Tribune News Network
Doha
THE Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) at Qatar University College of Engineering (QU-CENG) recently hosted the '2nd Industry Integrated Computing Education Curricula Workshop'.
The event, which was supported by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), aimed to highlight the needs of local information security and cyber security institutions, and build new cooperative learning curricula based on competency frameworks.
The first day's programme featured a seminar on 'Industry, Business and Workplace Competency Based Curricula; Models and Case Studies' moderated by CSE Professor of Computer Science and Pro-Skima NPRP Lead Project Investigator Prof Abdelaziz Bouras and CENG Head of Technology Innovation & Engineering Education Dr Mahmoud Abdulwahed, and presented by Senior Project Manager at Swiss Federal Institute for VET Emanuel W'fcthrich, Program Development Chair at the College of North Atlantic - Qatar (CNA-Q) Samah Gammar, and Associate Professor of Education Sciences at University of Lyon Dr Laurent Veillard. They gave an overview of several international approaches for industry/business/academia collaboration, and presented various methods to build a competency framework and a training curriculum.
The second day's programme included a series of presentations delivered by Prof Abdelaziz Bouras, QNRF Education Program Manager Dr Abdellahi Hussein, Emanuel W'fcthrich, and Dr Laurent Veillard. Discussed topics focused on 'NPRP Pro-SKIMA Project Presentation', 'Importance of academia/industry link for ICT higher education in Qatar and NPRP program support', and 'Overview on Industry-Integrated education in Switzerland, France and Canada'.
It also included an industry brainstorming session 'IT Security function roles and activities, and how to increase the number of Qatari security practitioners within companies in Qatar' moderated by Prof Abdelaziz Bouras, CSE assistant professor in Computer Engineering and Thales Cybersecurity Chair Dr Thieyacine Ely Fall, and Emanuel W'fcthrich.
Commenting on the workshop, CSE Head Dr Sumaya al Maadeed said:"It is part of CSE efforts to strengthen links with local business and industry to better capture their requirements and needs and reflect that on the existing and future curricula in computer science and engineering. The department continues to deliver on its mission to share knowledge and expertise to benefit the society in Qatar and beyond, and to promote computer and information science and engineering by equipping graduates with the knowledge, abilities and skills to become innovators and leaders who are able to contribute to the aspirations of the country."
Prof Abdelaziz Bouras said:"Through Pro-SKIMA NPRP project we are making benchmarking and prototypes to enhance such relationship between Qatar University curricula and the local industry."
Dr Abdellahi Hussein said:"The academia/industry link in Qatar is highly important today, and QNRF is happy to support multidisciplinary research in the field of education through its National Priority Research Program."