GAMES12 Dubai’s video game lovers were treated to a weekend full of playable demos, cosplay, and all manner of competitions. What’s that you say? A video game event in Dubai? Of course! Dubai’s gamers were invited to attend GAMES12ME, a weekend-long gaming extravaganza just outside Dubai Festival City. Fans got to try out playable demos of some of the most highly anticipated games of the year such as Assassin’s Creed 3, Resident Evil 6, and Halo 4 among many other titles. In addition to the demos, cosplayers attended the event en masse! We’ve managed to catch Kratos (God of War), Conner (Assassin’s Creed 3), Hellboy, Pikachu (Pokémon), Finn the Human (Adventure Time), Duke Nukem, Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), and even Luffy from One Peace. We’re not sure when non-video game characters were allowed to be cosplayed at a video game convention but it’s not like we mind either. by
Mohammed al qamzi
ALHOSN EARNS ABET ACCREDITATION FOR ENGINEERING PROGRAMS ALHOSN University added a new feather to its cap by earning approval from the non-profit US-based Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET) for its Bachelor of Science degree programs in Civil Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Software Engineering This marks the first time that a private university in Abu Dhabi has received ABET accreditation for its Civil Engineering program. It is also the first time that any university in the UAE has received ABET accreditation for its Industrial and Software Engineering programs.
KHALIFA UNIVERSITY STUDENT PUBLISHES RESEARCH PAPER ON EDUCATION Khalifa University announced today that one of its’ Masters in Engineering by Research students, Sohailah Makhmasi, has been invited to share the results of her research project at the upcoming Frontiers in Education Conference in Seattle, Washington, USA taking place this October. “We have a problem,” says Sohailah. “Right now the number of students choosing science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, is less than half of those choosing arts. Last year, for every student that chose to follow a STEM career path, three chose to follow an arts related career path. I think it’s important to find out why.” “Many students felt that their teachers lacked the capability to teach the subjects. They find them too difficult to pass. Also, especially amongst male public school students, their lack of English proficiency played a big part. In order to major in STEM in university you have to have a high level of English. These students didn’t possess the necessary scores to get into the programs These are issues that really need to be addressed. “The paper that Sohailah will present in Seattle will discuss a second survey that she conducted, identifying ways that teachers could improve how they teach STEM subjects.