University students from engineering programmes across the UAE will gather next week to network and enter their project work into friendly competitions at the ninth annual Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Student Day.

This year’s awards event will be sponsored by SAHARA Group and will take place on Saturday, 11 May at the University of Sharjah, and is expected to be attended by about 400 students and faculty members from around 15 UAE universities.

“There are several reasons why we chose to host this competition” said Dr Ahmed Samerai, CEO SAHARA Group: “Firstly, to support creativity and innovation among students. Secondly, to show that students are capable of creating such big events and get them involved in activities outside the classroom that will develop their organisational and leadership skills. And, thirdly, to contribute to the vision to make the UAE one of the best countries by 2021.”

The occasion will open more channels for collaboration between the universities and the engineering industry. As well as offering an opportunity for the industry to meet potential leaders among the participants, it will allow students in various engineering fields to compete and share experiences in an informal professional context.

Students will compete in five categories: common design; engineering design; community design; software engineering; and senior design. On top of the five traditional contests, there will also be additional competitions announced by the IEEE committee.

Organised by the IEE UAE Section and hosted by a different UAE university each year, IEEE Student Day publicises the nation’s successful student chapters of IEEE, the worldwide association for the advancement of technology.