Curated tours for UAE university students at Expo 2020

University students across the UAE will be offered a series of specially-curated tours of Expo 2020 Dubai.

It'll offer them an opportunity to explore some of the site’s most iconic structures, take part in hands-on workshops, network with peers from around the world, and learn from industry experts behind the event.

The initiative, which was launched this week at the University Leadership Forum, will invite all 140,000 students studying full-time at the UAE’s 120-plus universities during the six-month period. 

More than 80 senior leadership executives from the UAE’s public and private universities discussed ways it will align the programme’s content with the learning objectives of institutions and build awareness and excitement among students and faculty members.

"Throughout history, World Expos have revealed new inventions, the latest technologies and incredible architecture that have inspired millions of people. The Expo University Visit Programme will ensure that our nation’s talented and ambitious youth are able to take full advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime learning experience," said Manal AlBayat, Chief Community Engagement Officer, Expo 2020 Dubai.

"With 192 countries in one location, each showing the very best that they have to offer, the educational tours will help fuel students’ curiosities, spark new ideas, encourage new connections, and inspire our youth to become the leaders and changemakers of the future."

The visits are one of several initiatives designed to ensure youth are at the heart of Expo 2020, including apprenticeship and internship programmes and the Expo 2020 Volunteer Programme. 

UAE University will also have its own pavilion at Expo 2020 centred around its ‘University of the Future’ initiative which aims to revolutionise the provision of tertiary education in the Arab World by 2030. 

The first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, it expects to attract 25 million visits and will run from October 20, 2020 until April 10, 2021.