A talented student has won the trip of a lifetime to China.

Viktor Linde, a 19-year-old in the second year of his Higher National Diploma in computing programme, headed to Shenzhen on Sunday for four days to compete in the global final of the Huawei ICT Skills Competition.

He came third out of 1,200 entrants from more than 75 universities and colleges from across western Europe in a competition aiming to put students’ ICT skills to the test and inspire the next generation of technology professionals.

Viktor said: “I am really happy about the award and grateful to Huawei for making this possible and to my lecturer Henry Quashie for the support that he has given me.”

The competition knowledge on topics including WLAN security, routing and switching, security and cloud computing and Huawei technologies.

His classmate, mature student Donika Krasteva from Dagenham, also had reason to celebrate.

She finished as a runner-up in the regional round - and was the only female to have achieved this.

She also celebrated passing her Huawei Certified Network computing exam with flying colours and achieved a mark so high that she could become an instructor herself.

Donika said: “I was not expecting such a high grade - it was such a great surprise. It would not have been possible without the help of all the tutors, so I am very grateful to them.”

Viktor and Donika, along with teachers and other classmates, attended an awards ceremony at Henley Business School in the University of Reading on April 30 where they were presented their trophies and prizes.

Robert Yang, the host of the awards evening and the vice president of Western Europe Enterprise Business and managing director of UK and Ireland Enterprise Business, said: “In entering the competition students have learned essential skills required for today’s ICT industry and passed tough challenges that we set along the way.”

Henry Quarshie, a teacher at the college, also received an Outstanding Lecturer award in recognition of his work on the Huawei ICT Academy Programme and joins Viktor on the trip to Shenzhen.