Businesses that switched to remote working because of the coronavirus are taking their internships online.
Last week, 16 students in the UAE received laptops sent from US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin and logged in to begin their virtual internships.
The team will work remotely under the guidance of engineers and scientists on real-world projects.
In the United States, systems that support remote internships are already in place as a lot of engineers work remotely
"We are giving interns a feel of what the workplace will be [like] in the next few years because of Covid 19," said Ahsan Ahmed, director of Lockheed's Centre for Innovation and Security Solutions.
"We were committed to ensuring the UAE’s students did not lose this summer period,” Mr Ahmed said. “We had 700 applications and selected 16 interns to participate this summer.
"In the United States, systems that support remote internships are already in place because a lot of engineers work remotely."
Guidance will be by email and video call. Mentoring sessions will take place over Zoom.
Interns will be trained in artificial intelligence development, drone design, defence simulation exercises, business administration skills and IT systems management.
The practical constraints brought about by the pandemic threaten an important part of internships – the social aspect. But the programme has planned for that, too.
"We recently added some things to our schedules so we will have dinners over Zoom,” said Hala Alzargani, lead project engineer at the Centre for Innovation and Security Solutions.
“We will buy everybody dinner and the team will get together to eat on a Zoom call.
“In the future, internships could look very different and we are preparing students for that future.”
Lina Alkhatib is one of the Lockheed centre's virtual interns working on software to help train pilots on different aircraft.
She has been working at the firm since last year and said she was glad the company kept the programme running.
"The whole experience added a lot to my skills," she said.
Experts said honing recent graduates’ skills was even more important given the current climate, as jobs become scarce and competition for them increased.
However, the pandemic also exacerbated an existing problem in relation to internships, with some companies taking advantage of young people eager for work experience.
According to oliv.com, which helps graduates and students find internship roles, a typical intern salary is about Dh3,000 a month.
But the fear is that with companies cutting costs due to Covid-19, businesses may look to save money by viewing interns as free labour.
“Young people do require the experience," said Talib Hashim, the managing director of TBH Consultancy in Dubai. "However, there is a concern now with companies focusing on the bottom line and cutting costs, and also losing out on employees.”
He said some employers could regard unpaid interns as a "free meal", filling the roles of full-time employees.
Harry Tregoning, managing partner of Tregoning Property, a Dubai estate agent, said he was hiring an intern for the first time this year. It will be a paid position with a typical market salary.
“You need to pay enough so it covers their expenses and a little more,” Mr Tregoning said.
“I have a few numbers in my head, but it would be a normal admin-type salary, possibly around Dh3,000. It depends on the candidate."
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
The specs: Rolls-Royce Cullinan
Price, base: Dh1 million (estimate)
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 563hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 850Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 15L / 100km
UAE%20SQUAD
%3Cp%3E%0DJemma%20Eley%2C%20Maria%20Michailidou%2C%20Molly%20Fuller%2C%20Chloe%20Andrews%20(of%20Dubai%20College)%2C%20Eliza%20Petricola%2C%20Holly%20Guerin%2C%20Yasmin%20Craig%2C%20Caitlin%20Gowdy%20(Dubai%20English%20Speaking%20College)%2C%20Claire%20Janssen%2C%20Cristiana%20Morall%20(Jumeirah%20English%20Speaking%20School)%2C%20Tessa%20Mies%20(Jebel%20Ali%20School)%2C%20Mila%20Morgan%20(Cranleigh%20Abu%20Dhabi).%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Strait of Hormuz
Fujairah is a crucial hub for fuel storage and is just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.
The strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just three km wide in either direction. Almost a fifth of oil consumed across the world passes through the strait.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, a move that would risk inviting geopolitical and economic turmoil.
Last month, Iran issued a new warning that it would block the strait, if it was prevented from using the waterway following a US decision to end exemptions from sanctions for major Iranian oil importers.
RESULTS
Lightweight (female)
Sara El Bakkali bt Anisha Kadka
Bantamweight
Mohammed Adil Al Debi bt Moaz Abdelgawad
Welterweight
Amir Boureslan bt Mahmoud Zanouny
Featherweight
Mohammed Al Katheeri bt Abrorbek Madaminbekov
Super featherweight
Ibrahem Bilal bt Emad Arafa
Middleweight
Ahmed Abdolaziz bt Imad Essassi
Bantamweight (female)
Ilham Bourakkadi bt Milena Martinou
Welterweight
Mohamed Mardi bt Noureddine El Agouti
Middleweight
Nabil Ouach bt Ymad Atrous
Welterweight
Nouredine Samir bt Marlon Ribeiro
Super welterweight
Brad Stanton bt Mohamed El Boukhari
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
