New Technology Joint Laboratory Made a Reality at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals

University partners with global solutions provider Huawei establishing joint-labs to offer students hands-on education experience

Mobilk - Furthering the advancement of the Kingdom’s technical education field, Huawei—a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider—and King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) have announced the signing of a new agreement in which Huawei will provide to the university a host of ICT solutions to help mirror real-life working scenarios for students during their coursework.

The state-of-the-art ICT solutions from Huawei will form part of the University’s labs and will add value to the course material, thesis work and engineering projects for nearly 1200 students in Undergraduate and Master’s programs by providing them access to advanced wireless, telecommunication and computer network equipment. 

“Teaching and research are the core functions of KFUPM as we prepare students for global competitiveness, requiring graduates to be prepared with cutting-edge skills trainings that can only be achieved through partnership efforts between the private sector and education providers,” says Dr. Khaled S. Al-Sultan, H.E. the Rector at KFUPM. “We are delighted to closely work with Huawei as a fast growing global technology company for the benefit of both parties and we hope this will be beneficial for KFUPM research and academic programs."

Amongst the new technologies being provided to the University is the world’s most powerful eLTE broadband trunking solution, used by organizations in the government, oil & gas, utilities and transportation sectors, to name a few. The innovations featured within the Huawei solution are actually several years ahead of comparative vendor solutions, and is seen as an essential component in delivering the full benefits of 4G LTE broadband services to businesses across the Kingdom. 

Additional contributions to the University will include world leading virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution where students can learn to enhance the efficiency of enterprise IT by reducing the workload and complexity of IT system design. The University will also start working with Huawei Micro Data Center technology, the first all-in-one data center providing both large and medium-sized businesses with unified management tools in an ever more complex big data environment.

“The programs being developed by King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals are of an incredibly high standard and play an essential role in the advancement of the region’s overall information and communication technology industry,” notes Mr. Shi Yaohong, President of Huawei Middle East.  “Collaborating with renowned institutions like KFUPM is a privilege for Huawei as we are able to share our global expertise and provide knowledge transfer and professional training to local students, while in turn identifying valuable insights into the future requirements of the Kingdom’s ICT sector. Saudi Arabia is home to a rapidly developing digital economy, and we are committed to investing in these kinds of initiatives and supporting the Kingdom to achieve its ambitious Vision 2020 goals.”

One of the top 100 universities in the world and a leading educational organization for Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals boasts more than 10,000 students and focuses on teaching driven by research and the application of the latest global technology tools. 

The Middle East is one of the fastest growing regions for the global ICT sector with spending on IT infrastructure in the Middle East is predicted to jump to over $192 billion in 2013 , with Saudi Arabia being seen as one of the dominant players. 

“Given the extent of investment being witnessed in the telecommunications sector in KSA and the massive requirements of skilled manpower it will necessitate, it is imperative that we focus on bringing highly skilled young people into the industry and at the same time provide opportunities for the continuing education for graduate students and professionals,” adds Mr. James Wu, CEO of Huawei KSA.

For many years Huawei has contributed to the advancement of the Kingdom’s overall IT and telecommunications industry with education programs helping to inspire the next generation of talent behind the sector’s rapid growth. This has included setting up a dedicated Huawei Training and Research Center in Riyadh in 2006, which currently offers aspiring professionals a broad range of management and technical programs coordinated through the global Huawei University. In addition to its latest effort to KFUPM, Huawei has invested around $6 million in training initiatives in the Kingdom over the past several years. During 2013 Huawei was recognized by the King Saud University for its exceptional contribution to the development of the ICT sector in the Kingdom, and has received additional recognitions for its CSR work with organizations such as the Disabled Children Association in Saudi Arabia.