"Get a Life" By Maryam Ali

Alexander McNabb the account director at ‘Spot On Public Relations’ emphasized the importance of engrossing our self in the social media-networking scene since it might be useful to us for future referencing.

McNabb mentioned that currently when recruiting for positions most HR departments usually use the Internet to browse and find out more about their future employees.   Questioned was the credibility of this new technique.

"Jet Skiing all Year Round Competition" By Maryam Ali

Ali Nader Bin Hendi is following in his father’s footsteps of being one of the champions of Jet Ski racing in the UAE.  Having competed in the 2009 Dubai Mena Seyahi race and finished first as well as finishing first in the Abu Dhabi 2009 race has allowed Ali to be qualified to more advanced races.

In order to achieve his dream of competing at the same advanced level as his father Ali is required to maintain his fitness and skill by training with his father and brother, even in cold weathers since its an all year round sport.  Ali at a young age has decided to commit to this sport that forced him to organize his lifestyle into a more structured and balanced one.

Zayed University Signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Space Research and Remote Sensing

By: Fatma Al Zarouni

Dubai: The Institute of Community Service at Zayed University and Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) have signed recently a memorandum of agreement in the areas of remote sensing and satellite images.

The objectives of this agreement is to follow the joint  technological research by exchanging the expertise and data for educational and scientific purposes, to conduct together researches by providing EIAST with qualified interns  who will be an asset for the institution in future and encourege industrial innovation in the UAE. 

Based on that, the the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) lab run by the university will support EIAST, which will provide the university with high resolution images captured by Dubai-Sat 1.  

The two institutions will be jointly organizing workshops and seminars to raise awareness about the latest technologies in this field.       

 Adnan Al Rais, Head of Ground Systems at EIAST said: “ this agreement will widen the opportunities for Emirati women to work in the space researches as women nowadays are empowered by their high degrees of education and ambition”.    

The agreement reflects the extent of the technological and cultural development that the UAE reached, and  the governmental sectors confidence on the abilities of Emirati Women to produce and achieve.

 Adnan Al Rais

    

Social Media Globalizes You in 10 Minutes

By Hessa Juma

The Middle East Public Relations Association organized their first student public relations day sessions to share experiences with the students. During the day, many sessions were held. The opening session public relation. In the social media session. Alexander McNabb from Spot-On Focused on the fact that shows the increasing of the social media users here in the UAE and the Middle East and talked about it in details. “You got a fantastic opportunities in your hands, especially as an Emirati”, said Alexander McNabb. Mr. McNabb assured that the importance of looking to the world through social media is a part of our lives.

"Entering fashion with no background" By Maryam Ali

Hamda Al Abbar a 20 year old fashion designer has entered the world of fashion without having studied fashion design. Relying on solely word of mouth since she began in September 2010 Hamda successfully sold more than 300 dresses. Hamda designs and customizes maxi dresses which is the craze of the season and a must have outfit. Collection is called ‘MAVAZI’, meaning dress in African.

Hamda’s inspiration has been derived from African prints and the flow of their traditional material. This style of dress has been a hit with the young Emarati girls since orders have been pouring in since the launch of her designs.

TEDX Dubai Women, Another Success Accomplished by Emirati Women

By: Fatma Al Zarouni

Dubai: Under the patronage of his highness sheikh Majid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of  the Dubai Culture and Art Authority, TEDX Dubai Women was hosted by Zayed University on the 8th of December for the first time, surprisingly it was directed and presented by the university’s  students themselves.

The globally held event introduced five local speakers who shared their stories of success with the TEDX audience all over the globe. The event showed the creative spirit of the speakers and students who ran the event successfully despite all the technical problems they faced during the event.

James Piceway, a Professor at Zayed University and a TEDX Staff said that everybody who witnessed the running of this event  believed that this is what defines a truly TEDX event, as being independently organized, and it was ran by students for the greater community.           


JAMES

Roz, a Security at Zayed University Announced her New Faith by Wearing a Veil on her Head

By: Fatma Al Zarouni

Dubai: A new Filipino security at Zayed University converted from Christianity to Islam three months ago by her own will, after she was given a pamphlet about Islam by a student at the University.

The recently joined to Islam security changed her name from Roz to Roudah and began to implement duties of Islam starting from wearing Hijab.

She also expressed her happiness and comfort as a member of Islam, and assured that it’s a religion of peace and harmony, denying  all the distortions she heard about Islam before. 

ROZ

Zayed University Undergraduates are the Next Competitors in the World of Work

By: Fatma Al Zarouni

Dubai: Zayed University (ZU) undergraduates acquired the attention of many private companies and governmental sectors who seek each year for new batch of graduates from Zayed University.

The optimistic expectations of students and teachers have created a productive community which led students to be the most demanded manpower in the country.

Adel Jendli, Associate Professor and Internship Coordinator believes that ZU students are much better than those who are already working, and described them as competitors who are very well equipped and prepared to support the economic and social advancement of the UAE.

In the world of work, Zayed university students created an intense competition and proved their proficiency in the toughest jobs due to many valuable skills they earned throughout their academic years.

ADEL JENDLI

“66 million user of internet in the middle east”

By: Hessah Hareb

“66 million user of internet in the middle east”, said Alexander Mcnabb. Mcnabb,Group Account Director at Spot on Public Relations. Discussed the aspects that affects the social media, and how people can narrow their research. Social media gives people faster and more efficient access to information.“The more a person can give, the more popular he can be. YouTube is another big platform,” he said. He also added “The time spent in the social network is huge; nearly 88% of people in the UAE are accessing the Internet.” In addition, this helps people to improve their social activity through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Google.

" Feel like a women wear a dress"

 By: Hessah Hareb

“”I took a pen and I just wrote "feel like a women wear a dress", and that was my ad””, said Diane Von Furstenberg.

Recently, she gave a talk about her journey in fashion and female Empowerment at Zayed University. Marrying a prince wasn’t the end of her fairytale, but it was just the beginning. She lived a short marriage with the prince; she got divorced and moved to New York to fulfill her career in fashion.

Furstenberg wanted to be more than just a regular princess; she founded many things in fashion. One of the famous things she created in fashion was the iconic wrap dress in early 1970s.

During the presentation, Furstenberg showed images of herself wearing a wrap dress 35 years ago and a photo of Michelle Obama wearing the almost similar wrap last year. Furstenberg likes to invent new styles and accessories that stay in trend. She participated in the Market week. When all buyers come from all around the country.

 "I listed myself in the fashion calendar and book a room in the hotel. I took a pen and I just wrote feel like a women wear a dress, and that was my ad. This sentence that I wrote will stick with me forever", said Furstenberg.

Diane Audio

Luxury Marketing Council Breakfast at ZU

By: Manal Abdullah

Zayed University in Dubai arranged an breakfast event with the  collaboration of Luxury Marketing Council. Many important marketing people attended the event beside the marketing and advertising students from Zayed university and other universities as well. Many important people from the university attended including Zayed university Provost ,dean of communication collage ,dean of business collage and faculty members. The goal of the breakfast was to exchange marketing experiences between ZU and the Luxury Marketing Council. The event started by the host’s word then the provost’s word and then the council members discussions. The event provided a chance for marketing students to mingle with real marketing people and get to know them and discuss issues in terms of marketing and  helped them know the situation of marketing today.

This is a record of one of Zayed university marketing students talking about her experience:

 Marketing Breakfast student audio

Director Ali F. Mostafa the fighter and the believer

By: Manal Abdullah



Ali F. Mostafa



Ali F. Mostafa the director of city of life movie visited Zayed University on Sunday the 9^th of January 2011 to give a speech for communication and media students about achieving their dreams and fighting for them. Ali grew up addicted in films and movies. He was playing with his parents video camera and shoots movie scenes where the  heroes were his toys. This is when his passion in directing started and he knew what to do. Later on, he started sketching interior designs and then moved to design wedding stages. Ali indicated that his best decision was when he left to get a masters in London Film School. His huge step in his career was directing the city of life movie. The movie’s idea was not accepted by the UAE media and it was rejected for six months and a half. However, Ali believed in his movie and fought for it risking his job and reputation in order to make his movie see the light. Until that day came when he reached H.H. Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoom to get his blessing saying to him :” fate of Emirati cinema lies on your decision”. Sheikh Mohamed was proud of him and blessed him which made the movie become the longest running Arab film ever.   Ali Mostafa Audio

“Huda Kattan” the modern dreamer

By: Manal Abdullah

Huda Kattan the Hollywood trained makeup artist and beauty blogger, indicated in her speech at Zayed University TedxDubaiwomen event that she considers herself as  an extremely modern woman. She calls herself as a modern woman not because she tweets or because she have the latest gadgets. She calls herself a modern woman because she knows that she can achieve anything with respect and integrity. Huda added that her career in beauty made her feel fulfilled more than the one she had in finance. Finance gave her the education degree, the perfect job and the position of success  that every woman dream of. However, finance couldn’t give her the happiness ,feeling of comfort and life spice which she was searching for. She said;” when I decided to start my career in makeup, it was one of the riskiest things I had set out to do in my life, but for some reason, it felt so right”. Her new decision made her energetic ,passionate and fulfilled. Finally , she asked the audience to do what they love and love what they do.

Tarifa Ajaif

  By Hessah Hareb                                                                                                                          

Tarifa Ajaif ,gave a speech at Zayed University's TedxDubaiWomen event on 8th of December. Tarif Ajaif is the owner of a recently

Established consultancy firm, Go Global that aims to inspire people through Legos. Ajaif shared some LEGO constructions and explained the stories behind them. She also provided an example of how she used Lego to construct and relate to her personal identity. Ajaif said,” LEGO Serious Play methodology is used to build a model and give it meaning through metaphors." She referred to Lego as problem solving tool that inspires individuals to create. Ajaif mentioned that people don’t really listen but Lego helps by making it easier to listen. "LEGO is used to tell a story,you construct something then try to convince others by telling your story” Ajaif said. The Lego Group certified Tarifa Ajaif, after training at their headquarters. Ajaif has also 10 years worth of experience working with youth and High Education.

Khaled Abol Naga talks about his movie in DFF

By Hamda Shaban

In the 7th Dubai International Film Festival , Khaled Abol Naga  was one of the celebrities who participate in DFF. Kaled is an Egyptian actor, TV host. He will be participating with  two movies  this year which are Heliopolis and Microphone. During his interview Mr. Abol Naga  talks about his colleges and the director for his movie (Microphone) which will be shown in DFF. On the other hand , he will participate in a concert which will be held in DFF. The concert will be dedicating to terrorism victims in Alexandria. Mr. Abol Naga  is a Human and Child rights activist and has been a UNICEF Ambassador since 2007.

Video ( Kaled talks about the movie, concert)

Dubai Film Festival is running for eight days from 12-19 December. DFF begins in 2004, and today it is one of the most advanced  film festivals in the Middle East.

“Letters to Palestine” an idea worth spreading

By: Arwa Al Mazrooei

 

“Do not forget us” the four words that made Butheina Kazim, the producer of the documentary “Letters to Palestine”, think about an idea to create a series of communications between Palestinians living in Palestine and the Arab world. Buthaina declared that the discovering that Palestinians did not want the money or the monetary help, they only want to be remembered to her  that" struck a chord". After her discovery she had a goal in mind, she wanted to find a way to make Palestinians feel remembered, and that’s when the idea of “Letters to Palestine” evolved. “Letters to Palestine” is the documentary film that Butheina produced to send the messages that Palestinians never get a chance to hear or read. This documentary gave them a sincere content that was never projected through the media. “Letters to Palestine” gathered various Arabs from different age groups and occupations to capture their stories, their feelings, and their messages and send them to assure the people of Palestine that Arabs still remember them and they always will. On the 8^th of December Butheina Kazim presented her idea “Letters to Palestine” on TedxDubaiWomen stage at Zayed University. She started the speech by telling the story that inspired her to start the project. Butheina said that: “The project started with all the different people that share the same relationship with Palestine. 20 voices 7 nationalities 0 budget”. She played some of the messages that were filmed and showcased in Palestine, and she also viewed the trailer of the documentary. Her speech didn’t only talk about her experience with Palestinians and the documentary, she also included her idea of re-imagining the media, and encouraged the audience to re-imagine media in this region and start making a change of what the disliked about it.   

This is a small part of her speech at TedxDubaiWomen that was held in Zayed University:

The ambassadors of Zayed University

By: Arwa Al Mazrooei

“Minute Women”, this is the name Dr. Ron gave to the girls who were qualified enough to represent Zayed University. His success story with the girls 2 years ago, and now the group is more than qualified to represent not only the University, but the whole United Arab Emirates. Dr. Ron created the Hala Group in an attempt to gather Emarati students to represent the college of communication and media sciences and the university. The Hala members did not only represent the university, but they set the bar high and started creating their own projects which includes the teacher’s survival kits, organizing major’s day, organizing the graduation ceremony, as well as putting TedxDubai Women together. Here is Hala president Fatima Al Sayegh explaining more about the Group, and their upcoming philanthropic project:

“Mission Impossible 4” Filming in Dubai

By: Arwa Al Mazrooei

Dubai became a magnet for movie makers and its slowly turning into the movie hub of the Middle East region. The managing director of Dubai Media incorporated believes that Mission Impossible 4 is the start of the cinema business in Dubai, whereas others have a different opinion. Here is an interview with one of Zayed University Communication and Media Sciences students:

CSR must endure the economic crunch

Corporate social responsibility is an important aspect that forms the company’s image for its public. Wafa’ Tarnowska, the CSR manager of Middle East DLA Piper law firm talked about the importance of CSR survival in the company’s strategy during the credit crisis. Our reporter Arwa Mohammed interviewed her during MEPRA’s PR day CSR workshop and this is what she said: 

By: Arwa Al Mazrooei

Ms. Amna Abulhoul in TEDx Dubai Women talking about her internship in Disney

By Hamda Shabn

Ms. Amna Abulhoul, is Emirati woman who is an art director who did her interns in Walt Disney. In TEDx at Zayed University, Ms. Abulhoul was the first speaker who talks about her dream and how did she accomplished it. According to Abulhoul it all started in 1994 when her father brought her the the film The Lion King, after watching the colorful moving character she know exactly what she want to be when she get older. However, her dream became true in 2008 when she participate in Disney Imagineering competition and reached the final. In Nov 2,2009 she started to work in Walt Disney after doing the interview. Abulhoul concluded her talk by saying that faith and trust is the key for your dream to come true.

Video (the experience of working in Walt Disney)

The director Ali Mostafa talks about the process of making the City of Life

By Hamda Shaban

The Emarati movie City of Life was directed by Ail Mostfa who came's to Zayed University to talk about the process of making the movie. The director especially discussed the hardship which he faced before the movie sees the light. He also talked about the purpose of making the first Emirati independent feature film.

Audio (purpose of making the City of Life)

The City Of Life production was cost about 5 million dollars. Although the script of the film changed few times because the council thought that it pictures Dubai as un perfect city and they want to show the perfect city image. However, after 6 and half months of fighting they agreed to make him shoot the movie but had difficulties the get the final agreement to release the film.

Audio (3 weeks before the primer of the movie)

Audio (Sheikh Mohammed approval)

Mr. Mostafa concludes his lecture by telling the audience to never give up and to fight for their beliefs. He also said that the key of his success is that he kept having faith in his case. His future plans are to make a road movie using same of the actress that he used in City of Life.

UAE’s First Students PR Day

By: Arwa Al Mazrooei

 

The Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA) joined forces with several local universities to launch UAE’s first students PR day on the 1st of November. The event was held in Dubai’s Women College from 9am to 4pm and almost 200 students attended the event from HCT colleges in Dubai and Fujairah, Zayed University in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Middlesex University Dubai Campus and American University in Sharjah. This event aims to help students map out there goals and set a career path to follow after graduating. It also gives them a glimpse of what to expect when they start working by interviewing students that already got the chance to experience working in the PR sector. The event included different workshops and seminars that concentrated on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), social media, media relations and employee engagement done by speakers from the top professionals in the PR field. MEPRA’s Executive director, Rebecca Hill stated that "It is in our interests as current practitioners to ensure that students enter the workforce with realistic expectations, more informed as to their career prospects and more equipped at finding a job that suits them.” 

The future of CSR in UAE

By Hamda Shaban

Wafa Tarnowska  the Manager  of Corporate Social Responsibilities at DLA Piper Middle East attend the MEPRA day at HTC Dubai Women’s College. The number of students who went to MEPRA were between fifty to seventy students. At eleven am Miss Tarnowska begin her lecture about CSR which means to act responsibly and  to add positively to the communities we operate in, it might not provide an immediate financial benefit to the company, but instead promote positive social and environmental change.

After the lecture ended Miss Tarnowska did an interview to talk to express her thoughts about the future of CSR in the United Arab Emirates and what will increase the awareness of CSR in the UAE. However, Miss Tarnowak  gives the credit for media for playing the role of rising the awareness of CSR in the UAE.

Audio 1 ( CSR awareness)

Audio 2 (CSR future)

Here are the audios:

Parking issue in Zayed Universtiy

By Hamda Shaban

Shortage of parking spaces has become an issue in Zayed University. After international students and men has become a part of ZU, the students number increased. However, students around the campus agreed that parking problem started to get bigger

Here are some of the students' telling their opinions about the parking issues.

Audio 1

 Audio 2

Audio 3

If we continue to ignore the parking problem it will cause a disaster in the near future. Both faculties and students are stressed out because of the parking issue due to the increasing the absence rate or having parking fines. That’s why we need to look for a solution soon on order to prevent other problems from occurring.

"Create your own Mona Lisa and show it to the world"

by: Shaikha Al Qassemi

Trained makeup artist and beauty consultant Huda Kattan attended the TEDx Dubai Women as a guest speaker in Zayed University. The crowd listened attentively as Kattan took the stage with humble and friendly presence.

As an employee at a finance company she didn’t find the happiness and fulfillment she was yearning for. “There was no spice in my life, and that’s what I was looking for” said Kattan. Soon after quitting her job, she traveled to Hollywood to train as a makeup artist and soon turned into a high profile beauty expert.

Kattan gained her popularity through working with high profiles and her beauty blog that gets up to 3,500 hits a day. 

ZU’s pros and cons from the mens point of view

by: Shaikha Al Qassemi 

Men’s Academic Program started in September and they have already put together a student council. Council President, Salem Al Marri, said there are several issues they want to take up with the university to improve the student environment. However, he had previously been in Dubai University College and finds Zayed has some advantages.

Salem Al Marri, is the first men’s student council president and after half a term, he already has advice for future presidents.

SpotOn urges communication students to tweet!

by: Shaikha Al Qassemi

            Alexander McNabb, of SpotOn Public Relations, emphasized on the importance of using social networks for PR companies in the UAE, especially when there is a need for getting opinions from locals and expatriates.

            As an example on how effective Twitter can be, McNabb described the controversy that raised brows when Vanilla Ice was set to perform in Dubai. Despite the passing of a member of the Al Nahyan family a text was sent out saying, “Ice ice baby, gig’s going to go ahead and it’s not dry”, meanwhile, Sultan Al Gargawi retaliated by posting on his Twitter account “This is not acceptable to me, this cannot happen”.  Through the flow of opinion, from Emiraties and expatriates that afternoon, the concert was cancelled by 5 o’clock.

            The power of social networking is outstanding in this region, although Emiraties do not take advantage of it.

Dubai Film Festival on its Seventh Session

By Muna Mustafawi 

The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) announced the event in the Arab world, Africa, Europe and Asia, on the participation of 157 films from 57 countries through the activities of its seventh session, held in December 2010 in the presence of the stars of world cinema. 

A group of Arab artists came like Huda ALkhateeb from UAE, Mr. Khaleed Abo Naga from Egypt and also, celebrities from Europe are attended such as Colin Farell from Irish and Colin Firth from United Kingdom and others. During the week of the festival, it provided a verity of the best wonderful creative movies of the world cinema that shows for the first time. 

We are a group of students from Zayed University who organized the event. We were interviewing guests, local and international celebrities and finally go through the editing and uploading them on the YouTube channel.

So, here are some interviews doing during the event. 

                                                                     Najwa from Qatar 

 

 

                                                                       Colin Forell

Working woman in sector work

 By Muna Mustafawi

 

Photo supplied

Nour AL-Dein Al-Youssef, is a media man rising in presenting programs in Sama Dubai television, holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication specialty radio and television. During his visit to Zayed University, he presented a lecture on working men and woman in sectors work.

He said that woman have now moved into many areas of work. The entry of women in the sector work imposed by economic conditions and does not reflect a radical change in tradition.

He said also that one of the announcers who presents in Sama Dubai, previously, she worked in the Department of Public Relations and her family did not let her be on TV.

However, during a visit of his highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid to the sections of the department, he praised her and said she looked like she had the skills to be on a TV program, and asked why she wasn’t a presenter. When she told her family about His Highness’s speech, they let her finally to present in a TV.

Nour Al-Youseff added that women, like men, and have proven successful in several areas. 

He was asked by Muna in Converged Media class about working men and women in sector work. 

Nour-Al-Dein.mp3

The Thought of the Arab Nationalism

 By Muna Mustafawi

The topic of Arab Nationalism was argued and discussed by regional experts and 200 Zayed University students in an Al Arabia television program filmed at the university.

Dr. Ghassan Ataya from Iraq said Religion and the Arabic language are what bind us with Arab Nationalism “Arabs are a theory but as an application different from reality and our generations are far from national dimension, but it protects them,” he said. 

Dr. Naser Arif of Zayed University said Arab nationalism is not a passport but is its substance. “Some factors that characterized the Arabs contributed significantly to the weakness of Islamic civilization, such as language which every country has its own language,” he said.

Students in the audience were asked if speaking Arabic made people one nation. 45% agreed, and 35% opposed and the rest agreed that there is no relationship to the Arabic nation.

Mr. Mishary Abdul Aziz from Saudi Arabia said “Arab nationalism failed and became imported from the West based on their ideas.” He said an invasion of Kuwait is an example of it. Arabism confirmation of the self and anti-racism, like Iraq’s recognition of the Kurds.

The students in the audience were asked if the Arab peoples need to consolidate Arab nationalism: 32% agreed, 18% opposed and 49% vote “sometimes”.

Dr. Ataya said that nationalism linked to militarism, after that it became a civilian dictatorship like in Iraq.

But, Dr. Nasser Aref had a different opinion; he noted that the third world military countries led the liberation movements and revolutions against colonialism. He concluded by saying Arab nationalism is not incompatible with Islamic law. The idea of nationalism found after colonization. Islam is not incompatible with awareness. Our religion had been the incubator of the Arabism.

A question was asked to Dr. Aref after the forum by Converged Media student Muna Mustafawi, Are the Arabs Arab language and culture or the proportions? (In Arabic)

Arab-Nationalisim1.mp3

Employee Engagement

By Muna,Mustafawi & Mana.Abdullah

“Employees are the arms and the legs of the company”, this quote explains the idea of employee engagement which was presented by Brenda O’Neil, the Consultant of Internal Communication at the Middle East Public Relations Association.
For many years, the heart of Dubai’s money has been generated from trading, which is depended on logistics.
Brenda O’Neil said; “logistics is relying on operations” In many cases, operations takes 95% of a company work. So, to get the operation system works in a company, you need to communicate with your employees.

Employees-engagement2.mp3


Ms. O’Neil indicated that PR students should be aware of their work fields and expect that it is not going to be all about external environment and meeting new people. They should make sure that what they say in public, matches the experience at the company.

Brenda-file00661.mp3