CIT Celebrates ABET Accreditation, and Hosts IBM Centennial Lecture

CIT Celebrates ABET Accreditation, and Hosts IBM Centennial Lecture

November 29, 2011: The Faculty of Information Technology (FIT) held two special events on Nov. 29. The first, which began in the morning, was aimed at celebrating the recent accreditation of the university’s Bachelor’s program in IT by ABET, Inc., of the United States, the leading accreditation board worldwide for engineering, computing and technology programs. Then, in the afternoon, the Faculty hosted the IBM Centennial Lecture presented by Dr. Mark Dean, IBM CTO for the Middle East and Africa. Prof. Wyatt Rory Hume (UAEU Provost) as well as Dr. Fatima Al Shamsi (UAEU Secretary General) and other UAEU administrators, and faculty and students from throughout the university, participated in the events along with the FIT Family. Dr. Rafic Makki, former FIT Dean and currently director of strategic planning at the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), also participated in the morning event. Both events were held under the patronage of the Vice Chancellor, H.E. Dr. Abdullah Al-Khanbashi.

 Several presentations were given in the morning event, meant to summarize the importance of accreditation to the university and especially to students, and to put the process of accreditation and meeting global standards in perspective. Prof. Eyad Abed, FIT Dean, gave remarks on the implications of this achievement for the quality of students’ education and for their future careers. Representing FIT faculty, Dr. Said Elnaffar entertained the audience with a humoristic note about the challenges faced by FIT faculty in their responsibilities in continuous assessment of their teaching effectiveness. Dr. Rafic Makki, who made significant contributions to the ABET accreditation process as former Dean of the Faculty, noted that in his opinion “FIT has more than met the ABET criteria, indeed met them several times over.” This was an indication of FIT’s commitment to providing the highest quality education and other opportunities for its students. Representing the ABET Task Force from within FIT, Dr. Walid Ibrahim presented the main milestones of the work done at FIT to satisfy the ABET requirements and to embrace a standard curriculum model since 2005.

 FIT students and alumni who formed the major part of the audience also participated in this celebration and stayed for the IBM Centennial Lecture. They took an active role in the preparation of the day’s events through their student association representatives. Students participated on stage throughout the program, showing their interest in the activities and commitment to their college. Also, an alumni representative shared her experience after graduation and reflected on how her UAEU education positively impacted her career. A current senior student also discussed her group’s exciting senior project with the audience. The festive morning event concluded with a group photo and a celebration cake. The IBM Centennial Lecture event began with an introduction by Provost Rory Hume in which he explained how IBM’s success over 100 years and history of reinvention of a large corporation provide important examples for other institutions. He also welcomed future collaborations between IBM and UAEU in the interest of the country and region. Dr. Eyad Abed then welcomed Dr. Mark Dean and highlighted Dr. Dean’s amazing history of important and fundamental contributions to the IT industry and his many patents and professional recognitions and awards. Dr. Dean then spoke on the “science of information” and gave an overview of IBM’s work on deploying technologies that are helping to realize a “smarter planet.” The lecture was followed by a lively question and answer period.