Huawei Technologies in Brunei Darussalam officially concluded its virtual “Seeds for the Future 2022” programme in a closing ceremony at the Pengiran Anak Puteri Rashidah Sa’adatul Bolkiah Institute of Health Sciences (PAPRSB IHS) Extension Building Open Concourse, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). 55 students from various higher education institutions in Brunei Darussalam were presented with their certificates of completion during the ceremony.
Officiating the closing ceremony was the Guest of Honour, Acting Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the Ministry of Education, Dr Chin Wei Keh. In attendance were Kevin Zhang Jianwei, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Technologies in Brunei Darussalam; Suzannawati Haji Suharju, CEO of Imagine Sdn Bhd and UBD Council Member; and UBD Assistant Vice Chancellors, senior government officials, representatives from higher education institutions and participating students.
In his welcoming remarks, Zhang thanked UBD for co-hosting the “Seeds for the Future 2022” virtual 8-day programme and congratulated the 55 participating students for successfully completing the intensive programme where they had the opportunity to exchange views about technology with experts in their respective fields, learn about different technologies offered by the programme and compete with fellow students and students from other countries to pitch their projects. Zhang also shared that one of the Brunei teams, Team Honor, won this round’s Tech4Good competition with their “Our Langkah” project. He encouraged the team to continue their project ideas and bring them to life by joining the Tech4Good Global Competition which will be held soon.
Suzannawati Haji Suharju, CEO of Imagine Sdn Bhd and UBD Council Member, lauded Huawei’s Seeds for the Future 2022 programme as a catalyst for Bruneian youth to develop skills and knowledge within the ICT sector, learning the latest in technology from Huawei’s cloud computing, Internet of things (IoT), 5G and Artificial Intelligence (AI) among others. She encouraged the participants to have the hunger to learn new things, step outside their comfort zones and grab opportunities to further develop themselves, their leadership and soft skills.
“Learning can only be done if we expose ourselves to different environments, different cultures and experiences. This is the beauty of the Huawei’s Seeds for the Future programme – young people from different countries get to share ideas and thoughts that would ultimately broaden your horizons. I have been made to understand, there are also opportunities for employment outside of Brunei,” said the CEO of Imagine Sdn Bhd.
“Seeds for the Future” is Huawei’s flagship global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme which was launched in 2008. The programme aims to develop skilled, local Information and communications technology (ICT) talent and bridge communication between countries and cultures. By sharing ICT expertise and experiences in the global business environment, young people from different countries can learn about advanced technologies in this digital transformation age. During the programme, the participants identified the relevant IT skills as well as strengths, weaknesses, and gaps of student learning in virtual environments.
The vision of digital transformation is aligned with Education 4.0, which will enhance the digital learning experience of youth through new and innovative learning pedagogies complementing educational technologies. In line with this, UBD in 2021 launched a new Bachelor degree in Digital Sciences, which focuses on equipping students with the knowledge and skills to innovate and create technologies to solve real world problems.
Participants of the programme are exposed to Huawei’s cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), building and configuring their own stations as well as many other cutting-edge solutions. The programme is delivered through technology workshops and networking events at Huawei headquarters in Shenzhen, China. A total of 30 Bruneian students, sponsored by Huawei, have participated in-person in Shenzhen and Beijing between 2015 and 2019, and a further 132 have participated virtually between 2020 and 2022.
The annual “Seeds for the Future” was held virtually this year in partnership with UBD. Participants underwent the 8-day programme at the computer laboratory of UBD’s PAPRSB IHS Main Building from 17th to 24th October, 2022. A total of 55 Bruneian students from UBD, Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali (UNISSA), Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB), Institute of Brunei Technical Education (IBTE), Politeknik Brunei, Micronet International College, Laksamana College of Business, and KEMUDA Institute participated in the programme.