Comtrust strengthens its commitment to HCT’s
e-commerce education offering

Dubai, UAE, 31^st March 2004

Students and teachers from Dubai Women’s College (DWC) got a taste of e-commerce in the ‘real’ world when they were hosted by Comtrust, the business unit of Etisalat that provides e-business solutions in the Middle East region. The day long visit, part of the final year’s studies for the e-commerce course being offered by DWC and other campuses of the Higher Colleges of Technology, is designed to give students a unique and practical perspective to the workings of regional e-commerce. This was echoed by DWC E-commerce Faculty member, Krystyna Krol, “The visit is a very valuable educational tool; it gives the students an insight into the ‘real’ e-world. Students need first hand experience to understand what goes on at the back of a normal e-commerce transaction. Comtrust’s data centre is a perfect example.

Comtrust's Sales Manager, Saoud Al Shamsi, presenting the e-solutions to DWC

We introduced the concept of cabinets, servers, wires, etc. but the students needed to see it to gain an understanding and progress in their studies.” The visit began with a presentation on regional e-commerce given by Comtrust’s Sales Manager, Saoud Al Shamsi. Students were then treated to an overview of Comtrust’s range of products and services as well as an insight into the workings of Comtrust’s data centre. The visit culminated in a guided tour of the state-of-the-art data centre in Dubai.

The visit was well received by the students. Latifa Bin Tamim was particularly interested in digital certificates, “It’s a very interesting topic and I was always wondering how and where do companies get these certificates from.” Hessa Ali was impressed by the availability of e-business solutions in the Emirates, “I learnt a lot about things I never imagined that were available in the UAE.”  According to Al-Shamsi, the level of knowledge and interest shown by the students impressed the Comtrust team. “We made a concerted effort to keep each session interactive in nature. I believe the two-way dialogue this approach encouraged was critical to the success of the visit and it provided a great opportunity for us to experience the high level of knowledge base the students have developed over the last few years.”

The timing of the visit was of particular advantage to students who are currently completing projects on e-security and e-payments systems, which both fall within Comtrust’s areas of expertise. Amina Al Eassa, a DWC student agreed saying, “The presenters talked about the topics we need to complete our projects on eSecurity and ePayments.” Saud Ali Naqib concurred with her classmate’s sentiments, “I got some good ideas about secure transactions for my project.” Of the students time at Comtrust, Krol said, “The students really enjoyed their time at the main office of Comtrust and then the Data Centre. The knowledge the students have gained from the visit will be very useful when they graduate this coming June. And I hope to bring all our DWC e-commerce students to Comtrust in the coming semesters because of the valuable information on infrastructure behind e-services.”

The visit was one of many from HCT e-commerce faculty Comtrust has hosted over the recent years as part of its commitment to helping develop Emirati talent. “Our partnership with HCT and its various campuses across the UAE such as DWC has been extremely successful. It is gratifying to see the progress being made with the next generation by leading educational institutions, such as DWC, as we strive towards becoming and knowledge-based economy,” said Al Shamsi.