The Al-Maktoum Institute held a highly successful concluding ceremony to mark the end of its latest Academic Training Programme for 36 female students from six different universities in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
This was the ninth such educational programme, including Summer Schools, organised by the Institute. The programme forms a key part of their degree course studies and the various activities arranged for their four-week stay in Scotland were tailored to advance the students’ overall learning and understanding of Scotland plus the challenges of global dialogue and exchange.
Over the past seven years, over 300 students have now taken part.
At the hour-long event on Tuesday, February 9, 2010, Institute Principal Professor Malory Nye and Institute Chancellor, Lord Elder, welcomed distinguished guests including the UAE Ambassador to the UK, Mr Abdul Rahman Ghanim Al-Mutaiwee.
Dr Sulaiman Jassim and Dr Michael Allan from Zayed University; Dr Peter Heath and Dr Nada Mourtada-Sabbah from the American University of Sharjah; Dr Abdullah al-Shamsi from the British University in Dubai; Dr Nabil Ibrahim from Abu Dhabi University; Dr Howard Reed from Dubai Women’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology and Dr Abdulaziz Al Mutawa from Qatar University also attended and were welcomed by the Chairman of the Institute Board, HE Mr Mirza Al-Sayegh.
In his speech at the ceremony, Mr Al-Sayegh congratulated the students on completing the programme and he hoped – and expected – that their time at the Al-Maktoum Institute had been “life changing.”
He added: “On behalf of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, our Patron, I extend to you his best wishes as you now go out and use the knowledge, skills and understanding you have gained from this programme in your future studies and careers.
“Needless to say that the 36 female students who have been with us for the past four weeks on the programme are being trained for future potential leadership in the Emirates, where women, as you are all aware, are more involved in Government with two Ministers, the law as judges, public prosecutors and lawyers, and politics as diplomats and ambassadors both home and abroad, we already have two in Sweden and Spain.
“The opportunities available to you are truly exciting, and we wish you well – and every encouragement – to realise your visions and your potential in whichever path to leadership you each choose to follow.”
Mr Al-Sayegh said this year’s ATP had built on the “excellent work” undertaken at the Institute over the past seven years, since the first visit in 2003, with young Emirati women regarded as potential leaders in their society.
He hoped that in the future the students would look back on their short time in Scotland and consider it a “vital step” on their path to becoming great leaders.
“I therefore invite and encourage all of you to continue in your thirst for knowledge and learning, to continue to work hard and aim for the highest goals, and in particular to continue to seek better understanding of the challenges of leadership and the need to follow this path to build a better multicultural world,” he said.
“You are all excellent ambassadors of the Al-Maktoum Institute and certainly for your university, families and above all, your country.”
He pointed that the concluding ceremony was also “a very important celebration of the academic collaboration” between these six universities – Zayed University, Qatar University, HCT, Abu Dhabi University, the British University in Dubai, and the American University of Sharjah on one hand and the Al-Maktoum Institute on the other.
“We are also very pleased to have within that collaboration such a distinguished and ancient university as Aberdeen,” he said. “In an ever-globalised world, such links of knowledge are of continuing importance and urgency.”
A special dinner was also held in the evening where the ATP students shared their impressions, reflections and memories of their time in Scotland.
