AUD, Harvard College partner for 2nd year

After the success of last year's conferences, 10 AUD students have joined several different institutions in Boston from February 7th to 15th 2009 to attend HCAP's 2008-2009 conference themed Opportunities and Challenges: Education in a Globalized World.

The objective of the conferences is to create unique, global, and holistic experiences that address the same issues in a variety of different approaches.

It is important to note that AUD is the only university from the Middle East Region participating in these conferences.

Ms. Peggy Awad, External Relations Manager at AUD, comments:

"We are very excited that our students have the opportunity to be part of an event of this caliber at a world-class university such as Harvard. AUD students are meeting fellow students from across the world, from a different culture in an entirely different environment, to engage in an open exchange of opinions and ideas."

She continues, "An exchange of this nature will contribute greatly to the accomplishment of AUD's agenda for promoting diversity in experience and intercultural understanding."

AUD students joining in HCAP 2009 include: Fidan Gasimova (Finance), Hira Siddiqi (Electrical Engineering), Kunal Pagarani (Finance), Shilpa Asnani (Finance), Sareh Ameri Mills (Interior Design), Hooman Akhtari (Interior Design), Reem Abdelhadi (Finance), Zoia Khan (Finance), Ghina Kalaji (Business Administration), and Carol Iskander (Marketing). AUD is proud to announce that all 10 students participating in HCAP this year have excellent grades; some of them are even on the Dean's List.

Discussions with professors, special workshops, and student-led presentations are important elements of the HCAP academic experience. Additionally, all conferences include a variety of site-seeing excursions, city and campus tours, as well as meetings with top government and business leaders. The social portion is no less vital and includes nightlife exploration, museum visits, and other unique recreational activities.

HCAP, an eight-day program of academic, cultural, and social events organized entirely by students for students, aims at promoting cross-cultural exploration and exchange between Harvard College Students and university students throughout Asia, which includes their partner in the UAE: the American University in Dubai. In exchange, over 100 Harvard College students attend seven simultaneous overseas conferences between March and April.

As such, from March 21 to 29, AUD will be hosting 15 students from Harvard College. Lecture and discussion topics will include American education in a global setting, intercultural understanding, online education, and international study tours.

The delegates will have the opportunity to discover Dubai by visiting places like the Dubai International Financial City (DIFC), Dubai Academic City, Souk - Madinat Jumeirah, Mall of the Emirates which hosts famous Ski Dubai, Knowledge Village, and the Jumeirah Mosque. In addition, there will be an all day trip to Abu Dhabi as well as a visit to a local primary school.