Huawei establishes training centre for staff, customers and students

The National Training and Development Centre will open in August

Assistant Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham with Huawei Australia chairman John Lord.

Assistant Minister for Education and Training Simon Birmingham with Huawei Australia chairman John Lord.

Huawei has unveiled a $30 million training centre in Chatswood, Sydney for use by staff, customers and university students.

Due to open in August, the National Training and Development Centre will train people every year on the vendor’s latest technologies. This includes Huawei staff and customers who are currently sent overseas to the vendor’s training centres in Asia Pacific.

According to the federal assistant minister for education and training, Senator Simon Birmingham, the number of people being trained at the centre is expected to increase to between 5000 and 6000 a year within two years.

“Having just returned from an international education trade mission to China that included a visit to Huawei’s flagship executive briefing centre in Beijing, this new training facility is a strong example of how we are strengthening the Australia-China skills relationship,” he said.

“This investment by Huawei in Australia shows a real and tangible commitment to up-skilling our future and current workforce.”

In addition, 50 university students and 50 vocational education (VET) ICT students will be trained at the centre following the signing of a letter of commitment by Huawei.

This includes Australian students who are taking placements as part of the vendor’s Seeds for the Future initiative which offers work experience to international students.

The centre’s labs will be used to test new applications and undertake research and development.

Huawei Australia chairman John Lord said the new centre will leverage off the vendor’s global knowledge base which includes 16 R&D centres.

Read more: In brief: Huawei's Australian revenue up 18 per cent

“Huawei employs approximately 76,000 R&D experts, or about 45% of our total workforce. Last year, we invested $US 6.6 Billion in R&D,” he said.

In March, the vendor announced a partnership with the Australian Technology Network of Universities (ATN).

Under the three-year partnership, undergraduate students attending ATN universites can apply to participate in Seeds of the Future.

The ATN and Huawei select 10 students each year from the network, which includes Curtin University, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), the University of South Australia (USA) and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). Each university will have two spots in the program.

Australian students in the program will join a global network of undergraduates and visit Huawei’s headquarters in Shenzhen and R&D centres and learn about Chinese culture.

Follow Hamish Barwick on Twitter: @HamishBarwick

Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU, or take part in the Computerworld conversation on LinkedIn: Computerworld Australia

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Tags trainingHuaweiSimon Birmingham

More about BillionCurtin UniversityHuaweiQueensland University of TechnologyQueensland University of Technology (QUT)RMITTechnologyTwitterUniversity of South AustraliaUniversity of Technology SydneyUTS

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