Academia and industry unite to nurture STEM skills among future workforce – RIT Dubai’s students, Abdullah Adawi, Anas Nazzal, and Shahd Salahat, embarked on their internships with General Motors.
Four students from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) of Dubai recently secured prestigious internship opportunities with renowned automotive manufacturer, General Motors, to apply their technical talents in the workplace while pursuing their university studies. The collaboration between RIT Dubai and General Motors Africa and Middle East reflects the organisations’ shared goals to nurture the next generation of STEM talent and increase equitable access to skills and professional development in the field.
Senior industrial engineering students, Abdullah Adawi, Anas Nazzal, and Tala Hassouna, and psychology major, Shahd Salahat, embarked on their internships during the recent summer break, contributing to several projects across different departments, while developing new skills along the way.
Keen to step outside her comfort zone and explore a different aspect of the automotive business, Hassouna first set her sights on a role in marketing, before transitioning to an internship within the business development team. She explained, “I wanted to expand my experience and this role has allowed me to learn something completely new. I’ve conducted in depth analyses for GM regionally. So far, the experience has enhanced my analytical, presentation, and communication skills, which will be valuable in my future career.”
Also taking a significant departure from her comfort zone is Salahat, who has embarked on an internship with the GM Africa and Middle East’s marketing department as she enters her third year at RIT Dubai. She said, “I’ve been able to apply my studies in psychology to consider consumer behaviour and persuasion, to develop a site map and user journey for a website project. I never thought about working in a corporate environment, but this opportunity has opened my eyes to different career options beyond clinical psychology.”
For motor enthusiast Nazzal, an internship within the product development team was a dream opportunity to gain an insight into the industry. He said, “GM provides a very positive and welcoming environment, where I’ve received valuable training and developed my soft skills as well as my technical knowledge. Working on the company’s vehicle portfolio expansion has introduced me to new tools and techniques that I hope to take forward with a master’s in data analytics.”
“As a service operations intern, I’ve been involved in optimising the process to support and enhance parts delivery to the network of dealers. This hands-on application of my industrial engineering experience has improved my knowledge and allowed me to develop new skills in data software programs,” added Adawi.
The four interns’ experience at GM forms part of their Cooperative Education at RIT Dubai, which ensures that every student from every major spends at least six months of their degree program gaining meaningful work experience in industry.
Jack Uppal, President & Managing Director, GM Africa and Middle East said, “Our summer internship program is one of my personal favourite times of the year at the General Motors offices. It gives us all an optimistic look at what our future talent pool looks like, and the talent we got this year has been nothing short of promising, especially as we work with institutions in the region to shore up the talent pool in the areas of STEM. The interns that have joined us from RIT under our collaboration this year have added great value – with their dynamic ideas and commitment to their tasks as well as self-development. On behalf of the wider teams, I extend our best wishes to each of them for their bright futures and express our gratitude to RIT Dubai for their invaluable collaboration.”
RIT Dubai President, Dr. Yousef Al-Assaf commented, “The Co-op employment experience provides students with an opportunity to put their educational theory into practice, enabling RIT Dubai graduates to stand out as candidates in the job market. We are delighted to work with global leaders like General Motors to help students learn, develop and make meaningful contributions to businesses in the UAE ecosystem. These prestigious partnerships reflect the calibre of RIT Dubai students and the career prospects they have to look forward to when they graduate.”