The Development and Alumni Relations Unit at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) University is planning to achieve the “continuous learning” initiative for the university’s graduates from various colleges. In the meantime, the UAE University has launched at the beginning of the academic year 2021/2022 the “KHIBRA” program in order to benefit from the graduates’ experiences through training workshops and lectures for local community and university students. Such initiatives enhance the communication between the graduates and the university, as 2741 graduates and students have participated in the program so far.

Prof. Ahmed Ali Murad, Associate Provost for Research, who is directly supervising the Development and Alumni Relations Unit, said: “The KHIBRA program is one of the remarkable programs that enhance students’ skills and build effective communication with graduates. Moreover, this program contributes to bridging the gap between academic education and the industrial sector. The program is intended to build the knowledge and experience of the participants and effectively enhance their capabilities.”

Since its inception and until October 30, 2022, the KHIBRA program has organized 34 interactive training workshops in addition to 38 lectures with a total of 72 activities within the first year of the program. In addition, 2006 graduates and 735 students participated in these various programs. The percentage of graduates participating in the program is estimated to be 73.2%. 36 graduates participated in providing events, training workshops, and lectures, including 25 graduates working in different entities outside the university.

The specialized training workshops and lectures provide qualitative skills to the participants and enhance their experience based on the latest knowledge, including: preparation for the labor market, self-development, management, and leadership. 918 of the total participants were engaged in self-development related lectures and training courses, which is estimated at 33.5%, while the percentage of participants in management courses and lectures is 14.3%.

Dr. Ahmed added that: "Next year's activities will be different in terms of content to cover future skills for the labor market, in addition to research and empowerment tools, artificial intelligence techniques and big data. We will also work to increase the number of participating graduates and students."