H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and President of Abu Dhabi University's Board of Trustees, and H.E. the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, attended the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding between Abu Dhabi University (ADU) and the Berlin Institute of Technology (TU-Berlin) at his Al Bateen Palace yesterday.
Dr. Nabil Ibrahim, ADU Chancellor, signed the MOU on behalf of ADU and Prof. Dr. Frank Straube, Director of the Logistics Chair and Managing Director of the School of Technology and Management, signed on behalf of TU-Berlin.
H.E. Ali Saeed Bin Harmal Al Dhaheri emphasized the importance of the broad collaboration and partnership between the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Germany, which is in line with H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan's initiatives and vision of strengthening this partnership and broadening such areas academically.
He also pointed out that this collaboration included a wide range of future partnerships between the two universities and that priority will be given to the offering of joint undergraduate and postgraduate academic programs, as well as a variety of scientific programs which will be offered for the first time in the Middle East. Such projects will include the establishment of a Chair of Logistics, the implementation of advanced technology storage, the authorization of information as well as offering marketing, management, finance and e-commerce programs.
H.E. Ali Saeed Bin Harmal Al Dhaheri also mentioned that this agreement will play a vital part in the area of applied research in that it will reinforce the rates of growth witnessed in this field nationally.
He further added that ADU will benefit a great deal from the world renown German expertise in assisting with the execution of research projects that will enhance various fields of production, especially petrochemical and environmental products, car production, electronic goods production as well as industrial and property development, which are all fields that German academic institutions excel at.
Bin Harmal expressed his appreciation of German academic institutions for building collaborative bridges with ADU, noting the several scientific MOU's signed two years ago with several German academic institutions in the presence of H.E. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and President of Abu Dhabi University's Board of Trustees.
Prof. Dr. Frank Straube, Director of the Logistics Chair and Managing Director of the School Technology and Management, expressed his appreciation for H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan's patronage and support for this collaboration.
He noted that this collaboration will open new horizons of joint academic partnership between the two countries, especially in the light of what the United Arab Emirates is witnessing in general and the Abu Dhabi Emirate in particular. He pointed out the remarkable influx of foreign universities setting up satellite campuses in the UAE.
Prof. Dr. Frank Straube also explained that the upcoming stages of collaboration will witness joint academic programs and exchange visits between professors and students in addition to the organization of seminars, short courses, certificate and executive programs, some of which will cover the latest scientific findings in the different areas of development.