The College of Computer & Information Sciences at King Saud University (KSU) has signed an agreement with Saudi Business Machines (SBM) on the IBM Academic Initiative programme.

With this agreement, KSU becomes the first university in Saudi Arabia to embark on this programme and be a part of a larger network of top universities worldwide, which are part of the IBM Academic Initiative network.

Towards this, a document of understanding was recently signed by Dr Sami Saleh Al-Wakeel, Dean of the College of Computer and Information Sciences at KSU, and Ali Dulaim, chief executive officer of SBM at KSU.

Dr Al-Wakeel commented, “KSU intends to take the IT business a step forward towards its growth. With this program, KSU will boost the skills and knowledge of its computer IT students, and prepare them for the IT market that sees constant accelerative growth and a relentless pace of innovation.”

Ali Dulaim remarked, “We are very pleased that KSU’s College of computer & Information Sciences is the first college in Saudi Arabia to take up the IBM Academic Initiative and I am confident that KSU will be a leader in providing education excellence in the Information Technology fields for future generations.”

The IBM Academic Initiative will provide KSU and its colleges several benefits, such as free IBM software for the university’s educational requirements, training programmes for the academic faculty, assistance in deployment of IBM software, internships for students, in addition to access to certain IBM corporate resources.

Established over fifty years ago, KSU grew to encompass twenty-eight colleges that include research centers and hospitals. Its 62,000 students are served by 3,000 academic staff, trained and qualified to present KSU’s undergraduates with the best knowledge and skills.

The College of Computer and Information Sciences was established in 1983 as the first specialised college in Computer and IT in the Middle East. -TradeArabia News Service