Last week, 22 engineering students from universities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) began a unique and innovative virtual engineering internship developed by CAE and the Tawazun Economic Council.

Originally planned as a traditional internship for students at the CAE Middle East offices in Abu Dhabi, the COVID-19 pandemic forced CAE and Tawazun to redevelop the program to a virtual engineering internship that is now enabling 22 students to participate. The engineering students currently attend universities such as Khalifa University (KU), UAE University (UAEU), Higher College of Technology and Abu Dhabi Polytechnic (ADPoly), and all are required to complete an internship with a reputable company in an engineering-related field in order to complete their degree program.

“CAE is excited to partner with Tawazun to create this virtual engineering internship program that will foster the growth and advancement of future engineers in the UAE,” said Thibaut Trancart, Managing Director, Defence & Security -- Middle East, CAE. “We are a company where technology plays an important role in the simulation, training and mission support solutions we create, and engineers are at the heart of these developments. As a truly global company with significant operations in the United Arab Emirates, supporting higher education programs in engineering disciplines is strategic to CAE and the UAE.”

The virtual engineering internship will be an eight-week program with each week focusing on a different module, including several related to general business strategy and how engineering plays a role. The modules will provide students with practical knowledge and experience in these areas: engineering; engineering project lifecycle; training and simulation; aviation; business development and strategy; organizational culture; innovation; and finance. The virtual engineering internship will include a fictitious project that culminates with students presenting an engineering solution to the project that applies what they learned over the eight-week program.

“Tawazun fully supports the concept of virtual internships through digital platforms and we are pleased to work with CAE on this groundbreaking virtual engineering internship in the UAE,” said Matar Ali Al Romaithi, Chief Economic Development Officer of Tawazun. “By providing opportunities for our university students to further develop in the engineering field, we are expanding our human capability development initiative, and contributing to the creation of a knowledge and innovation-based economy.”