The President of UOB: Master’s in Big Data Meets the Needs of the Labor Market

The President of
UOB: Master’s in Big Data Meets the Needs of the Labor Market

The second Big Data Forum was organized earlier this week by
the College of Science and the College of Information Technology at the
University of Bahrain (UOB), which serves the Big Data Master’s Program offered
by UOB in cooperation with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) in the
United Kingdom.

The President of UOB, Dr. Riyad Yousif Hamzah, stated: “Big
Data Master’s program meets the needs of employers in the Kingdom of Bahrain
and contributes to providing the labor market with highly qualified outputs
capable of adding value to projects and big data research.”

And during his speech at the opening ceremony of the Second
Big Data Forum on Monday (10 February 2020), Dr. Hamzah stressed that UOB sees
great importance in making use of the scientific expertise and research at LJMU
in the development of the academic aspect of the Big Data Master’s program,
indicating the importance of this program in facing challenges and solving
problems efficiently and effectively.

Also, he pointed out that the Second Big Data Forum
represents an opportunity to exchange views through discussions between
academics, experts and specialists in the applied field of big data science,
which is one of the sciences and pillars of the fourth industrial revolution
and is adopted in all of today’s businesses, whether in the public or private
sector.

Furthermore, the President of UOB expressed his pride at UOB
being a pioneer in embracing this program in Big Data Science and Analytics
“as the first of its kind in the Kingdom of Bahrain and at the regional
level as well.”

Moreover, Prof. Hamzah added that “This unique program comes
within the framework of UOB’s 2016-2021 plan to offer multidisciplinary
postgraduate programs, which are based on applied learning.

Stressing that UOB has the ability to use and analyze data,
and it provides the opportunity for students and companies to use data as a
source of innovation and redesign, noting that the adoption of this program by LJMU
gives graduates credibility and reliability.

For his part, the United Kingdom Ambassador to the Kingdom
of Bahrain, Roderick Drummond, praised in his speech the existing cooperation
and exchange of scientific expertise in the field of big data applications
between UOB and LJMU.

Drummond stressed the importance of this cooperation for UOB,
as it will obtain practical possibilities that contribute to the development of
the master’s program in Big Data Science and Analytics in various fields such
as: health, education, transportation, social media channels, and others that shall
serve the community.

The Forum was attended by more than 150 academic and
specialized professors, and it aims to provide an opportunity to exchange views
on recent challenges and trends in relation to big data, through communication
between academia and the applied community in both of the public and private
sectors.

Also, the United Nations Coordinator and Resident
Representative of the United Nations Development Program in the Kingdom of
Bahrain Amin El Sharkawi represented by Egan Sharchenova spoke at the opening
ceremony of the Big Data Forum, as well as the Technical Executive Director of
the Health Project at the Supreme Council of Health, Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al
Khalifa and the Managing Director of the Economic Development Board Dr. Simon
Galpin.

The Forum was held under the sponsorship of the President of
UOB, Dr. Riyad Yousif Hamzah, and it hosted two keynote speakers, the first
lecturer in applied mathematics at LJMU Dr. Sandra Martore, as well as the Professor
of Information Systems Department at King Saud University Dr. Hmood Al-Dossary.

Moreover, UOB professors presented 11 projects that contribute
to the development of public services in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and these
projects shed light on public health applications, transportation, education,
and social media channels.