Microsoft and Tunisia’s ICT Community to Share Technology Vision for the Region
Microsoft launches academic initiatives to help promote technology teaching.
TUNIS, Tunisia — 27 Feb 2007 — Today Microsoft Corp launched its Faculty Connection and Microsoft® Windows® Embedded Academic Program curriculum to over 200 professors, leading researchers and technical specialists at the first Microsoft Academic Day to be hosted in North Africa.
Microsoft Faculty Connection is a network of educators who share the common desire to advance the art of teaching technology. Faculty Connection provides a platform to share a curriculum built by Microsoft and other faculty in the network, free software, faculty forums, insight into Microsoft’s latest academic initiatives and access to regional events and training.
The art of teaching technology is advanced though this partnership between industry and academia to engage students while giving them a fundamental understanding of theory; to provide labs and assignments that inspire innovation and to integrate professional tools and give them the skills that will prepare students for successful careers.
The Forum was opened by His Excellency, Mr. Lazhar Bououni, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, a main proponent of the use of technology to bridge the digital divide.
The Minister’s stance on the Microsoft initiative proposed closer ties with like-minded partners for technology development: “Tunisia recognises the huge transformative power of technology. We recognise the crucial importance of securing a strong research base in Tunisia and the vital role that technology plays in generating economic growth and development.”
He added, “We are delighted that Microsoft is hosting the Academic Day with some of Tunisia’s finest computer scientists and excited by the Faculty Connection launch, which I am confident is merely the start of a fruitful, ongoing dialogue and partnership between the parties.”
Mr. Elias Tabet, regional director, Developers and Platform, Middle East and Africa, Microsoft added, “Research and development at Microsoft is by definition an open and collaborative process. We greatly value the opportunity to share our technology vision with the Tunisian research community and with the technology sector across North Africa and are eager to see the results of the Faculty Connection for educators and students, which we believe will help turn winning business concepts into business realities.”
Microsoft Research has established links across the globe in important development areas, including the emerging computing environment, transformation of science through computing and advancing the computer science curriculum. Academic Days are designed to drive further connections with local researchers and industry, keep students and graduates up to date with changing technologies and to drive the direction of development and research in a way that will provide future benefit.
The forum also provides a platform for debate among key academics and government on the policy and research agenda for the region. These include intellectual property, interoperability, software business management, software economies in emerging markets, and technology usage in teaching and learning.
About Microsoft Corporation
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. Microsoft opened its Dubai-based Middle East office in 1991. Microsoft today has five subsidiaries in the Middle East region: Microsoft South Gulf which oversees Microsoft activities in the UAE, Oman, Yemen and Pakistan, Microsoft North Gulf which oversees Microsoft activities in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, Microsoft Arabia covering the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Microsoft East Med covering , Lebanon, Jordan, Cyprus and Malta and Microsoft Egypt. Microsoft Corporation's address on the World Wide Web is: www.microsoft.com Microsoft Middle East's Web site is: www.microsoft.com/middleeast
About Microsoft Research
Founded in 1991, Microsoft Research is dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering. Its goals are to enhance the user experience on computing devices, reduce the cost of writing and maintaining software, and invent novel computing technologies. Researchers focus on more than 55 areas of computing and collaborate with leading academic, government and industry researchers to advance the state of the art in such areas as graphics, speech recognition, user-interface research, natural language processing, programming tools and methodologies, operating systems and networking, and the mathematical sciences. Microsoft Research employs more than 700 people in six labs located in Redmond, Wash.; San Francisco; Silicon Valley, Calif.; Cambridge, England; Beijing; and Bangalore, India. The External Research and Programs group within Microsoft Research is dedicated to building world-class relationships with colleges and universities that enhance the teaching and learning experience, inspire technological innovation, and establish Microsoft as a valuable technology partner for higher education. More information can be found at http://www.research.microsoft.com.
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