DOHA: HE Dr Eng Saad bin Ahamd Al Muhannadi, President of the Public Works Authority ‘Ashghal’, along with a range of Ashghal officials, paid a visit as Ashghal wrapped up the 2nd edition of the 'Future Engineer'programme organised with the Qatar Scientific Club, and in coordination with the Ministry of Sports and Youth and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, with the participation of Al Jazeera Media Institute.
The president and the accompanying delegation were briefed on the benefits and output of the programme aimed to familiarize students with the different engineering disciplines by providing various workshops, and field and projectvisits while introducing the importance and advantages of each discipline, as the programme also contributes to meeting the requirements of the market in the future.
Thirty students within the age group of 12-18 years participated in the programme, and the training programme provided 20 trainers from different engineering disciplines from Ashghal and the Qatar Scientific Club, where 15 workshops were offered, in addition to three field visits in Ashghal.
To deepen the scientific and practical knowledge of the participants in the engineering field, the programme was divided into two main sections over the span of eight days. One section was offered at the laboratories and departments of Ashghal, whereas the other section was offered at the laboratories of the Qatar Scientific Club.
The first section of the programme enabled students to learn about the sampling methods, their inspection and whether or not they are approved according to the national engineering specifications, and then they learned about Ashghal’s Centre for Research and Development, and the environmental laboratories and construction material laboratories. Students will also learn about GIS and use Virtual Reality techniques in some of the engineering projects.
The participants will then move to the 2nd section of the programme which will be at the headquarters of the Qatar Scientific Club, and which includes engineering activities such as building and distributing teams, planning the engineering project, initiating prototypes design for the project, managing engineering projects and completing the implementation of the prototype to become a final model. On the last day, the projects will be presented by the participants and evaluated by a competent committee from Ashghal.
Children from the Orphans Care Centre (Dreama) also participated in “Future Engineer 2” which aims to enhance the skills of students and familiarize them with the different engineering disciplines to guide them through the process of choosing their own. This is by offering various workshops on different engineering disciplines while highlighting the importance and advantages of each one, in addition to encouraging students to explore different engineering fields in line with the market requirements. Dreama has thanked Ashghal for its continuous efforts to include those children in its different societal initiatives and programmes.
On this occasion, Dr Eng Al Muhannadi stated: “We look forward to cooperating continuously with different governmental entities and organisations in the country, to achieve a strategic cooperation that encourages consolidating all efforts in the field of training and development for the next generations. This is to meet the market needs when it comes to the engineering field in the future, and to offer an opportunity to all our students in different engineering disciplines and familiarize them with the engineering environment in-depth, as well as allow them to be able to decide the most suitable discipline for them in the future. “
Abdulla Saad Al Saad, Manager of the Public Relations, and Communications Department at Ashghal, expressed his gratitude for the success of the programme which comes within the social responsibility framework of Ashghal, to enrich students with insights and ideas that prepare them for the future work environment, an aspect that was taken into consideration during the workshops and field visits offered to the students. This allowed them to be fully aware of the responsibility of the engineering work, its commitment and planning.
Regarding the activities that take place in the Qatar Scientific Club, Eng Abdulrahman Saleh Khamis, Deputy Executive Director of the QSC, stated that the club management was keen on the programme to be comprehensive and that it carries an engineering nature in terms of the choices of projects and the engineering methods into transforming the prototype into a final model that can be implemented.
He also stated that the QSC management values Ashghal’s support for the “Future Engineer” programme which reflects its full commitment to social responsibility towards the country.
Dr Ali Al Marri, Manager of the Quality and Safety Department at Ashghal, stressed the importance of practical experiments in the development of the required skills and expertise for the future engineer, as well as the steps followed in Ashghal to ensure the quality of the materials used in projects.
Eng Hamad Al Bader, Acting Assistant Manager of the Buildings Projects Department at Ashghal, stated: “We are delighted with the visit of the Future Engineer 2 programme participants to Lusail Circuit Development project where they were introduced to the project implementation steps using modern technology, and the potential challenges of the project during the implementation, and learn how to overcome them while taking into consideration the environmental and sustainability aspects during work.”
Eman Al Obaidi, Head of the Public Relations Section at QSC, stated that this programme plays a leading role in shaping the future of the emerging generation, she emphasized the importance of this type of cooperation that works to support the emerging generation and emphasized on QSC pride in this community partnership between the club and the authority and its role in serving the Qatari community.
Eman Alkuwari, a member of the Ashghal Ambassadors initiative stated that: “in Ashghal, we are used to reading maps, charts, and data and drawing conclusions, but this exciting experience, which is new and fun, has presented us with a challenge through which we were able to deliver a message to the participants about the importance of engineering, and its contribution in making our lives easier and better.
Eng Muneera Aal Sheraim, a trainer in the programme said that she is proud to be part of this programme which constitutes a high-quality quantitative shift in terms of the ideas, content, and goals, since engineering, in general, is the most needed discipline in countries in the stages of construction and prosperity, and this programme comes to encourage our students to engage in this field passionately.
