Students from 15 universities and Smart Sweep member schools who joined the program this year
Photo screengrab from Huawei Philippines Facebook Page
Manila, Philippines, November 3, 2020 – Huawei Philippines has launched the 6th Seeds for the Future program, with over 60 students coming from 15 universities and Smart Sweep member schools joining the program this year. This is also the biggest delegation by far in the history of Huawei Seeds in the Philippines.
Information and communications technologies (ICT) have become crucial growth engines for many different industries. As an ICT leader, Huawei is committed to promoting ICT industry development in the Philippines. Education is vital in creating opportunities that support sustainable and fair development. The company also seeks to close the gap between knowledge learned in the classroom and the skills required by the industry, as well as enhance knowledge transfer.
Huawei’s Seeds for the Future program is an initiative that aims to help cultivate young talent, ensuring that the tech-savvy and change-resilient young people have the skills and mindsets needed to be competitive in the workplaces of the future.
In the past five years, from more than 500 aspirants from the Philippines, 50 deserving students from the Philippines took the journey to China and joined Huawei Seeds for the Future program. As the impact of the global pandemic continues to unfold this year, the selected talents will experience five-day online training, classes, and virtual tours through the online system.
Jose Santiago Sta. Romana, the Philippines Ambassador to China said, “It may be recalled that in 2018, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte emphasized the need to further empower the youth by making quality education affordable and accessible to all. With the Seeds for the Future Program, Huawei has contributed to the Philippines’ integration into the digital and knowledge-based global economy. The program supports the Philippine education sector, the sustained enhancement of which is an important pillar of the country’s development agenda.”
Lily Freida Mila, Deputy Executive Director of Commission on Higher Education, stated in the opening ceremony, “The COVID-19 pandemic restricted our physical mobility, but it did not or must not affect our ability to learn, to create and to connect. We ensure continuity of learning through creativity of teaching, sharing and collaborating; and that connectivity is not only through digital means but also connectivity of programs, deliveries and shared vision. COVID-19 is a test of our commitment to internationalization and our passion towards creating a global classroom that creates an enriching experience to our students and faculty.”
Talent is so important for the growth and development of any industry and the rapidly growing ICT industry has greatly changed business models and customer requirements. As a result, across the ICT ecosystem there is an urgent need for large numbers of technical staff who can address the challenges posed by this transformation.
Jay Chen, vice president of Huawei Asia Pacific Region, said, “HUAWEI has been almost 20 years in the Philippines, through Seeds for the Future, and also as an enduring commitment to a sustainable world, we aim to bring digital skills to more people. Together we will build an open and collaborative ecosystem that thrives on shared success.”
Seeds for the Future is Huawei’s flagship global CSR program. The program was launched from 2015 in Philippines. This program aims to develop skilled, local ICT talent and bridge communication between countries and cultures. By sharing our ICT expertise and experiences in the global business environment, young people from different countries can learn about advanced technologies in the ICT industry and accumulate ICT expertise and skills through the Seeds for the Future program, contributing to the progress of the global ICT industry.