The Times Higher Education (THE) Awards for the Middle East and North Africa have shortlisted the American University of Sharjah's (AUS) Explore Engineering campaign, an initiative conducted by the AUS College of Engineering (CEN). The campaign is competing for the Student Recruiting Campaign of the Year Award, which aims to engage and encourage school children to pursue professions in technology and engineering. The inaugural edition of THE Awards for the Middle East and North Africa, to be held in the UAE's Khalifa University in November 2023, focuses on activities in the calendar year 2022. CEN's Discover Engineering campaign began in the fall of 2022 with 42 activities involving 1,800 students from more than 100 schools in the UAE, with a female representation of 50%, who were chosen following a rigorous procedure out of 3,800 candidates. A series of bootcamps, workshops, contests, pre-university enrichment trips, the CEN Shadow Program, Engineering Open Day, and High School Counselors Day were all part of the campaign.
"Explore Engineering is an important component of CEN's community outreach operations." We think that our effect begins while students are still in school. "The campaign is our way of cultivating new brains, opening doors to emerging talents, and actively contributing in the UAE's innovation plan," stated Dean of CEN Dr. Fadi Aloul. "We work with children in grades eight to twelve from various UAE schools because we aim to be as varied and inclusive as possible," he continued. According to our study, younger generations are no longer enthralled by a simple visit to a university campus, which is why we aimed to provide them with a whole AUS experience through our Explore Engineering programs. Students connect with our instructors, use laboratories and do research, attend courses, mingle with other students, see AUS facilities, explore campus innovation, and experience university life." Explore Engineering's free activities, held during school vacations and on weekends, provide students with a range of chances to learn about CEN's programs in chemical and biological engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science and engineering, and mathematics.
"Each of our six departments has its own boot camp, where students learn about various fields of study and have the opportunity to explore in our labs." Students are introduced to several of the college's cutting-edge laboratories during these camps. Workshops cover artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and other specialist disciplines. Competitions enable kids to think outside the box, solve problems, develop soft skills, work in groups, and create. Meanwhile, the Shadow Program matches high school students with one of CEN's trained final-year students for a day of courses, seeing university facilities, speaking with our staff, and experiencing what it's like to be a university student. In addition, we collaborate closely with the AUS Office of Enrollment Management to organize enrichment visits and tours around our college and AUS campus,” explained Dr. Aloul. The CEN Shadow Program attracted 58 students for the Academic Year 2022-2023, including 35 pupils in grade 12, 17 of whom entered CEN in Fall 2023. Youser Ahmad, a grade 12 student from Sharjah American International School, is one of the students that participated in the program and will be attending AUS this fall semester.
"I had the opportunity to attend a senior engineering class, which was enjoyable and educational. I also went on a campus tour and viewed the university's sophisticated amenities. Everyone at the institution was really warm and inviting. Overall, the CEN Shadow Program was an incredible experience that allowed me to spend a day in the life of an engineering student at AUS "Ahmad stated. Abedalrahman Mirza, a student of the International School of Choueifat, Dubai Investment Park, attended the Industrial Engineering Boot Camp held in May 2023. "Attending the industrial engineering boot camp was helpful in determining if this is a career that is a good fit for me or not," he stated. I am now aware of the various components that make up industrial engineering. With this information, I can now make an educated judgment on whether or not to pursue it further."
CEN collects feedback from participating school kids at the end of each program. It also maintains regular communication with them, as it has done since the inception of the AUS Computing Camp in 2017. "Before launching the Discover Engineering campaign in Fall 2022, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) in CEN used to hold computing boot camps for high school students to immerse them in the field and give them a deeper understanding of its potential impact in today's digital era." This effort was so successful that we were able to quickly implement it throughout the departments of the college as part of Explore Engineering. When school children joined in our CSE programs, we were able to experience firsthand the impact of our computer science and engineering camps. Because Discover Engineering began in the fall of 2022, we hope to see the rewards of our labor soon," stated Dr. Aloul. Lodan Mohamed Elmugamer, currently a third-year computer science major with minors in data science and biology at AUS, attended an AUS computing boot camp while still in high school in 2021.
"I learned about the AUS Computing Camp via COVID, and it was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the institution and the field of computers." I grew more interested in studying computer science or computer engineering after learning so much in a few days and having so much fun. The potential that computer science provides are vast, and because I originally intended to contribute to the medical profession, I thought that I could do so through computer science. That is why I am presently pursuing a dual minor in data science and biology to gradually get into bioinformatics,” said Elmugamer. AUS is among the top 175 universities in emerging economies (2022) and among the top five universities with the highest percentage of international students (2023), according to THE World University Rankings.
