Fifth Current Issues Forum held at Dubai Women's College

CIF aims at enabling students to acquire more knowledge on issues that are currently affecting their community development locally and internationally.

Last year, CIF won the Vice Chancellor's Award for Innovation in Teaching for semester one, 2006, an award introduced by the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) to recognize HCT faculty members who initiate innovative use of technology, new activities and assignments, or participation by prominent experts.

A total of forty six booths depicting topics covering business and information technology were on display to college students and faculty, to visiting students and staff from Sharjah Women's College, Ras Al Khaimah Women's College, Abu-Dhabi Women's College and to industry managers.

CIF gives its students and managers visitors an opportunity to witness first-hand the interesting work that is being done by DWC students.

Topics covered this year include UAE Women's Role in Business, Robotics Programming, Federal National Council Elections, Recycling IT, Emiratis in the Workplace, Non-Profit Organizations in the UAE, the Dollar Dirham Debate, Private Property Ownership, and Culture's Role in Women's Economic Participation.

Participating students thoroughly researched their topic and demonstrated their knowledge about their issues.

Fatma Al Rome, a Higher Diploma first year Business student, who is also acting as the General Manager of the event, emphasized the significance of participating in the CIF "as it allowed all students to research and learn more about real issues that affect us all. It gets more interesting because all students share their knowledge and research results with the others and that by itself is a great opportunity," she said.

The CIF was created by a team of three DWC faculty members, Pamela Hawkswell, Tamir Mohamed, and Maureen Cocksedge, from the Business Department.

It is a student-centered and innovative approach to developing research skills by promoting awareness of current national topics and relating them to international trends.

CIF demonstrates the importance of inculcating research skills in students to prepare them for the highly competitive workplace. Run by students, for students, forum topics reflect important issues in the region that ultimately affect students in their future working life.