Degrees of Excellence

Al Ain-based College of Information Technology (CIT), part of the UAE University, has set educational standards that are not only on par with international institutes, but are also reinforcing the emerging trends in the world of education. Computer News Middle East had the opportunity of meeting the management and visiting the premises to find out more.

Businesses use technology to increase productivity and profits, but the impact of technology is extending to the knowledge industry as well. The benefits of technology today hold immense potential for the education sector and a lot of this is reflecting in the learning process itself.

Among the first ones in the region to draw up an extensive IT investment plan for the college, CIT boats of structure and curriculum that has been whetted by renowned IT experts.

The college sets itself apart even by its very design. Built and planned with a view to bring down the traditional walls that separate departments within a college, there are no stops today to collaboration.

Ambitious reality

Funding world class education initiative is on top of the priority chart for the UAE Federal government. According to industry figures, in 2007 the country’s national budget had education on top of the agenda. In 2007, the federal government earmarked around 33% of the budget in order to develop education. According to the UAE Yearbook 2007, in 2006, 95% of females and 80% males in their final school year applied for admission to a higher education provider in the UAE or left to study abroad.

This development has opened up a ‘world of opportunities’ in the higher education landscape. And CIT wants to offer Emirati students to receive world class education within UAE.

Having embarked on one of its most ambitious projects, CIT is set to deliver education in the laboratory and in the classroom on a scale not seen before, both in breadth and depth. To do that, it has acquired over 20 of the most cutting edge laboratories in the world, including over a thousand pieces of equipment. It has designed its laboratories to maximize student learning, eliminating the need for traditional classrooms altogether for teaching IT — all teaching is done in the laboratory.

The laboratories include a 8.3 T-Flop super grid computer, that is touted to be the fastest in the region. The laboratories also include the very latest in interactive humanoid technology (robots that look like people) enabling students to perform experiments in speech recognition, vision and motion capture. Six laboratories dedicated to IT security provide the students hands-on experience in security systems ranging from intrusion detection to biometrics. Five laboratories dedicated to the field of networking provide the students the opportunity to learn wireless networks, VOIP and other exciting new concepts in networking. A Human Computer Interaction laboratory provides the students with the capability to experiment how people react to different internet presentation media. This laboratory is also important to gauge the impact of computing media on the learning potential of special needs children.

Last, but not least, the CIT has acquired three Cell Broadband Engines (it is one of only 4 sites outside the USA with such technology) which are being used to investigate their performance in speeding up oil exploration and seismic applications.

CIT has also boosted its investment in backend technologies including networking and VOIP, by working with leading vendors like Nortel, Foundry, Fujitsu Siemens and Tandberg.

Education and research go hand in hand

CIT has been focused on driving research in education, an objective that cuts through all activities that the college gets involved in. “From the ground up there was always support for R&D and we have gone all out to hire the best faculty. Today we have faculty members from the best institutions in the world. Of the 70 current members, 50 are doctorates while the rest hold masters degree along with extensive industry experience,” says Rafic Makki, Dean of CIT.

The college has also been focusing its energies on applied research and has a team of developers as well to support the initiative to take ideas from concept to product.

Among the key projects on hand is the United Nations environmental program along with Abu Dhabi environmental agency to develop a geo portal for West Asia.

A geo portal has environmental data which can be utilized by scientists for research. Decision makers can also make use of information from these portals while making critical decisions from an environmental point of view.

All these innovations are being enabled by in-house research and built using non-branded products. One of our big successful projects was the ‘Smart Box’, the first telemetric safety device for cars, similar to the black box found in aircraft, which can capture, analyze and deliver relevant data via a wireless network. With its primary objective to curb road accidents and reduce traffic injuries and fatalities, the device — using multiple microprocessors based on power architecture, plus a multitude of other sensors — can be attached to the automobile’s carriage to, for example, monitor the vehicle’s speed, comparing it to the speed limit of the street.

The box, which is not much larger than a typical PDA, leverages a number of specific software applications, including Global Positioning System and IBM’s award-winning speech software, Via Voice, Bluetooth and open standards communication interfaces. This was the first hi-tech device to be developed having commercial value.

Another interesting project which is being submitted for funding is GENIArabia. Gearing up for an investment of about $10 million into the project, CIT is proposing to establish GENI Arabia as a networking and information security research center connected to and part of the GENI network. GENI (Global Environment for Network Innovation) is an experimental facility being planned by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF), in collaboration with the research community, for the purpose of providing a research infrastructure to enable the development of the future internet.

Shuaib said, “As we move forward the GENI Arabia project will encourage all departments ranging from social or human sciences, engineering, psychology, human behavior and physics to work together. We will have researchers logging on and accessing the information to run experiments on the net even though they are across the Atlantic. Once established, this will also be first GENI edge site in the Middle East.”

This is only one of the four projects while the others focus on renewable energies, bio-informatics, and nanotechnology.

One project that made it out of this initiative is the software that was developed by students for mobile phones. “Students from CIT developed a program that allows mobile users to play games and take trivia quizzes via SMS while on the move,” shared Makki. The Emirati lady students who developed the software were also publicized by the Korean Broadcasting Service, which did a program on the college and its students.

“The university and college are constantly promoting research but the major obstacle was that there was no external funding like in the US or Europe. But this has changed as there funds available now like ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Fund which is a new venture dedicated to advancing the UAE ICT sector both regionally and globally. Another recently announced fund is the National Research Fund which has been recently established to support both applied and basic research in various fields relevant to the UAE ,” said Shuaib.

The undergraduate program at the college also supports small scale research objectives. “The students at the college are all geared and taught to look at research and support the cause. We now have established seven key undergraduate programs in the IT field and all of them support R&D in their own manner. CIT is also currently applying for accreditations from international institutes and has modified the curriculum and courses accordingly,” he adds.

As CIT gets actively involved with their students and co-curricular activities, the management is at the same time putting in maximum efforts in increasing the amount of nationals taking admission into its institution. Although the college has not opened its doors to expat students yet, plans are being discussed to start an already approved master’s program that will accommodate students irrespective of their nationality. CIT also offers a range of specialized courses for professional skill development.

From its small beginning with just eighty students, CIT today boasts of close to 900 UAE National students. With an average of 140 new admissions being added every year, the future of IT education in the UAE seems very promising.

“We want to raise the bar for education and in the process develop a National workforce that is familiar with world class technologies,” emphasizes Shuaib.