Feature: Chinese telecom firm provides opportunities for S. Sudan youth

JUBA, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- South Sudanese engineering students at the country's public university are keen on career mobility after being offered internship training opportunities by the Chinese technology firm, ZTE Corporation.

Joseph Adut, a 28-year-old student specializing in telecommunications engineering at the University of Juba was among the first students to present their resume on Tuesday when ZTE South Sudan officials turned up.

He told Xinhua in Juba, the capital of South Sudan that he was eager to land this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire advanced training in the highly demanding but still nascent technology sector of his motherland.

"If ZTE provides me with the opportunity to train with them I will be so happy because at the end of the training I will be able to train other South Sudanese youth who need training more than me," Adut said.

ZTE South Sudan will train the first batch of successful students from the University of Juba in January-March 2023 and the second batch in April-June.

Makuac Mading Deng, a final-year student of electrical engineering specializing in telecommunication engineering, said he was very excited to see the internship opportunity because it is the first of its kind for engineering students at the University of Juba.

"I am very happy with ZTE because if they train us we will be able to train our young South Sudanese who are still coming up," said Mading.

He added that the internship opportunity will inspire reluctant students to pursue careers in engineering.

"Several students have been showing little interest in telecommunication engineering, but the opportunity to do an internship with ZTE will inspire many students to pursue careers related to telecommunications engineering," said Mading.

John Apuruot Akec, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Juba, hailed the partnership with ZTE South Sudan while calling on his students to take advantage of the opportunity to improve the engineering profession and the university's reputation.

"For the students at the University of Juba, this must be good news. We really need to have a lot to be inspired by a Chinese company, you are impressed by their broadband that is here, the fifth generation technology that is underway," said Akec.

ZTE South Sudan is a long-time partner of leading telecom companies such as MTN South Sudan and Digitel, supplying them with power solutions, telecom hardware, and back-office engineering solutions.

"Our organization is very much willing to cooperate with different stakeholders here in South Sudan to help grow local talent and create employment opportunities for the citizens both locally and beyond," said Yu Haifeng, the CEO of ZTE South Sudan.

"It is from that point and background that ZTE South Sudan has decided to partner with the University of Juba to create this platform and avenue for enabling young talent to transition from the class to professional environment in an amicable manner," he added.

Mu Jianjun, the counselor for Economic and Commercial Affairs at the Chinese Embassy in South Sudan, said China has always regarded education as a priority in the cooperation with South Sudan. It is hoped that the project will be implemented for a long time, train more scientific and technological talents for South Sudan, and make more contributions to China-South Sudan cooperation.

"The cooperation with the University of Juba is a highlight of the education cooperation between China and South Sudan," Mu said.