Sustaining the company’s efforts to foster and nurture talented Emirati youth, Yahsat recently hosted four students from the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), Abu Dhabi Women’s College as part of its on-going internship program. The course is highly specialised and technical in nature and is the first of its kind for an all-female group.

During the eight week program the students underwent a specially designed course developed by Yahsat’s Technical Department and learned about all aspects of how satellite operations function. This includes; Satellite Ground Control System Engineering and Maintenance (Hardware & IT), Satellite Control Centre Operations, and Payload Control Centre Operations.

Tareq Abdel Raheem Al Hosani, CEO of Yahsat, stated, “We are delighted with the dedication and hard work the four ladies from HCT carried out over the eight weeks, and we hope they found their time with us valuable, insightful and informative. We firmly believe in nurturing the next generation of local talent and our internship program is a great way for students to learn about our business and industry before graduation.”

At the end of their internship each individual was required to give a presentation to Yahsat staff on what they learned and how it will aid their studies in the future and help guide their career path. The students were also given a once in a life time chance to send a command to the Y1A satellite along with a certificate of achievement for this.

Al Hosani added, “Yahsat has close ties with many UAE educational institutions and we are constantly looking at ways to contribute to the education system in order to foster talent development. Having had an experience of working in the satellite communications field I am confident the ladies left us with a greater awareness about the career opportunities available to them within this industry.”

“We are extremely grateful for Yahsat’s support and their efforts to build up talent,” said Dr. Jace Hargis, Director of the HCT’s Abu Dhabi Women’s College. “These students are studying complex degrees in electronic engineering and it is important that they are able to undergo internship programs that enable them to put what they have learnt in to practice. We believe this experience has enabled them to make better informed decisions about future career prospects.”

The students will now complete their degree in Electronics Engineering and are set to graduate in 2013.