Dubai, 17 October 2018: His Excellency Omar Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, stressed that Emirati youth's keenness and willingness to learn Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology reflects their high level of awareness in enhancing their skills and technological abilities to better prepare them for jobs of the future.

Al Olama commended the graduation of 75 male and female students who completed a specialized training program from the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) developed in cooperation with Oracle. He explained that building a technologically advanced generation is a key direction for the Government of the UAE, which aims to enhance its leading position and role in employing technology to serve the community.

Al Olama added that AI and its modern technologies represent the main future tools for promoting a sustainable knowledge economy and comprehensive development. The Government of the UAE embraces and encourages all academic institutions to support their students, and enhance their knowledge, as well as their scientific and practical capabilities, to compete with future global trends.

The graduation ceremony was attended by Dr. Abdullatif Al Shamsi, President &CEO of the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), Arun Khehar, Senior Vice President of Business Applications at ECEMEA, Oracle, and Dr. Mohamed Baka, Chief Executive Officer at Centre of Excellence for Applied Research & Training (CERT).

The enrolled students received accredited certificates from Oracle for completing the program. The program is part of a training plan for 500 students who will be trained throughout the year to acquire basic skills in AI and modern technology, under a signed partnership agreement between HCT, represented by CERT and Oracle.

Cooperation between local educational institutes and international organizations

Dr. Al Shamsi stressed the importance of cooperation with Oracle, a global company specialised in modern technology, to prepare students for the future and enable them to learn modern technological skills, mainly AI, Internet of Things (IoT), and Blockchain. He highlighted that this will contribute to further improving their abilities to invest these technologies in the future in the creation of ideas and solutions that support community development, and promote the UAE’s competitiveness in keeping pace with the changes and challenges of future careers.

Dr. Al Shamsi noted that the program provided students with the opportunity to participate in exciting real-life experiences in modern technological applications, and obtain an accredited training certificate. It also supported them in employing these technologies in their education, work and future projects.

Jobs of the future in AI technology

“The future is all about AI technology, Big Data, Blockchain, and IoT to create new ideas and solutions,” said Abdulrahman Al-Dhahiban, senior vice president of technology for the Middle East and North Africa at Oracle,” said Abdul Rahman Al Thehaiban, Senior Vice President for Technology at MEA, Oracle.

He stressed that global attention on AI technology is increasing, and the users of cloud computing have integrated it in their work, which confirms the need to use and apply this technology. He added that cooperation with HCT aims to teach students and future generations about AI technology, to enable them to cope with the rapid global changes.