Students captivated by Expo2020 roadshow
Monday, 09 March, 2015
UOWD welcomed Moosa Al Hashimi, Director of Expo 2020 Community and Engagement, to its Knowledge Village campus this week to provide more information about the exciting opportunities available to students to integrate their academic studies with the first Expo event of its kind in the MENASA (Middle East, North Africa and South Asia) region. Themed ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future', the event is expected to attract 25 million people globally when it comes to the city in five years’ time.During the interactive lecture, Al Hashimi provided a general historical context on the global Expo events of the past, and encouraged the students in the packed auditorium to sign up to be Expo2020 volunteers. He also revealed that a youth forum, focused on international youth, not just UAE nationals, is expected to take place in the city in the run-up to the 2020 event.Al Hashimi also announced the introduction of an innovative new smartphone application, the Expo 2020 Dubai Youth Forum app, which students can use to apply for internship/volunteer opportunities. Al Hashimi projected that an impressive 30,000 volunteers will be needed for the Expo 2020 event, and that the recruitment process for internship opportunities will be highly selective. He stressed that applicants need to be multilingual, long-term UAE residents who are aware of local culture and of other emirates apart from Dubai when speaking to first-time visitors to the country.For techno-savvy students, a new iBook will also tell the next generation of leaders everything they need to know about the Expo.Eager students were also encouraged to volunteer for the Milan Expo 2015, where the UAE will be represented in its own pavilion and will give young people a taste of what's to come when Expo2020 comes to Dubai.The University Roadshow team also met with UOWD’s faculty members to explore possible collaboration topics and ideas for research projects related to the Expo.Brett Lovegrove, Director of Administration and Strategy for UOWD, praised the roadshow, commenting: “It was a wonderful opportunity for the UOWD community to learn more about the strategic direction and innovative ethos behind Expo2020 and the outstanding opportunities it will create both for our emirate’s young people and for our faculty alike. Experience working as a volunteer at an event such as this will aid our students to stand out from the crowd as they enter the world of work and will help them both to have a real impact in, and to give back to, the society that they live, work and call home. Our academic community are also extremely excited about this national undertaking.”Maha Hussein, a UOWD postgraduate student of the MMC program said at the close of the event, “It was great. I learned so much and now have much better idea of what the Expo 2020 event is and what it entails. I hope to one day work in the communications industry and see it as a golden opportunity to combine both my academic background and growing skill set. Mr Al Hashimi was very engaging and gave really good examples, so now we all know what to anticipate a few years from now.”
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