Dubai, UAE: Zoho Corp., a leading global technology company, and School of Engineering & IT, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Dubai have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate hands-on training and knowledge-transfer to the institute’s developer community.

The MoU was signed by Ali Shabdar, Regional Director, Middle East and Africa at Zoho and Dr. S. K. Pandey, Dean – STEM Programs and Chairperson, School of Engineering & IT, MAHE Dubai. The agreement aims to empower the next generation of developers and IT professionals in Dubai by integrating academic learning with professional experience. Through this partnership, Zoho will enable undergraduates to transform their ideas into deployable, real-life solutions using its latest low-code application development platform, Creator.

Commenting on the partnership, Ali Shabdar said, "We are pleased to partner with School of Engineering & IT, MAHE Dubai to promote industry-academia collaboration, innovation, and knowledge-sharing as part of our 'transnational localism' strategy, which is anchored in working with local communities. By forging this partnership, we strive to contribute to building the future IT leaders and developers in Dubai and empower them to hone their creative and problem-solving skills through technology. In learning low-code technology, students can get first-hand experience in application development from Zoho's experts and gain a competitive edge when entering the job market."

According to Gartner, by 2024, applications developed using low-code application development tools will account for more than 65% of application development activity.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Jason Fitzsimmons, Academic President, MAHE Dubai, said “We are looking at a long-term partnership, where our students are provided the opportunity to learn and explore a range of new and innovative information technology products. Our partnership with Zoho Corporation will allow students to share ideas and work on Creator portal to develop applications. Through this collaboration, we aim to expose students to the latest software and web-based tools, which will help in building relevant in-demand skills, validate innovative ideas, and ensure they stay competitive and relevant in the corporate world. This is an outstanding opportunity for students to learn from industry experts and upgrade their skills for better career growth.”

MAHE Dubai has opened up registration to the undergraduate students of School of Engineering and IT, MAHE Dubai, to submit ideas for digital solutions that would help solve existing challenges. A select number of candidates will be shortlisted to gain full access to the platform to start implementing their ideas.

Zoho, in collaboration with School of Engineering & IT, MAHE Dubai, have co-hosted the first training session on-campus, where students attended a mix of interactive sessions and workshops that will demonstrate use case examples, and offer the guidance needed to help them kick-start their projects.

Positioned as a technology leader in the 2021 SPARK Matrix for Low Code Application Development (LCAD) Platform by Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, Zoho Creator is a low-code application development solution that empowers business users, citizen developers, and professional developers to easily build, deploy, manage, and analyze custom solutions with little to no prior coding knowledge.

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About Zoho

With 50+ apps in nearly every major business category, including sales, marketing, customer support, accounting, and back-office operations, and an array of productivity and collaboration tools, Zoho is one of the world's most prolific technology companies. More than 75 million users around the world, across hundreds of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho every day to run their businesses.

Zoho respects user privacy and does not have an ad-revenue model in any part of its business, including its free products. The company is privately held and is headquartered in Chennai, India. Additional offices are in the United States, India, Japan, China, Canada, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, the Netherlands, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. For more information, please visit www.zoho.com/.

About MAHE Dubai:

Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Dubai is the branch campus of MAHE, India — an Institution of Eminence — recognized by the Ministry of Education (MoE), Government of India. MAHE commenced its journey towards excellence in Dubai in the year 2000. It has since grown into a leading multidisciplinary university in the Middle East, attracting students from across the globe. At present, MAHE Dubai enrols over 2,200 students from 40+ countries. Having completed two decades in the UAE, MAHE Dubai boasts of a robust network of over 6,500 alumni.

Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Dubai Campus is a 5-star rated university as per the Knowledge and Human Development Authority’s (KHDA) Higher Education Classification (HEC) Rating 2020, with the highest overall rating score of 836. It is also a proud recipient of the Forbes Middle East Higher Education Award 2019 for ‘Outstanding Support for Students’.

MAHE Dubai offers over 50 undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the streams of Humanities and Social Sciences, Business, Design and Architecture, Engineering and IT, Life Sciences, and Media and Communication.

MAHE Dubai’s iconic purpose-built university campus is spread over 750,000 square feet in the Dubai International Academic City, that includes the student hostels. The campus houses fully equipped laboratories with cutting-edge technology, industry standard studios and workshops, smart classrooms, a digitally powered library, a cafeteria, a state-of-the art gym and fitness center, a multipurpose indoor sports hall, an outdoor sports facility, a dedicated music room, a creatively curated dance room, as well as a recreation centre among other facilities.

For media queries, please contact:
Akshara Suresh
Watermelon Communications
Dubai, U.A.E.
Email: akshara@watermelonme.com