[KUALA LUMPUR, 07 APRIL 2023]: Universiti Malaya (UM) and Huawei Technologies Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Huawei Malaysia) have announced the opening of the ICT Academy Lab located at the Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya. The setting up of the lab is part of the efforts to strengthen Malaysia’s digital talent ecosystem which is part of Huawei Malaysia’s efforts to nurture a rich ICT talent pool in line with accelerating Malaysia’s digital transformation goals.
The launching ceremony was held on March 21, 2023 with UM represented by Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr Tan Chou Yong, Deputy Dean (Value Creation & Enterprise) from the Faculty of Engineering, while Huawei Malaysia was represented by Mr David Li, Managing Director of Huawei Enterprise Malaysia.
The ICT Academy Lab will train the students in a real-world environment using Huawei’s smart classroom solutions as well as support UM’s engineering programmes by utilising Huawei’s cutting edge digital infrastructure and security solutions as well as smart classroom and virtual desktop infrastructure. The lab will also serve to inspire innovation as it will serve as a test board for ideas and industry and university collaborative projects as well as a hotspot for research and development.
In addition to these, the Lab will be the venue for explorative efforts in creating ICT Infrastructure Solutions via workshops, technical discussions, sharing and exchanges where Huawei's renowned global technological and technical expertise can be utilised. It will be a bridge between academia and industry, solving the mismatch between what the industry needs and graduates produced. The collaboration will also look into the provision of training by the Huawei ICT Academy that will focus on the training of trainers and students that comes with internationally recognised Huawei certification.
Commenting on the collaboration, Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr Tan Chou Yong, Deputy Dean (Value Creation & Enterprise), Faculty of Engineering, believes that the ICT Academy Lab is a great step forward in the collaboration between Huawei and UM in promoting a greater understanding of ICT through technologies training, increasing interest and developing talents with practical skills for the students. “The UM-Huawei collaboration will no doubt be highly beneficial for the UM faculty members. We are able to expand our knowledge base to include some of the skills that are most in-demand in today’s digitally transforming times and share them with the biggest beneficiaries of this collaboration, the UM students. We hope that this ICT academy lab will enable us to train our students and transform these young men and women into ICT-ready professionals”.
Mr David Li, Managing Director of Huawei Enterprise Malaysia is optimistic that the ICT Academy Lab is a step in the right direction for industry-academia collaboration towards cultivating the right talent to embrace and conquer the intelligent future. “The last few years have shed the spotlight on the importance of ICT in improving digital resiliency and sparking economic recovery. We must push for digital inclusion and invest in our digital talents. While training provides the foundation, application is equally important, and with this lab, students will be able to apply their knowledge first-hand to real-time situations.
“We hope this lab will position itself as a hub for technology development, that helps empower universities and its students with the right innovative technologies,” said Mr David Li.
