The first group of Huawei Authorised Information and Network Academy (HAINA) candidates from South Africa graduated from the ICT education program in Johannesburg during a ceremony organised by Huawei and its channel partners.

The group of sixteen students from Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) were selected for the HAINA initiative in April 2015 as part of its establishment in the Southern African region.

David Feng, Solutions Director of Huawei Enterprise Business Group for South Africa praised the success of HAINA which has now been rolled out in four more higher learning institutions in South Africa.

"We are really proud of the graduates. By working with universities to provide industry-specific, scenario-based training and skills that students really need, Huawei hopes to cultivate a better ICT talent eco-system for South Africa. We will continue to encourage students to participate in Huawei's Career Certifications and look forward to incorporating these certifications into our customers' ICT talent development systems," said Feng.

The sixteen HAINA-trained graduates from TUT were presented with an HCNA-Router and Switch certificates. The graduates will be given first priority for internships and employment opportunities at Huawei and its partner companies according to the global ICT company.

"The event marks an important milestone in Huawei's strategy of building the Huawei Ecosystem Talent Alliance to form a talent ecological chain consisting of students/public, network academies/HALPs, and partners/customers, with the aim of fostering a virtuous cycle of ICT knowledge and talent. To this end, Huawei has established a complete global ICT training and certification system, including in-house training centres, authorised external training centres, and joint education projects with more than 220 universities worldwide." added Huawei in a statement.

Huawei signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Mauritius (UOM) in May 2017 which paves the way for the launch of HAINA in Mauritius. HAINA has also been introduced at the Universities of Nairobi and Strathmore in Kenya.