DSO Based RIT-Dubai Signs Technical Agreement with United Nations World Food Program

Dubai - MENA Herald: The Rochester Institute of Technology, Dubai campus, (RIT Dubai) a leading American University that is based in Dubai Silicon Oasis, signed a Technical Agreement with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), launching a new strategic partnership between the two institutions. As part of the university’s Outreach program, the partnership aims to foster collaboration opportunities in various fields, such as project development and cooperative education between RIT students and faculty, and UN WFP.
Pierre Honnorat, WFP/UNHRD Network Coordinator at WFP Headquarters in Rome, Italy commented on the new alliance between RIT Dubai and WFP: “Partnership with universities is essential because it joins academic enthusiasm with practitioners and stimulates the development and effectiveness of our humanitarian activities”
The first project of this partnership is currently going on with RIT faculty and computing students, working with technical lead from UN HQ in Italy and local UN staff, on developing and reviewing a monitoring and reporting information management system for the UN Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) Network. The system aims to integrate the various operations of UN HRD and best serve their partners.
This first project is expected to be completed in six months and will be part of RIT’s students’ cooperative education. Cooperative Education is one of the main components of RIT’s curriculum. With strong basis of experiential learning, RIT Bachelor Degrees include extensive internship requirements before graduation. Cooperative Education gives students the opportunity to gain meaningful work experience before they graduate. This program also helps employers spot and recruit young talents.
Dr. Yousef Al Assaf, President of RIT Dubai commented: We are excited about this partnership as it allows our faculty and experts to share their experiences with WFP and support their humanitarian activities. It will also give our students the opportunity to engage in current industry projects and work on the implementation of new solutions.
RIT Dubai’s Outreach program is a strategic initiative to promote collaboration between the university, industry partners, and institutions from across the United Arab Emirates. The Outreach program spans various fields of collaboration, such as research, cooperative education and career placement, specialized training, tuition discounts and project development.