Staff Reporter
Through the medium of a remote virtual event, Huawei Pakistan and the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute (GIK) of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIK) formalized their Industry-academia partnership.
Both parties took part in an official signing ceremony, with the event solidifying the creation of a four year BS degree in Artificial Intelligence partnered by Huawei.
The programme is the first such partnership and serves as a milestone in an already successful four-year-long partnership that started with the establishment of the Huawei ICT Academy at GIK in 2016.
GIK is a prestigious institution for studies in engineering, and Huawei Technologies leads the world in the ICT industry.
In the nature of this collaboration, GIK, with Huawei’s support, has designed the curriculum, theory, and lab courses. GIK will be authorized to use Huawei AI learning resources under the qualified instructors who will be enabled through the ‘Train the Trainer’ programme.
Through this partnership, it is planned that the students will learn theory, gain practical experience with a global outlook, have their Huawei career certifications, and be granted ample job opportunities.
The event was attended by leading figures within both Huawei and GIK including Farid Rahman, President GIK Board of Governors and SOPREST, Jehangir Bashar, Rector GIK, Shakil Durrani, Executive Director, SOPREST, Mark Meng, CEO Huawei Pakistan and Mr. SpaceLee, VP Huawei Middle East, along with other esteemed members from both sides.
Farid Rehman, President, GIK Board of Governors and SOPREST, said on the occasion “This partnership provides the next and higher level of collaboration, which he hopes will strengthen the mutual cooperation in the field of AI between the two organizations.”
Mark Meng, CEO Huawei Pakistan was of the view that Huawei would “share the best AI knowledge with GIK” and that “students will have the opportunity to be linked to the industry. Huawei & GIK have joined hands to make this initiative run successfully.”
Shakil Durrani, Executive Director SOPREST, also commended the efforts of GIK and collaboration by Huawei that will go a long way in the creation of high tech human resources in Pakistan. Through this agreement, both the organizations aim to benefit from their strengths and share their expertise in the field of a modern discipline of Artificial Intelligence.
Jehangir Bashar, Rector GIK, shared his optimistic remarks about the programme, stating that “Huawei has always been one of the top ICT companies in the world, GIK is recognized internationally, it would be a good fit, and thus we have the GIK BS in AI-Partnered by Huawei.”
The online event was broadcasted live at noon on the social media channels of both Huawei Pakistan and GIK, reaching more than 25,000 people across both platforms.
The partnership was established in December of 2019 when both parties signed an MoU to launch a pilot undergraduate degree programme for Artificial Intelligence in Pakistan.
