Dalhousie’s College of Continuing Education, in collaboration with the Faculty of Management, hosted 30 students from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for three weeks in July as part of the UAE Ambassador+ Program — an initiative focused on helping youth develop leadership and innovation skills.
Four universities from three countries (Singapore, the United States, and Canada) were chosen by UAE ‘s Ministry of Education to teach participants the values of innovation in technology and business.
Out of 1200 students who applied for the Ambassador+ Program, 30 were chosen from six institutions across four emirates to experience life as a student at Dalhousie University.
Debbie Gordon, a program director at the College of Continuing Education (CCE), oversaw the Ambassador+ Program from start to finish and says the 90+ hour program proved to be invaluable to every student who participated.
“The curriculum was designed around bringing about their self-awareness of their leadership style,” she says. “We thread it through a curriculum in communications, decision making, strategic thinking, and working in teams, which was absolutely paramount.”
Over the course of three weeks, students attended lectures on the topics of leadership and innovation, visited research facilities and innovation hubs at Dal, toured private-sector operations, and prepared presentations relating to one of the seven strategic innovation plans of the UAE.
A place to call home
Students also had the chance to embrace the Halifax lifestyle, living like locals for the three weeks they visited.
Ali Alghfeli, one Ambassador+ participant, says he felt welcomed as soon as he arrived in Halifax.
“The people here are very friendly,” he says. “When I came here on my first day, I just walked up Spring Garden… and people kept telling me ‘Sorry, sorry.’ My favourite country is Canada."
Alghfeli fell in love with Halifax and is planning to return once he completes his studies to open his own business.
From strangers to family
But extended travel can also be isolating. From language barriers to cultural differences, many people can begin to feel homesick and long for the familiar comforts of their home country.
While the participants in the Ambassador+ Program began as strangers, they quickly became close as they experienced the thrills of traveling a new country.
United Arab Emirates University Geography Professor Khameis Alabdouli, who was chosen to join the young students and ensure their needs were being met during their time at Dalhousie, gushes about the experience.
In addition to learning a lot from the lectures and from Dal faculty members, he says the friendly faces and wealth of nature painted a wonderful picture of Canadian life.
“We haven’t felt homesick. We feel like we are home, all of us,” he says.
As the program concluded and the students prepared for their 16-hour flight home, many of the young men explained that the program had brought them closer to one another despite their diverse backgrounds.
“I came here alone and now I can say I have 30 brothers,” says Alghfeli.
