Zayed University & Dubai Municipality launch new project of National Capacity Development Program

This was announced in the press conference which was held yesterday morning in the attendance of Dr. Suleiman Al Jassim, Vice President of Zayed University, Engineer Hussain Nasser Lootah, Acting Director General of Dubai Municipality, and a number of officials from the university and the Municipality.

Launched for the first time by the two parties last year, the new project enhances the skills of UAE nationals especially in the technical and mechanical fields through using modern and latest techniques.

"The project is a new beginning for training nationals in the mechanics of motors and heavy vehicles; it comes in response to the needs of Dubai Municipality to emiratize craftsmen who are working in the electrical and mechanic fields. Beginning on January 2007, the program continues for 12 months; each trainee will obtain an internationally recognized certificate to prove his efficiency and capability. The first successful project attracted 22 UAE nationals who will graduate next month," Dr. Suleiman Al Jassim, Vice President of Zayed University said.

"The new project enhances the Memorandum of Understanding which was previously signed between the University and the Municipality to develop a new standard of performance over a series of projects. Based on this, Zayed university was successful in delivering 19 national trainees to become permanent employees as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Technicians and Specialists across the different departments of the Municipality," he added.

Dr. Al Jassim assured the support of His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Higher Education & Scientific Research, President of Zayed University to all the efforts of the university especially in providing efficient human and technical resources. "Such a program will definitely create new opportunities for young UAE nationals to be employed in the technical and industrial fields," he elaborated.

Furthermore, Hussain Nasser Lootah, Acting Director General of Dubai Municipality, lauded the cooperation of government authorities with the academic institutions especially in the fields of developing technical skills.

"The new project with Zayed University comes as part of our cooperation in raising the performances of nationals, developing their skills, and increasing their efficiencies. We hope that such a program attracts nationals to become efficient technicians in the fields of motors and heavy vehicles; the new collaboration is of utmost importance to UAE nationals and will provide them with highly technical capabilities," he said.

Amal Reda, Zayed University's Coordinator of the program, said: "Continuing for 12 months, the program assists high school graduates to develop their skills and gain experiences in the fields of electrical, and mechanical fields. Every trainee will obtain at the end of the course an internationally recognized certificate from the Institute of Motor Industry (IMI) in the UK being one of the well-known institutes in this field. The first program began last January (2006) with 22 nationals while the second one will begin on January (2007) with 25 trainees.'

Jennifer McGlennon, Director of Zayed University's Center for Business Excellence (CBEX) referred that through this project, the municipality wishes to attract 280 UAE nationals who will be fully technically skilled.

'Zayed University will conduct English language skills training. The trainees have been selected for both language and technical courses by attending assessment tests before the beginning of the course through the assistance of our Professors in the University and Specialists from the IMI Institute in the UK," Jennifer said.

The MOU between Zayed University and Dubai Municipality embodies the fruitful cooperation in research, consultancy, and training fields. The University's center will provide technical consultancies and studies related to the development of work, organizing training programs to develop the employment skills of the Municipality's employees, providing latest IT solutions to enhance the efficiency of the Municipality.

The University will provide all the technical advanced experiences and human resources who are internationally recognized for any of the programs, projects, or services which have been agreed upon in this agreement.