SQU recognised as LabVIEW Academy

In accordance with Sultan Qaboos University’s strategic plan, the Electronics & Communication Engineering (ECE) Department is continuing to build strong links with known international academic and industry organisations to strengthen its educational and research programmes. Among these organisations is the National Instruments Corporation (NI), a well-known leading international company in the field Instrumentation. NI is based in America with over 5,000 employees and direct operations in 41 countries, and it is a producer of automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software. The widely-used NI LabVIEW software, an advanced graphical development environment, is used by many prominent universities and established industries to develop graphical user-friendly applications in numerous fields of engineering and measurement sciences. SQU has recently established with NI the first LabVIEW Academy in the Arab Gulf region. This step is expected to benefit tremendously SQU’s engineering and science graduating students as it will provide them with the opportunity and ability to strengthen and apply their knowledge in industry. The LabVIEW Academy program uses a blended learning model that combines face-to-face teaching with engaging content and hands-on lab trainings. This model prepares students for the demands of industry and higher education in engineering, computer science, and related measurement and instrumentation. NI will issue a Certificate of Completion of the course for each student that pass the exam of the LabVIEW Academy programme. Such a certificate will give SQU students a competitive chance in the job market. The focal person of the NI LabVIEW Academy at SQU is Prof Hadj Bourdoucen, from the ECE Department, College of Engineering. He was invited to attend the yearly NI regional meeting on May 17, 2012 in Beirut, Lebanon, to announce the inauguration of the SQU LabVIEW Academy. This took place during the NI Academic Conference Day on “Encouraging Innovation and Creativity”, which was attended by industry experts and academicians to share their experiences on fostering innovation.