Johannesburg, 05 Jun 2019
On the afternoon of 31 May, ZTE South Africa’s donation ceremony for the Witwatersrand University’s telecommunications students’ scholarship was held in Johannesburg.
Chinese Ambassador, Lin Songtian; Economic and Commercial Counselor, Zhao Zhongyi; ZTE South Africa CEO, Zhou Tao; and the management team, representatives of professors and students of Witwatersrand University, as well as representatives of Chinese and foreign media – approximately 40 people – attended the event.
As the world's leading provider of integrated telecommunications solutions, ZTE has always supported local community skills development, transferring skills and providing training as key measures to help SA overcome the gap in the IT digital industry. ZTE co-operated with Witwatersrand University to set up a special scholarship programme to support outstanding students who excelled in telecommunications studies and have proven future potential to help SA cultivate future IT and telecommunications talent.
Lin affirmed the scholarship programme, and praised ZTE's outstanding achievements and contributions in promoting the development of SA's telecoms industry, cultivation of telecommunications expertise and skills, as well as giving back to the local society over the past decades since ZTE set foot in SA. At the same time, Lin said the Chinese government and enterprises place great importance in helping Africa with skills and expertise development; this is what will really help African countries to improve their industrial competitiveness and their ability to achieve sustainable development.
CEO of ZTE South Africa, Jerry Zhou, expressed the willingness that ZTE has for the scholarship projects within SA as starting points and opportunities to continue to deepen and broaden the co-operation with local universities, as well as contribute to advanced technical co-operation research, talent training and skills development. In the foreseen future, ZTE South Africa will not only provide scholarships, but also see this project as a chance for workmanship and to provide future possible potential job opportunities for those students with excellent achievements in their academy.
Professor Adam Habib, Vice Chancellor of Witwatersrand University, also pointed out that we are in the era of economic globalisation; more and more Chinese enterprises are taking part. "I am very pleased to co-operate with ZTE and hope to carry out industry university research co-operation with more Chinese-funded enterprises in the future, to contribute to the economic development of SA and Africa."
Since ZTE Corporation started operating in SA in 2006, it has been fulfilling its corporate social responsibility in SA by funding partnerships in education, healthcare, technology and skills development. On several occasions, it partnered with local government and institutions to donate computers, laptops, school bags and all sorts of learning tools, plus everyday necessities, to disadvantaged primary and secondary schools. And in 2018, ZTE partnered with its valued customers and contributed a multimedia centre to the disadvantaged community of Cape Town's women and children, allowing them the opportunity to access technology and provide a window to future skills development.