Huawei Technologies SA is boosting telecoms training by sponsoring 15 students of the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) Faculty of Engineering.
According to David Wang, Huawei Eastern and southern Africa region public and communications affairs director, Huawei has periodical internship programmes for university students to work in the company for two to six months to gain on-site experience in their area of specialisation.
"After several attempts to recruit students from the institution [TUT] for internships, we realised there were very few pupils who chose telecoms as a major and we saw this as an opportunity to intervene," says Wang.
A total of R480 000 has been allocated for the pilot phase of the programme, which will start with the bursary programme implementation in the next few months "After the students finish their second year, they will come to Huawei for an internship in their third academic year. If their performance is good, Huawei will recruit them after their graduation," says Huawei spokesperson Annette Mutuku.
"The sponsorship will support students' tuition fees, accommodation and other important needs, and students will be chosen based on performance and need."
Sipho Themba, from the faculty of engineering at TUT, explains that students need motivation to look into the possible ventures in the telecoms industry. "The majority of the students major in electricity, because locally they are more exposed to opportunities in the sector," says Themba.
"We already see this being a fruitful investment," adds Wang. "The TUT's engineering students have one of the greatest potentials we've seen in the institutions we've collaborated with. We pride ourselves in bridging the digital divide locally, and there is no better place to invest than in young talent."
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