UNESCO IITE & UNESCO-ICHEI and Huawei collaborate on online education support initiative during Covid-19

To mitigate the impact of COVID-19 outbreak, UNESCO launched the Global Education Coalition, in which international organizations, civil society, and enterprises are engaged to ensure that “Learning Never Stops”. As one of the Coalition members, Huawei has been dedicated to bringing the benefits of technology to everyone.

Huawei recently held a live webinar for online higher education to help ensure continuous online education during the suspension of schools and universities. The webinar, as a special part of Huawei's Learn ON Program, was jointly organized by Huawei and its partners including UNESCO IITE and UNESCO-ICHEI. Leaders and experts from global enterprises and universities were invited to share their practice and challenges in online education during the COVID-19 crisis. They also discussed feasible solutions that can ensure both education continuity and online education quality when schools and universities are closed.

Wu Lintuo, Director of Education Partnership, Talent Ecosystem Development Dept. Huawei, introduced an all-round solution to the new requirements of global Huawei Academies during COVID-19. The following actions will be taken:

1.    A total of US$5 million Huawei ICT Academy Development Incentive Fund (ADIF) will be provided to partner colleges for activities such as online course, online training, and online experiment.

2.    More than 130 MOOC resources will be opened up, covering advanced technical fields such as Artificial Intelligence, big data, 5G, and Internet of Things.

3.    More than 100 online Train the Trainer (TTT) will be provided from April to December, and more than 1500 teachers are expected to be trained.

4.    50,000 students are expected to be trained through online self-learning, courses, and classes.

“We are delighted to work with Huawei, the member of UNESCO COVID-19 Global Education Coalition, on the Webinar for ‘Online Higher Education during COVID-19’, and other projects as part of joint actions.” said Zhan Tao, Director of UNESCO IITE. He continued: “As an integral part of UNESCO, IITE is working closely with partners from the global under the initiative ‘Combat COVID-19: Keep Learning Together, We Are on the Move! ‘ for experience and resources sharing and collective efforts. Let’s continue working together to support millions of students, teachers and parents in needs with passion, innovation and collective strength. Let’s work together! Go Digital, Go Universal, Go Far!”

During the sharing session, Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta, Director for the Bureau of Education in Africa, UNESCO; Xu Xiaofei, Deputy Director, the MOE Expert Advisory Group of Online Education for International Platforms and Courses Development, Vice President of Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT); Liu Shubo, Deputy Dean of School of Computer Science, Wuhan University; Samuel Kinuthia from Zetech University of Kenya; Weng Kai from School of Computer Science of Zhejiang University; Zhao Jianhua, Senior Expert of UNESCO-ICHEI as well as other experts from global higher educational institutions introduced their experience in developing online education schemes, organizing online learning, providing suggestions on mental health management for students and teachers, and using HUAWEI CLOUD WeLink in online teaching during the COVID-19 crisis. In addition to the special teaching methods, these experts also shared the challenges they had faced with and corresponding solutions.

Svetlana Knyazeva, Expert of UNESCO IITE, suggested that universities, enterprises, and educational organizations should open up learning resources, and produce and share MOOCs to help more educational institutions with online education.

“During the crisis, Huawei will provide funds, open platforms, and free, high-quality education resources. We will also carry out multiple activities, including teaching, examination, training, communication, and resource development. By fully supporting the operations of Huawei ICT Academies worldwide and promoting online learning, we aim to minimize learning disruption for students at home.” said Bradd Feng, Director of Huawei’s Talent Ecosystem Development Dept.

Education disruption due to the crisis might further widen the educational gaps between regions and countries and aggravate the digital divide. To solve this problem, distance online education is one of the important and effective measures. Smooth communication platforms, appropriate teaching resources, as well as prompt, convenient supporting services will all serve as the key to large-scale online education. Huawei is willing to continuously share online education experience with universities and education organizations. It will increase investment, enhance digital resource construction, and promote education digitalization to ensure the accessibility of high-quality education.