UW-UAE Dubai campus is launched

from a Higher Colleges of Technology media release

The University of Waterloo, Canada’s most innovative university, in partnership with the Higher Colleges of Technology, has officially launched its UAE Dubai Men’s College campus.

The celebration and information session for prospective students and friends of the university (left) took place at Dubai’s InterContinental Hotel, Festival City, on Tuesday. Dr. Bob Richards, a senior director, Higher Colleges of Technology, and senior director, Dubai Men’s College, and Dr. Adel Sedra, dean, Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo, delivered keynote addresses to an invited audience of potential students and their families, along with alumni and business leaders.

The campus will open in September 2009 with programs in chemical and civil engineering. A program in financial analysis and risk management and another in information technology management will follow in 2010.

Students will spend two years studying with Waterloo professors in Dubai, before joining their colleagues on the university’s main campus in Waterloo for the final two years. The university has committed to ensuring that course content in the first two years is identical on both campuses so that students are on a level playing field when the groups merge.

“We are delighted to be associated with the University of Waterloo”, said Dr. Richards. “We believe this partnership combines the best of both our regions. HCT has a strong reputation for academic excellence in the UAE and the Middle East and UW consistently ranks as one of Canada’s best universities and its most innovative.”

“The University of Waterloo is excited to be bringing our approach to learning to the UAE through a campus in Dubai,” said Dr. Sedra. “UW was founded as Canada’s first co-op university in 1957 and today our graduates are sought after by top employers. We look forward to adding many more students from the region to our list of successful alumni.”

“We are absolutely committed to ensuring that the educational experience enjoyed by students studying in our UAE campus is identical to that of their counterparts in Waterloo,” said Magdy Salama, a UW professor and the inaugural director of the UAE campus. “Waterloo professors will teach the UW curriculum on our campus in Dubai. The experience we provide to our students in the UAE and Canada will be the same.”

Students will have the opportunity to participate in UW’s co-op programs and graduate with up to two years of experience related to their fields. UAE students will gain experience both in the Middle East and North America, providing graduates with an international experience of particular significance in the global economy.

The Higher Colleges of Technology is the largest higher educational institution in the United Arab Emirates with the current enrolment exceeding 16,000 students, all UAE nationals. HCT’s 16 men's and women's modern campuses offer an impressive range of programs - more than 80 programs at four different credential levels: diploma, higher diploma, bachelor and masters. More than 10,000 of the current students are female.

Dubai Men’s College, situated in Dubai International Academic City, is one of the largest male colleges within the Higher Colleges of Technology, with an enrolment of over 2,000 students. DMC offers students a wide range of innovative programs delivered by experienced staff using technologically advanced facilities.

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UW Canada Day wins CASE gold award

UW Canada Day Celebrations 2007 has received a gold award in the category of Community Relations Programs, Projects and Special Events, from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

Waterloo won the award for District II, the largest of CASE’s eight North American districts, which covers the “middle Atlantic region,” including Ontario and a swath of the northeast U.S., as well as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

UW and the Federation of Students have hosted a Canada Day celebration on July 1 since 1984 and the 2007 event was the largest one to date, falling as it did during the year of both the university’s 50th anniversary, and the City of Waterloo’s 125th university. (CASE awards cover a judging year from July 1 to June 30, so the 2007 event was not eligible until the 2008 judging year).

Best known for its fireworks display, the annual Canada Day celebrations also offer day-long activities on UW’s Columbia Lake fields that include face painting, children’s games and activities, an arts and crafts fair, tours of UW museums, interactive displays, and musical entertainment. Engineering Society Mini Olympics and the Mathematics Society Kids Funfest are popular events for kids.

This successful town-and-gown success story is organized by a group of student volunteers, supported by event-planning professionals in Communications and Public Affairs and the Federation of Students, as a way for students to give back to the community. On average, 10,000 people attend the daytime events, with 70,000 gathering at night.

“University of Waterloo has earned gold with an event that has created positive community relations for a quarter of a century,” the CASE judges say. “The impact of the Canada Day Celebrations has been significant, and has grown over time. The involvement of volunteers, including students, the partnership with the City, and the engagement of community organizations and corporate sponsors is impressive. So is the attentiveness to detail in the planning of an event that includes many ‘events-within-the event’.”

Three publications from Waterloo also received recognition from CASE. In the “Multiple Page Publication” category, the 2008 recruitment brochure from the Faculty of Environment won the silver award. “The green glasses were a cool idea,” said the judges. “We’re impressed.” Each brochure, on its opening page, had a pasted-in pair of paper-framed, green-tinted “eyeglasses”, with the caption, “peer through these glasses and see the world as we do.” People on campus might remember seeing environment students sporting the same green sunglasses during orientation week.

Waterloo also received honorable mentions in the “Student Recruitment: Individual Pieces” category for the 2009 international admissions brochure and in the “Recruitment Search Publications, Miscellaneous Fliers and Brochures” category for UW’s international exchange brochure.

The awards will be presented at the annual conference of CASE District II, being held March 22-24 in Baltimore, MD.

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Things happening as spring nears

The Warriors men’s basketball team overcame the Guelph Gryphons’ home court advantage to win 71-63 on Wednesday. The team heads to Western on Saturday for their OUA quarter-final game, with a Warrior fan bus (supported by Athletics, the Student Life Office and the One Waterloo Campaign) to carry the faithful. Tickets available in the Athletics Office at $5, which includes ride, game ticket and Warrior fan package. The bus leaves the Davis Centre at 1 p.m. for the 3 p.m. game time.

Sheila Kielbasa of the co-op and distance education departments – aka Chilli the Ice Dog, far right – worked hard as the mascot of last Saturday’s UpTown Waterloo Ice Dogs Festival. Taking a break with her are one of the Alaskan Malamute Ice Dogs that also took part in the festival, and mascot handler Amy Pfaff, who works in the chemical engineering department.

Coming this Sunday: the ninth annual HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre Curling Fundraiser, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Westmount Golf and Country Club, Kitchener. The event, which last year raised $12,000 for HopeSpring, is run by the Earth Sciences Alumni Corporate Challenge group, a small group of earth sciences staff and alumni, in memory of Gail Bendig of the earth sciences department, who died in 1997. Three teams from the department are among 12 entries expected in the bonspiel. Spectators are welcome. If you are unable to attend but would like to support the event and donate to HopeSpring, email cjhanton@uwaterloo.ca.

The Agenda With Steve Paikin, and AgendaCamp are coming to Waterloo. From the program’s website: “TVO’s AgendaCamp convenes Sunday March 29 from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm in the William G. Davis Research Centre at the University of Waterloo. The day-long open learning forum and social media event is designed by the participants and facilitated by TVO production and technical personnel. The content of your conversations around building Ontario’s place in the innovation and knowledge economy is captured in digital media online. From then on our on-line learning resource is enhanced and shared by all in the digital public space.” Space is limited. Complete the online registration form for a chance to take part in AgendaCamp. You can register on the same website to be in the audience at Monday’s live broadcast of The Agenda With Steve Paikin.

The Faculty Association seeks nominations for seats (one- and two-year terms) on the FAUW board of directors. All faculty members and librarians who have opted to join the association are eligible to sit on the board, which meets bi-weekly, September through June. Service to the FAUW is considered service to the university. The Faculty Association needs the involvement of its members in order to serve the membership effectively and represent its concerns well to other groups on campus. Forms are supplied by Pat Moore of the Faculty Association Office, MC 4002, and should be returned to her by Friday, March 6 at 4:30 pm.

The UW Staff Association is calling for nominations to the UWSA nominating committee. The purpose of this committee is to nominate and/or appoint regular full-time and part-time Staff Association members as representatives to university or UWSA standing committees and University or UWSA ad hoc committees requiring staff representatives. Information on the UWSA nominating committee’s terms of reference is online. If you are interested in serving, please inform the chair of the Nominating Committee, Jesse Rodgers, staffasc@uwaterloo.ca, by Friday, March 6. Include your name, department, phone extension, e-mail address, and years of service at UW; why you would like to serve on the committee; and any relevant abilities, information or experience you would like the Nominating Committee to consider.

“I still have a couple of places available for Music 355, ‘Music and Culture in London,’ which is offered May 7 to 21 in the UK,’ writes Kenneth Hull, chair of the music department at Conrad Grebel. The trip can be taken for credit or not, and includes “concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican, and other locations; opera at Covent Garden; a play at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre; choral services at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral; excursion to the medieval university town of Cambridge; tours of the British Museum, Handel House Museum, and other museums and galleries.” Details here.

CPA staff

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