British University in Dubai offers Continuing Professional Development courses

This first series will be conducted in partnership with The University of Edinburgh - School of Informatics, which is the leading, international centre for the study and research of information technology.

The three professional development courses BUiD will offer in May are: XML and Web Services, Knowledge Management, and Knowledge Engineering. Each course will comprise 5 days of intensive lectures, hands-on practical exercises and discussions.

"BUiD is offering these professional development courses in order to give the local community a chance to experience the best of British education in Dubai," said David J. Lock, Registrar and Acting Chief Executive, The British University in Dubai. "It also gives the University an opportunity to promote its post-graduate courses in advance of the Masters programmes that begin in September 2004."

The first course, XML and Web Services, will be held from 1-5 May. This seminar will introduce the XML standards and technology, which are already making it possible to integrate information applications across the Web and driving the development of Web Services and the Semantic Web.

The second programme, Knowledge Management, will be held from 8-12 May. This course will enable participants to identify a range of different approaches to knowledge management, acquire new methods for introducing technology into organisations; and learn successful knowledge management applications.

BUiD's Knowledge Engineering course, from 15-19 May, will explore a disciplined approach to developing knowledge-based systems (KBS) using the CommonKADS methodology. Specific topics include: life-cycle models for developing KBS; learning, using, and applying CommonKADS techniques; and selecting & applying the best approach to obtain domain-specific knowledge from experts.

Henry S. Thompson, a Reader in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science at the University of Edinburgh and W3C Fellow, will teach the XML and Web Services course. He has helped create many of the XML standards, including XML itself, and has taught XML seminars all over the world. John Kingston, Director of the Joseph Bell Centre for Forensic Statistics & Legal Reasoning at The University of Edinburgh will teach the Knowledge Management and Knowledge Engineering. His expertise lies in developing and consulting on commercial & industrial applications of knowledge-based artificial intelligence technology.

The Continuing Professional Development courses will be taught at the BUiD Conference Facility located in the University's main office at Knowledge Village. The fee per course is AED 8,000, which includes coursework, all materials, lunch and a certificate from The British University in Dubai.