HCT-Dubai hosts seminar 'HCT-Dubai and Closing the Digital Divide'

The seminar was about the 'Digital Divide' which refers to the gap between those countries who can benefit from digital technology and those who cannot.

Ms. Muraj covered the importance of 'Closing the Digital Divide' which means more than just giving the poor the same technologies already received by the rich.

As examples of closing the digital divide, Ms. Muraj went over the 2 projects that the Computer and Information Science (CIS) students at HCT-Dubai- Women's Campus implemented in collaboration with CISCO Kenya to narrow the digital divide by identifying 2 schools in Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya and built fully equipped Networking labs for the Kenyan students.

The main goal of the projects were also to provide the students with an international work experience to practice the 'Learning by doing' approach, to enhance their technical and professional skills, to interact with different people from different nationalities, and to build their confidence and their ability to work as a team.

Ms. Muraj is a highly recognized lady from Kenya who is committed to address the digital divide, and create opportunities to develop humans in underserved communities as equal partners in the development and usage of Information Technology.

Dr. Nasser Nassiri, Chair of Computer and Information Science programme at HCT-Dubai, Women's Campus, said, "The talk was highly interesting and the trips to Kenya provided the students with international work experiences in an authentic working environment where they practiced the Learning by Doing approach."

Zahoor Butt, IT Network Engineering Faculty, who accompanied the students on these international work experience trips, said, "I am overwhelmed by the efforts of these young women. The project's impact on student learning was clear immediately. We've opened up the internet world to the underserved African students. We would like to continue to provide learning-by-doing related project opportunities for our students in near future."