More than 70 students nationwide compete in University Challenge 

Yesterday morning, Tuesday, September 27, 2022, the University Challenge, organized by the United Arab Emirates University, in cooperation with the Sharjah Government Communication Award, has been launched as part of the activities of the International Government Communication Forum 2022 in Sharjah, with the participation of more than 70 students.  The best initiative for the comprehensive future employee in government communication will be declared in the challenge that will last for two days. 

Dr. Ahmed Murad, Associate Provost for Research at the United Arab Emirates University, said that this challenge is a direct response to the directives of our government, in activating and strengthening creativity and innovation, in a way that supports the UAE society. It is a challenge conducted for the first time with the participation of 14 teams from 9 universities in the country: UAE University, University of Sharjah, Abu Dhabi University, Khalifa University, Al Ain University, Ajman University, Khor Fakkan University, Umm Al Quwain University, and Mohammed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. Each Team should present an innovative creative idea that enhances the qualification and preparation of a comprehensive future employee capable of creativity and giving with experiences, skills and competencies, in the shortest possible time. 

Abdullah Abdul Karim, Chairman of the Challenge Judging Committee, Acting Executive Director of News Content at Emirates News Agency, said that this challenge is intended to enhance joint efforts between various institutions supporting talents and promoting student innovations, especially students of media colleges. The ideas should be simple and innovative providing solutions that enhance the qualification of the comprehensive future employee through simple feasible technology applications, development, sustainability, and methodological criteria. It should also directly contribute to solving a problem in a specific field and being practically applicable. 

He added that the judging committee, which includes experts from different institutions from various academic disciplines, has set up evaluation criteria, in order to select 5 applications that will be qualified to the final evaluation to select the 3 winning teams. He said, "We appreciate this participation of national universities and presentation of ideas. The participation in this challenge is a win for all. 

The University of Sharjah three participating teams are: "Arum" app, "Bridge" project, and "Connecting Minds" project. The UAE University three participating teams are: "In the footsteps of Khalifa" initiative, Smart Visitor Design, and Open Digital Communication Initiative. Khalifa University participating team: "Digital Academic Advisor" project, Al Ain University participating team: the "Ghaf" project, and Khorfakkan University participating team: "Be Assured" project. 

In addition, Mohammed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence has two participating teams: Better Bots project and Eagle Eye project, as well as Ajman University team:  “Thabar” project, Abu Dhabi University team: “Yes” project, and Umm Al Quwain University team: “Predicto” project.