Qatar Cool graduates students from local, regional and international universities in first Internship Programme 2010

Qatar Cool reaffirms its commitment to youth and community development

Expanded internship programme to take place annually

Doha, Qatar August 9:  A group of five students drawn from local, regional and international universities are the first graduates of Qatar Cool's inaugural internship programme.

Qatar Cool, provider of district cooling services to West Bay and the exclusive supplier of district cooling to The Pearl-Qatar, started the internship programme as part of its ongoing commitment to youth and community development.

The six-week programme gave the five successful applicants the opportunity to work in house as part of a knowledge and skill-sharing programme. Rolled out this year for the first time after the company's expansion into West Bay and The Pearl-Qatar, it was billed as a unique learning experience for the students, as well as for Qatar Cool's managers who continue to seek opportunities to enhance business while benefiting the wider community.

"We strongly believe this is our corporate social responsibility to contribute to the development of our community by providing an opportunity for young people to observe the practical implementation of theoretical concepts," said Hasan Imam, human resource officer for organizational development at Qatar Cool.

According to Imam, and in keeping with Qatar Cool's growing profile, the application process drew an overwhelming response, with 50 applicants from Education City alone. In keeping with its growing regional and international profile, Qatar Cool attracted students from beyond Qatar. Three students were chosen from Education City branch campuses, the fourth intern was selected from Dubai and the fifth from India.

The diverse group of students worked in a range of departments, including Projects, Business Development, and Operations and Services.

Interns Ahmad Jichi and Abdalla Abdalla, who study Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University in Qatar (TAMUQ), both said they had learned valuable new skills beyond the classroom. For Abdalla, Qatar Cool's vision for the internship program had successfully been realised. "I was able to apply theory to practice, to learn the importance of working in a team and to meet extremely tight deadlines," Abdalla said. "These skills are not learned in class as much as they are through internship experiences".

Aniruddha Kulkarni presently oversees Qatar Cool's expanded district cooling operations in West Bay and The Pearl-Qatar as Operations and Services Manager. "We felt they would get the most out of as realistic an experience as possible. They did very well with their tasks and it was a pleasure having them in my department," he commented.

Alongside the benefit to students, Mohannad Khader, Business Development manager at Qatar Cool and one of the programme mentors, believes that partnering with academia brings important benefits to industry. ''When you work in the industry for 10 years you tend to lose touch with the latest developments on the theoretical side. It was great to see what was new in terms of education and skills being taught and how the students viewed our business,'' he explained.

Benazir Karim, a journalism student from Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q), explained what she had gained from the programme. ''I was able to apply my research, writing and communication skills through several tasks assigned to me during my 6 week internship where I interacted with clients and experienced first hand how a business operates.'' She added, ''This has given me confidence that what I am learning in the classroom is relevant to the skills needed in today's workforce.''

For Rohit Gadde from Dubai's Birla Institute of Technology, the experience was so valuable that he hopes to return next summer to repeat the internship at a more advanced level.

Based on feedback from the interns and the significant interest shown during the application process, Qatar Cool will expand and enhance its programme for next year. ''This was our first year and so the programme was more generic, but we are making it more specialised to work with students and possibly teachers for some special projects,'' Imam said.

Qatar Cool's 2nd Internship Programme will take place in the summer of 2011. For more information about Qatar Cool and its projects, email inquiry@qatarcool.com

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© Press Release 2010