The student support unit organized a visit to the Technology incubator 'Badir ' on Wednesday 20/02/1437as part of the activities of the apprenticeship program. This program is a unique one which the College vice Deanship for Educational Affairs offers for students. The delegation included 10 apprentices who were supervised by Dr. Mubarak Al Sayf and Dr. Aala’a Merwad. The visiting students were received by Engineer Faysal Alqedeimi, the incubator manager who stressed on the vital importance of having an objective as well as determination for those working on inventions. He cited the example of an inventor who had only an intermediate school certificate, but who self-learned Japanese language and was able to explore the technological secrets of some devices, and could even invent a device to cut iron by laser technology, the first of its kind in the world. Moreover, students learned more on inventions made by people who benefitted from the technology incubator services. In this respect they learned about a laser device which designs shapes and carves them on non-metallic ores, a device to design 3- dimensional samples using all ores and finally the air bathroom. Then, they watched a video on a device which uses magnets to clean airports runways. To make the visit more practical, students participated in the production of solid shapes using the plastic thermal bending machine. Some other students participated in shaping cell phones plastic holders. At the end of the visit, students spoke to some inventors that the technology incubator has adopted. They all stressed on the importance of determination and persistence to make success possible. They also highlighted the fact that success does not come overnight but rather requires hard work and an immense amount of patience and that one should not give up after a failed attempt. The students who participated in the visit were : Khaled Almadhi, Abdulilah Alnegheimesh, Moataz Aldhahi, Omar Alshaiqi, Mushref Altaweel, Turkey Al dhahi, Abdulilah Alhammad, Fawaz Alsneid, Abdullah AL Hussein and Jedi Alsehli. Dr. Mubarak Al Sayf, the consultant of the student support unit, stressed that the apprenticeship program is part of the university plans for knowledge-based economies which will achieve the vision of the Horizons Project of improving higher education. In fact, the apprenticeship program lasts for a year, and it is divided into three stages: Preparation, Honing students’ skills and Launching. The program consists of a number of activities such as seminars, training courses, periodic meetings with experts and meetings with some leaders inside and outside the university. It is expected that students will come up with some projects at the end of the program.
