HCT Fujairah Men’s and Women’s Colleges played host to a multitude of activities on November 24th, launching year-long celebrations for their respective five year and ten year anniversaries. Opening the celebrations at both colleges was His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology.
His Excellency, Sheikh Nahayan was thrilled with the progress and strides HCT Fujairah Colleges have made in their short history. He commended the leadership and hard work of all faculty, staff and students over the years, stating, “Thanks to your dedication and efforts, we feel very optimistic about the future of the College as we contemplate the continued impact of its graduates and its service to the community. I invite all of you to join with me in a commitment to embracing the vision for this college as a center of excellence whose contributions will accrue over many years in the future”.
Accompanying His Excellency was Dr. Tayeb Kamali, Vice Chancellor for all 18 of the Higher Colleges of Technology, and a number of HCT Fujairah Community Board Members and Alumni. Tours of both campuses afforded honored guests opportunities to view the main buildings, libraries, redesigned cafeterias, and new wadi. They also visited the recently added Engineering Wing, which hosted an Engineering Challenge - a balsa bridge competition.

Presentations were made to ten-year faculty and staff, and Xerox Emirates Business Administration HCT award winner, Abeer Khalfan. As well, HCT graduates who are now employed by the HCT were also on hand to be recognized.
It was a full day of proud celebration for HCT Fujairah with much more to come. “It is an exciting time to be at the Higher Colleges of Technology - Fujairah as we highlight these important anniversaries” said Director Mark Johnson. Both Fujairah Women’s College and Fujairah Men’s College are making plans for other celebratory events throughout the year.

The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) – Fujairah, hosted a seminar at the Fujairah Men’s College to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week, which is focused on inspiring young entrepreneurs to embrace the idea of starting a business using innovation and creativity. The seminar was held on 16th of November with over 100 men and women students attending the seminar.
The guest speakers included Mr. Sultan Jemei Obaid Bin Jemei, Deputy Director of the Fujairah Chamber of Commerce & Industry and several local successful entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs were Mr. Ali Al Dhanhani, the founder of Zgert Brand, Mrs. Aisha Jassem, the founder of Super Baby Nursery, and Mr. Sultan Saif Al Samahi, a serial entrepreneur. The seminar covered the financial and supplementary support provided by the Chamber of Commerce & Industry for new entrepreneurs and success stories by the local businesspersons on how they started their business highlighting opportunities and challenges of owning your business. They also inspired the students by sharing advice on staying focused, learning from mistakes, and having positive self-esteem.
This event was organized by the Business Administration Bachelor students from both the Fujairah Men’s and Women’s College studying Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management. They wanted to make their mark and join in the global celebration. By the end of the course, each student will develop a business plan.
Global Entrepreneurship Week, the worldwide celebration of creativity and innovation, ran from Nov. 16-22, 2009.
We are proud to host this global event at our campus. The world knows that entrepreneurship is the key to economic success, and the next generation (our students) of innovators holds that key.” said, Mr. Mark Johnson, Director of HCT -Fujairah.
This seminar is one of many events being planned around the world. Young people around the globe are uniting together to change the world. That’s why hundreds of organizations worldwide are holding events to inspire, connect, mentor and engage young people and encourage them to pursue entrepreneurial ideas and opportunities.

For more information about Global Entrepreneurship Week: http://www.unleashingideas.org/2008_in_review

Omar Ayyash,
Business Faculty at Fujairah Women’s College

Fujairah Women’s College has selected their 1st “Students of the Month” of this academic year based on the following criteria; the student has demonstrated commitment, effort and drive to improve his academic progress and the student has shown remarkable improvement in one or more areas related to personal skills (e.g. improved time management, enhanced organizational skills… etc.).
Since FWC has over 1200 students the students were selected from the following divisions: Diploma Foundations, Higher Diploma Foundations, Work Readiness, Diploma and Higher Diploma.
The students were bestowed the following gifts:
Framed Certificate
Picture with the Director – Mr. Mark Johnson
Voucher for 1 month complimentary use of the Fujairah Tennis Club facilities (worth 650 AED)
Voucher from Costa Coffee for AED 25
Voucher from Optic Gallery for AED 200
Lunch Vouchers
Box of Fuala Chocolates
HCT-Fujairah Leather Folder with Pen
Memory Stick
Canvas Bag
Picture on Plasma Screens for the Month

1st “Students of the Month”

Diploma Foundations Program: Nourah Obaid Ali
Nourah’s instructor Deb Smock nominated her and this is what she had to say about her performance: She has consistently improved on quizzes and tests. She is never late to class.
Serves as “English policewoman” to remind students to use English ! Does extra practice to learn, in addition to always completing homework on time. She is a great model for others, and has a wonderful attitude. She is committed to success!

Higher Diploma Foundations Program: Fatmah Ali Jumah
Fatmah’s instructor Yurii Vedrashko nominated her and this is what he had to say about her performance: Her grades for five Blackboard Vista Reading Quizzes display steady growth and now have reached the peak, i.e., the highest possible growth. She’s never absent, even when she’s not feeling well. Once, despite her terrible toothache, she remained calm and focused, demonstrating good examples of patience and commitment to learning. Always attentive, self-motivated, helpful and friendly with her peers, a good team player. She actively participates in online forums, i.e., posts messages with questions about grammar and generously shares her world knowledge with the class. She also does more work than what’s expected of her. She often volunteers to do more work; she helps others in an unobtrusive civilized manner.

Work Readiness Program: Amnah Mohamed

Amnah’s instructors nominated her and this is what they had to say about her performance: Consistent improvement in all her grades, asks questions for clarification, tries to use English as much as she can. Very good attendance, always punctual. Attends scheduled SSCE sessions. Shows initiative and contributes to the overall running of the classroom, always prepared with binder and other equipment, assists weaker students if she can. She is a pleasure to teach. She is a friendly, respectful student, who is kind top her peers. She tries to do her best in all her subjects.

Classroom Assistant Diploma Program:
Bushra Ibrahim Al Hawasin

Bushra’s instructors Mary Hughes and Colin Colquhoun nominated her and this is what they had to say about her performance: She has gone from an average student to one of the top students in the class. She uses the library several times a week and encourages other students to go with her to study. She is able to think deeply about what she has learned in class and apply it to her Practicum work. She will remind students of work to be done if they are close to the deadline. It is in her nature to be a leader and she does so with grace. She takes the lead in projects as she is a natural leader. She has taken the lead in the FWC farm project. She is a perfect classroom assistant for her teachers at FWC. She has proven to be a responsible and reliable student who takes initiative in and out of the classroom. She has always maintained a positive outlook on life and this positivity has helped create a pleasant classroom atmosphere.

Business Administration Higher Diploma Program: Khawla Ali Rashed

Khawla’s instructors Donna Lawson, Lionel Hauritz, Nathan Kawansson and Shain Sewbaran nominated her and this is what they had to say about her performance: She has 100% attendance. She has used all the resources that were available to her inside and outside the college to conduct several researches and was able to prepare an outstanding report. She always takes initiatives in the class activities and is an active group member in group-based projects. She is a team player with an ability to lead when necessary. She has been contributing significantly to the training of colleagues. She is a keen and conscientious student who continually strives to do her best as a mother of 5 and a student in her final year at FW.

Did you know that you can become a member of the Fujairah Men’s and Women’s College Library and gain access to tens of thousands of resources?
HCT Fujairah invites you to become a community member of our libraries. All in the East Coast region are welcome to explore and checkout (borrow) the many thousands of resources that we have, including:
Children’s books; Junior & Young Adult Fiction; Adult Fiction; Nonfiction (cookbooks, travel, health & wellness, etc.); Education & Research Resources; American Corner; Magazines & Newspapers and DVDs
Our professional staff is available to support you in your quest for personal growth and lifelong learning, making available their extensive expertise, providing access to various resources for students and readers of all ages. We select materials in response to current topics and we strive to provide information on a variety of subjects in many areas of interest.
And what’s more we have the best coffee café in town – recently Costa Coffee opened coffee cafés at both Fujairah Men’s and Fujairah Women’s Colleges. Community borrowers have access to the library and Costa Coffee at Fujairah Men’s College on Sundays 5pm and 8pm and at Fujairah Women’s College on Tuesdays between 5pm and 8pm. In addition, the library at Fujairah Women’s College is arranging a programme of events in December (see accompanying advertisement). Fujairah HCT hopes that this will become a regular feature on the Fujairah calendar.
Fujairah Women’s College contact: Kandy Szymusiak, Tel. (09)2011235, kandy.szymusiak@hct.ac.ae
Fujairah Men’s College Library contact: Pamella Asquith, Tel (09) 2011 631, pamella.asquith@hct.ac.ae
Community membership costs 200Dhs per annum.

This semester, students at Fujairah Colleges of Higher Technology are participating in a special new project to encourage reading for pleasure. It is called The Hungry Readers’ Club.
Thanks to generous sponsorship from Pizza Inn and Digital Technology, after students have read twenty books, they receive a voucher for a pizza. If an entire class section finishes twenty books, they will get a fun pizza party. Students are mainly reading special story books called Graded Readers that are designed especially for students to learn vocabulary, grammar and general knowledge of the world. Great literature “classics” are condensed and rewritten so students learning English can enjoy them. For example, there are Graded Readers of Frankenstein (Mary Shelley), Around the World in 80 Days (Jules Verne) and Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austin).
After less than 3 weeks, two students at FMC finished the project: Humaid Al Rayayasa and Yaqoub Al Kindy. Great work guys!
Only a week later, six female engineering students at FMC also finished : Kholoud Al Nuaimi, Amnah Ali Saeed, Shamsah Hassan, Ruqaya Al Darmaki, Layla Al Darmaki and Fatmah Al Hofaity. At FWC, eight students have finished: Aaesha Mohamed Saif, Maryam Mohamed Salem, Wedad Ahmed Saeed, Shaikhah Rashed Khameis, Saadeya Hassan Saeed, Dua Ahmed Mohamed, Shaima Juma Abbas, and Amnah Hassan Rashed. Great work ladies!

A comprehensive Safe Driving Campaign was launched at Higher Colleges of Technology, Fujairah Men’s College during the New Student Welcome and Orientation ceremony. The Dubai Public Traffic Prosecution department and Emirates Driving Institute (EDI) combined to offer a theoretical and practical 5-10 week course for all new male Foundations students.
This initiative arose from a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Higher Colleges of Technology and the Dubai Prosecutor’s office in 2007 to improve the standards of driving of HCT students and make them more aware of the legal consequences of poor driving. Jointly developed by Dubai Men’s College and Public Prosecutor Office personnel, the Prosecutor’s Office distributed the Safe Driving Handbook which were taught by the Fujairah Men’s College English faculty during the first 5 weeks of semester 1.

The handbook provided most of the introductory English language required by the new students and offered them the opportunity to examine key defensive driving techniques such as the “three second rule” as well as focus on the driver’s responsibility to always drive sensibly and considerately. During this initial phase, Emirates Driving Institute made available to the Fujairah Men’s College the Roll-over Car and Seat Belt Convincer to allow students to experience a roll-over in a car and the effect of sudden braking at 10kph, both when wearing a seatbelt.

From weeks 6-10, EDI provided three instructors and cars to deliver their intensive one-day Defensive Driving Course in Arabic to all students at a ratio of two students to one instructor. Each Fujairah Men’s College student in the program received a full Defensive Driving Course pack with a course guide book, a workbook, DVD, child-safety/tyre-care booklets, tyre pressure gauge and car stickers. Certificates of completion were issued to all successful students.