The College of Science and Engineering at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) has launched a unique Artificial Intelligence programme at the undergraduate level from this academic year, the dean of the college told Gulf Times.
“This year we are launching a new programme on artificial intelligence. It is a unique programme which is attracting a lot of students. This is a four-year programme and has been launched for the undergraduate students,” disclosed Dr Mounir Hamdi, the founding dean of the College of Science and Engineering on the sidelines of the ongoing orientation programme for the incoming students.
According to Dr Hamdi, the key components of this programme target engineering problems. “The typical artificial intelligence courses or programmes target software development and so forth. In our case, we are targeting engineering problems. We focus on using artificial intelligence to solve engineering problems, whether it is related to chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and so forth,” he explained.
The College of Science and Engineering currently offers the largest portfolio of undergraduate and degree programmes within the university. The college is home to the supplementary Division of Engineering Management and Decision Sciences, Division of Sustainable Development, and the Division of Information and Computing Technology, which together form a unique, multidisciplinary education and research environment of the highest calibre.
According to the official, this is the third batch of the undergraduate programmes at the university. He continued: “Some of the undergraduate programmes used to be with Texas A&M University in Qatar and now they are with HBKU. This is the third intake of the engineering programmes that used to be with Texas A&M University in Qatar. Now we have worked on these programmes and made some specialisations for them. However, we used to have one undergraduate programme in computer engineering for a long time.”
Dr Hamdi said that this academic year, the university has accepted over 315 students for various engineering programmes at the undergraduate level. He also noted that the college has several plans for new programmes in the coming years, which will be announced once finalised and approved by the government authorities.
“We will be starting some new programmes in the near future and we have lined up two very exciting and innovative undergraduate programmes. We will reveal them and announce the details when and if they are approved by the authorities. They are really forward-looking programmes that have been approved by our board. Now we are working on the details,” he underlined.
He stated that the new students will not only earn degrees in engineering but also contribute to solutions to many of the very important future problems, which in turn will help Qatar and the region in a big way.
“We have recruited some highly talented students for the programmes. I also like to highlight one thing here: engineering is becoming more and more important in various fields with a lot innovation happening in science and technology. The message is that with artificial intelligence, with sustainable development, with health problems, engineering in general is becoming extremely important in the current scenario,” added dean Hamdi.
HBKU provides a number of programmes to support students, such as the Student Support Service and the Student Enrichment Programme at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It provides academic support to help undergraduate students achieve their educational goals throughout their academic journey. These services are designed to enhance both individual learning and group collaboration.