Jakarta. The Directorate General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology is supporting the local arm of Chinese tech company Huawei Indonesia in the latter's ICT Competition 2021.

The competition seeks to explore students' potential in becoming the next generation, wise and intelligent in using technology. 

According to Education Minister Nadiem Makarim, digital transformation is a stepping stone to the future to build an advanced and superior Indonesia. 

“Digital transformation is expected to build a better future so that it can give birth to a generation that is smart and wise in utilizing technology. One of the reflections of that generation is the 2021 Huawei ICT Competition participants who have proven  their respective abilities and talents," Nadiem said at the Huawei ICT Competition 2021 Winners Award virtually on Thursday.

He considered that the participation of the students proved to the world that Indonesia is a country that is ready to contribute to a sustainable future. He also hoped the participants would remain enthusiastic to develop their potential and abilities with their respective interests.

"Keep learning and working, be the generation that brings  Indonesia to be a winner in the future and let's continue to move together to realize  the Freedom of Learning," he said. 

The acting (Plt.) Director General of Education, Culture, Research and Technology Nizam, said that the Huawei ICT Competition 2021 is part of Huawei  Indonesia's 100,000 Digital Talent Development Program within the next five years. 

"This competition is important to accelerate the growth of the ICT industry ecosystem  that contains digital talents and the latest technology," Nizam said. 

"Of course I hope that there will be more and more participants in this competition and it will be more open to all students in Indonesia because of course we have more than eight million students and only 1,000 students is certainly too small, because  digital talent in Indonesia deserves to be accelerated because of the need for  information technology at this time. It will be huge,” added Nizam. 

On this occasion, Nizam also acknowledged that the acceleration of growth and  preparation of digital talent in the country through micro credential programs will  continue to be carried out through the Merdeka Campus.

The reason is, this program  has proven to have succeeded in producing tens of thousands of certified students  ranging from the fields of server security, network, artificial intelligence, and so on. 

In addition, the Directorate General of Higher Education also provides full support by  providing training for lecturers that have been carried out and appreciated by Huawei.

From this championship, Nizam also hopes that more teams from Indonesia will take  part in the competition and win matches at the international level.

"Hopefully the future  of Indonesian talent will be brighter, especially talent in the field of technology, as well  as more advanced economic growth and development in the country," Nizam said.

Meanwhile, CEO of Huawei Indonesia Jacky Chen once again underlined the critical role of digital talents competence in determining a nation’s competitiveness in the current era.

“Huawei ICT Competition manifests our consistent commitment to carry out long term program for development of Digital Talents competence. In all 21  years of Huawei’s presence in Indonesia, we have been carrying out these programs  through synergy with the government, education, industry, and communities," Jacky said.

"We carried out various workshops, trainings, competitions, and certification programs in  the fields of cutting-edge technologies such as AI, cloud, big data, networks and cyber  security," he added.

Complementing Jacky’s explanation, HR Director of Huawei Indonesia Dani K.  Ristandi said that Huawei ICT Competition and other HR development programs are  part of the Huawei ICT Talent Ecosystem.

In addition to garnering the interest of  lecturers and students to study and explore Huawei technology in greater depth, this program is also part of Huawei's commitment to developing the competence of 100,000 digital talents in Indonesia within 5 years.

“This program will continue to be  our priority, and we would like to extend our high appreciation for higher education  institutions in Indonesia and their enthusiasm for our program.” 

The Huawei ICT Competition 2021 collaborates with the government, higher education  institutions, training institutions, and the industry to promote the culture and  professionalism of young people from various Indonesian universities to help build the  development of the ICT talent ecosystem. This year's competition was participated by  53 teams from 24 universities in Indonesia 

The winners of the Huawei ICT Competition 2021 are as follows:

1. Category Student Network Track 

1st Rank : Gajah Mada University 

2nd Rank : Telkom University 

3rd Rank : Bandung Institute of Technology 

2. Student Cloud Track Category 

1st Rank : Bandung Institute of Technology 

2nd Rank : Telkom University 

3rd Rank : Telkom Institute of Technology Purwokerto 

3. Category of Student Artificial Intelligence Track 

1st Rank: Padjadjaran University

2nd Rank : Petra Christian University 

3rd Rank : Surabaya State Electronics Polytechnic 

In addition to presenting challenges to the future digital talents to hone their capabilities in mastering cutting-edge technologies, Huawei ICT Competition 2021 also offered certification that has been acknowledged as a standard in the HR competence  development program.  

This program obliges participants to meet the specified qualification  standards. Participants must take part in the training program and obtain the certificate.

Participants must also pass a simulation exam in each related technology  field. The training materials, such as online courses, e-learning, reading references, learning tools and simulation exercises are courtesy of Huawei.

During the competition, participants can also gain hands-on experience in solving problems that may occur in real-life applications. 

Tags: Keywords: