PRESS RELEASES

April 14 , 2004
[Arabic Version]

Finalists of UAE IT Challenge Announced

Dubai, UAE. The Finalists of the UAE Educational IT Challenge were announced on April 14th at a press conference held at Knowledge Village. A record number of 487 projects from teachers, students and educational organizations within the UAE were received.

The winners are to receive their awards from His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Higher Education and patron of the IT Challenge at a special award ceremony to be held at Jumeirah Beach Conference Center in Dubai on April 25th, 2004.

Dr Sulamain Al Jassim, Director of Community Relations and Manpower Development for the Higher Colleges of Technology thanked the sponsors and educational organizations for supporting this years Challenge.

The chairman of the jury panel and Director of Knowledge Village Dr. Abdullah Al Karam congratulated all the project authors and invited the finalists to showcase their projects to the public on April 25th.

Announcing the finalists in the Secondary Schools Category, Nafisa Ahmed Al Mulla, Head of Quality Assurance at the Ministry of Private Education, noted that the secondary school entries were significantly higher than in 2002, and the quality of projects was very high.

Fifty finalists were selected by the jury panel, representing 29 different schools, colleges and Universities within the UAE.

Dr. C. Dinesh, Regional Manager of KLM Airlines announced sponsorship details for sending the winners in each category to attend the Stockholm Challenge during May 11-13th 2004. In 2002, a winning project from the UAE challenge was a finalist in the Stockholm Challenge. During the Stockholm visit, the winners will view the IT projects on display, visit a number of cultural sites and attend the Stockholm Award Ceremony.

Further information regarding the IT Challenge can be found on the website at www.uaechallenge.com

For further details please contact Mr. Robert Brown, Program Coordinator on tel. 02-6941467 or Ms Kashmira Tamhane, CEO, 20/20 Management on tel. 04-3430968 or Mobile 050-6556794.
Website : www.uaechallenge.com