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The award winners with invited dignitaries after the ceremony. Picture: BENEDICT OBUOBI
The award winners with invited dignitaries after the ceremony. Picture: BENEDICT OBUOBI

KNUST sweeps award at competition for universities, colleges

The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) swept seven out of the 12 awards up for grabs at the just-ended Huawei Information and Communication Technology (ICT) competition for universities and colleges in Ghana.

The competition was reduced to a straight contest between the KNUST and the Accra Technical University (ATU), but at the awards gala night held at the Tang Palace in Accra last Friday, it was the KNUST that had the upper hand with the remaining five awards going to the Accra Technical University (ATU).

The gala also saw 10 students from some tertiary institutions picking up awards.

Timothy Sefah Duodo from the KNUST won the ultimate prize, with Gerald Philip Bassah and Joshua Ofori Boateng, also from the KNUST jointly settling for the second place.

The third prize went to Osei Asante Dickson, Acheampong Michael and Ansah Owusu Michael also from the KNUST.

Other winners

Other winners were Benedicta Fofo KNUST and Anastasia Blay, Accra Technical University (ATU) jointly won the Best Female Student Award category, while Joel Minow of the Ghana Telecom University and Valentine Teye Borkor of the ATU also won the Best Male Student category.

Dr Joseph Arthur of the Ghana Technology University College (GTUC) and Mr Sylvester Hastu of the ATU received special awards as lecturers who contributed immensely to ensure their students put up their best. They were given the Honorary University Awards.

After the awards three of the winners and a lecturer were selected to represent Ghana in the African competition which takes place in South Africa.

The selected persons are Timothy Sefah Duodo, Gerald Philip Bassah and Joshua Ofori Boateng, all from the KNUST and Dr Kwasi Opare also of the KNUST who will accompany them as a tutor.

The competition

The Huawei ICT Competition is a global competition for students in universities and colleges with an ICT background and it begins at the national level, then to regional and climaxes with the global level.

The competition aims at driving the development of high quality ICT talents for industries and the continuous provision of future driving forces and active participants for digital transformation.

Government’s efforts towards ICT

The Minister of Communication, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, congratulated the contestants, particularly the team representing the country and expressed the hope that they would make Ghana proud.

She further indicated that the government was putting in place the right robust digital infrastructure to drive the digital agenda.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said as a country, there was the need to have the digital skills to manage the structures, services and applications to move the country into a digital economy.

Confidence in Huawei

The minister expressed confidence in Huawei and gave the assurance that the government would continue to engage Huawei as the country’s ICT partner.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful called on the youth, who had the aptitude to take up the opportunity being created by Huawei to also acquire the skills that would enable them to strive for excellence in the sector.

The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Shi Ting Wang said: “Huawei encountered some unfair treatment in certain countries recently; I believe Huawei will overcome all these challenges and I also believe that most of the countries in the world will provide a fair, just and a nil discriminatory environment for the normal operations of Huawei and other Chinese companies,” he said.

High-quality ICT talents

The Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Technologies, Ghana Mr Tommy Zhou, said the competition was aimed at driving the development of high-quality ICT talents for industry and for digital transformation.

He said this year, Ghana was given more slots in the competition after three Ghanaian students from KNUST excelled as the best three from Africa to represent the country and the continent in China in the 2017/2018 edition.

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