DUBAI // The Canadian university whose alumni created the BlackBerry is to open a campus in Dubai.
The University of Waterloo aims to launch the campus in Dubai Academic City next year, beginning with courses in civil and chemical engineering, said Leo Rothenburg, the acting dean of engineering and the project's co-ordinator.
"We want to be present in the UAE. It's one of the most vibrant parts of the world with a lot of interesting economic activity, and new educational institutions are coming to the region," he said.
"Dubai is the major world financial centre, on one hand, and there is a lot of engineering activity in Abu Dhabi."
Waterloo also hopes to create an Abu Dhabi campus when space becomes available.
The university, based in Ontario, has about 30,000 students. Renowned for its engineering courses, one of its most prominent alumni is Mike Lazaridis, who as a student cofounded Research in Motion, the company behind the now ubiquitous BlackBerry wireless hand-held device. Mr Lazaridis now serves as the university's chancellor.
The new Dubai campus is the result of two years of talks with the Higher Colleges of Technology and its commercial arm, the CERT Group of Companies.
Originally, the campus was to be located in Abu Dhabi, but it was moved to Dubai. It will be temporarily housed in Dubai Men's College.
Eventually, the engineering courses are expected to move to a campus in Abu Dhabi, while the management courses would continue to be taught in Dubai.
In 2010, the university plans to introduce two management courses: financial analysis and risk management, and information technology management.
More courses are expected to be added in the future.
HCT is providing classroom space, student sleeping quarters and support.
Waterloo hopes to have 100 to 130 students in the first year.
"Our intention is to access the entire region, but I would think that a fair number of students will be from the UAE," Mr Rothenburg said.
Students will spend their first two years in the UAE and complete the final two years of their bachelor's degree at the main campus in Waterloo.
Classes will be taught by University of Waterloo professors, who will stay in the UAE on four- or eight-month attachments.
Mr Rothenburg said: "For students to be able to be successful at Waterloo, they have to be taught in exactly the same way as we teach them on the main campus."
All courses will include one work-experience term for every study term.
The UAE campus director, Prof Magdy Salama, will visit the Emirates in the next two weeks to oversee final details.
"We're a little late in advertising details, and until the licensing details are worked out, we cannot advertise the courses," Mr Rothenburg said.
"But if everything is worked out, we will still make it for the fall of 2009."
aligaya@thenational.ae
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The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
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Engine: 3.7-litre V6
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Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
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Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Zidane's managerial achievements
La Liga: 2016/17
Spanish Super Cup: 2017
Uefa Champions League: 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18
Uefa Super Cup: 2016, 2017
Fifa Club World Cup: 2016, 2017
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara