cultivate a spirit of social and technological entrepreneurship, empowering students to use their creativity to address real societal problems through technology. We have seen extremely innovative ideas coming in and the students who have been participating especially in the imagine cup and so many of them have gone on to establish their own startups that are now becoming multimillion dollar companies. I am proud of our students for participating in this Global event and I am sure they will bring laurels for Pakistan”. Must Read: ZONG 4G offers the most Affordable roaming rates to USA & CANADA The team will now represent Pakistan at the upcoming regional semifinals in Amsterdam, Holland,to compete among global teams for over USD20,000 total in prizing, Azure credits, plus the top two will win spots to advance to the 2020 Imagine Cup World Championship! During their Regional Final journey, teams will also have the chance to participate in an Entrepreneurship Day from the U.S. Department of Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) to refine their business pitches, receive mentorship from Microsoft experts, and experience cutting-edge technical innovation at Microsoft Ignite the Tour. Also traveling to Amsterdam with the Imagine Cup team will be the Microsoft Student Partner(MSP) , Yaqoob Jamal from NUST, to take part in MSP summit where he will join other MSPs from the region to talk about various aspects of technology and how these programs can be incorporated in Universities. Microsoft Pakistan: An outstanding participation across the region Microsoft Imagine Cup continues to witness strong participation from Pakistan, as well as world over., as an initiative of the Strategic Partnership with HEC; Microsoft Pakistan & HEC reached out to more than 100 campuses this year through multiple outreach campaigns in a bid to create awareness around the competition and effectively market it to the audience, which resulted in record breaking project entries (600+)in this competition, almost double the number from 2019. HEC’s commitment to the academia and students is reflected as Microsoft drives the Imagine Cup to highlight Pakistan’s position on the leader boards – Thus, Pakistan ranks as the top country in the World, with the highest number of project submissions and competitors in Imagine Cup. A lot of remote and underprivileged areas weretar geted specifically in the drive for Imagine Cup, particularly Hyderabad,Jamshoro, Sukkur and Quetta. Students were initially evaluated in Regional finals, held in different cities and the best teams competed to win the National Finals. The winning teams showcased their innovative thinking,technical skills and ground-breaking solutions to address everyday challenges. Country Manager Microsoft Pakistan Shahzad Khan said “The talent we have in Pakistan is phenomenal and competitions like Imagine Cup only help to highlight this raw talent and give them a platform to reach the global community. Our focus should be to produce skillful, technically enabled and certified graduates to meet the global market needs for engineering talent “ Senior Education Director for Microsoft Middle East & Africa Harb Bou-Harb added “As Microsoft we strive to bring the right set of tools and technology to students to expose them to the skills required for the future of work. The way we look at our students, we feel that they are the agents of change and they just need the right set of tools to succeed. As a technology company we want to empower our students and enable them to shape their future “ Imagine Cup is one of Microsoft’s many efforts to transform skill development, nurture budding technologists and foster collaborative and innovative spirit. This global technology competition boasts of several success stories emerging from the competition. It’s a great platform to innovate, get recognized and eventually get enabled to bring about a positive change
Microsoft and HEC organize ‘Academic Day’ at Haripur University
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan and Microsoft Pakistan have collaborated to pursue a joint initiative for promoting the use of advanced Information Technology and Cloud computing solutions, in the education sector of Pakistan. It is a pioneering and insightful initiative that includes a mega event organized every academic year, in major universities across the country. ‘Microsoft Academic Day’ was recently organized at the University of Haripur – a remote town in the north-western region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The series of events comprises of discussions on the Education Transformation Agreement (ETA) between the two organizations – its impact and role in the education landscape of Pakistan. The ETA helps the faculty & students remain up-to-date with the latest technological advancements, through technical trainings, workshops & seminars. Furthermore, Academic Day show cases the features of Microsoft Azure and its potential role in the Education industry. Microsoft’s Cloud solution – Office 365, is a powerful platform used by more than 250,000 consumers in Pakistan, due to its effective performance. Similarly, experts at the event highlighted its versatility and rapid adoption for educational usage. Additionally, the participants also discussed the Imagine Cup – Microsoft’s leading technology competition, its winners over the past 4 years and the next year’s engagement plan. The event celebrates the commitment of HEC and Microsoft to deliver advanced training and boot camps, along with the free distribution of cutting-edge software packages to universities across the country. HEC – a governing body for higher education has taken numerous ICT initiatives to provide advanced services to the education and research communities in Pakistan. Microsoft is investing $75 million globally, over three years, to increase access to computer-science education and bring the latest technologies and tools for all youth, especially the students and the deprived communities. Microsoft’s Cloud suite Office 365 plays a significant role in enhancing collaboration, creativity and critical-thinking in the classroom. HEC also announced Microsoft’s Student Advantage Program which aims to provide free access to Windows 10 for more than 750,000 university students to help them benefit from the Windows 10 S. Windows 10 S is a specific configuration of Windows 10 Pro that offers a familiar, productive Windows experience that’s streamlined for security and performance. Windows 10 S was inspired by students and teachers and it’s the best Windows ever for schools. Prof. Dr. Fareed Abid – Vice Chancellor University of Haripur started the proceedings with a warm welcome extended to all the guests, and highlighted the role of HEC & Microsoft in Education, saying “The opportunities, this alliance opens up for students of our University are unparalleled, and I would encourage our faculty & students to make the most out of these engagements”. Harb Bou-Harb – Senior Director, Education and Public-Sector Microsoft North Africa, East Mediterranean and Pakistan said, “Microsoft believes that social development in today’s digital era largely depends on the scale of technology awareness among the youth. The Microsoft Academic Day is a part of our pursuit to nurture a tech-savvy mindset among the Pakistani youth. Technological knowledge is the key to economic development in today’s world, that is why we are grooming and encouraging the youth to learn smart-computing skills.” Professor Dr Mukhtar Ahmed – Chairman of Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan, while dilating on the prospect of a continuing endeavor in partnership with Microsoft said, “We are striving to revolutionize Pakistan’s education system, and it is really heartening to see the enthusiastic response from all the stakeholders.” He was delighted by the Student participation in Microsoft’s Certification program, announcing 300 free certification vouchers for the Students at Haripur. As devices and technologies become more accessible and the capabilities grow – especially when laptops (2-in-1) are being distributed by HEC under the Prime Minister’s Laptops Scheme. Microsoft’s initiative seeks to enhance the understanding of students through effective training and briefings about the latest technologies. It is closing the skills gap, to empower students in Pakistan to achieve more. Both HEC and Microsoft are partnering with more and more educators, on their journey to redefine learning. Core to their mission is the creation of immersive and inclusive learning experiences that inspire life-long learning.
Microsoft & HEC bring the ‘Imagine Cup’ to Pakistani youth
Microsoft and Higher Education Commission (HEC) collaborated to bring Microsoft’s Imagine Cup to Pakistan. It is the world’s most renowned technology competition for students. Started in 2003, Microsoft’s Imagine Cup is the ideal opportunity for the youthful innovators, from around the world, to give express their imagination, bring ideas to life and win $100,000. Imagine Cup is held annually by Microsoft Corp., bringing together the young technologists to play their part in resolving some of the world’s toughest challenges. Not only a competition, imagine cup serves as a platform for teams to present their solutions to the world. All technology projects are welcome in this competition; it is no longer bound by categories. HEC’s commitment to the academia and students is reflected as Microsoft drives the Imagine Cup to highlighted Pakistan’s position on the leaderboards – Pakistan ranks as the TOP country in the Middle East and Africa cluster, with the highest number of project submissions and competitors in Imagine Cup. Pakistan also ranks 5th worldwide, in the same category. In Pakistan, students from various universities participated enthusiastically, as the competition received an overwhelming response. A lot of remote and underprivileged areas were targeted in the drive for Imagine Cup, particularly Sahiwal, Mianwali, Khuzdar and Jamshoro. Students were initially evaluated in Regional finals, held in different cities and the best teams competed to win the National Finals. The evaluations for both Regional and National Finals were done according to the rules, regulations and criteria listed in 2017 Imagine Cup Competition. The winning team of the Imagine Cup National Final from Pakistan was ‘Positive Zero’ from Bahria University, Karachi. The victory was announced during a grand ceremony. The team has built a Microsoft Azure cognitive service-based engine that helps in writing code through voice commands. The team will represent Pakistan in the advanced stages of the competition on a global scale. The Director of Microsoft’s Enterprise & Partner Group Segment – Mr. Abid Zaidi commented on the occasion; “The link between education, attainment and economic growth has never been clearer. Around the world, the communities where educational excellence is a high priority, create the most economic opportunities. The foundation for sustainable economic growth for the future is being laid, through this initiative.” The Country Head of Microsoft – Mr. Shahzad Aslam Khan stated: “Talent has no boundaries! Any student can derive great benefits from the Imagine Cup, as it provides world-class opportunities and support for the youth, nurturing their true potential and giving them a chance to do something extraordinary and accelerate growth”. Director General IT – Mr. Anwar Amjad appreciated the event and commented that; “The platform provided by HEC to the students is truly unique in as it promises valuable exposure that they need to take the next steps in Academic life, helping them with a successful transition into their professional careers.” Executive Director at HEC – Dr. Arshad Ali stated that: “HEC-Microsoft Strategic Education Alliance has contributed greatly in producing graduates, who are well-equipped and qualified, not only to handle the pressures of the practical world, but have the vision to carve their own avenues with a scientific approach, to tackle complex issues.” The Chairman HEC – Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed expressed his happiness and said; “We appreciate the valuable support of Microsoft in this initiative, as Higher Education Commission strives to nurture the students’ talents through this annual competition. This is a great way to evolve a rich and modern academic culture in Pakistan, as we integrate global advancements and cutting-edge tools to bring the domestic curriculum and learning at par with the leading universities of the world. Thus, we are empowering our students to contribute and compete in the global workforce”.
