Princess Sumaya University for Technology

Infobox University
name = Princess Sumaya University for Technology


motto = The First and only Technology University in Jordan
established = 1991
type = Private non-profit university
chairman = HRH Princess Sumaya Bint El Hassan
president = Prof. Hesham Ghassib
colors = dark blue and Gray color box|#113E56color box|#95A1AA
city = Amman, Jordan
website = [http://www.psut.edu.jo]

Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT), established in 1991, is a specialized, nongovernmental, nonprofit, Jordanian university, owned by the leading applied research centre in Jordan, the Royal Scientific Society (RSS). PSUT’s area of specialization is IT, Communications and Electronics. As a nonprofit institution, PSUT embraces both the public and private sectors, but while akin to public universities in its mission, it is more aligned to the private sector in drive and spirit. From the day of its inauguration, PSUT has committed itself equally to both local development and modernization plans and to global development.

PSUT is located in Amman, Jordan, offering an array of ICT related courses. It currently offers B.Sc. degrees in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Graphic Graphics and Animation, Communication Engineering and Management Information Systems.

The university campus under went major renovation and expansion in late 2004. Labs were upgraded with new equipment and computers. The university library got expanded, and a new collection of IT related books was added.

The university has a Sun Microsystems lab, mainly used in Java courses, and Unix courses on Sun SPARC based machines.

An Oracle incubator lab was also recently established in the campus, with the goal of familiarizing students with Oracle technologies, and remove the stereo-typical view of Oracle as only being a Database company.

PSUT has recently established a regional enterepreneurship center, named: Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship, to help in fostering talent and transforming knowledge in Jordan and the region into a socio-economic impact.

The King Abdullah II School for Engineering

The King Abdullah II School for Engineering offers B.Sc. degrees in Computer Engineering, Electronics Engineering, and Communication Engineering.

The King Hussein School for IT

Established in 2004, the King Hussein School of Information Technology (KHSIT) won the first place for the second year in a row, in a national evaluation test conducted by the Ministry of Higher Education. What distinguishes this school from similar schools in the Kingdom is the well managed educational process. KHSIT works on developing IT leaders of tomorrow by combining theory with real-time practice. It has also built partnerships that facilitate collaboration between the academic world and industry. Huge emphasis has been placed on building an IT community that respects and leverages diverse experience, knowledge and values, which, in turn, will improve the lives of people in Jordan, and throughout region.

The confidence and trust that the Jordanian market places on our graduates has never been greater; a recent statistical study revealed that 80% of fresh graduates of KHSIT get recruited by top local and regional companies within 2 months of their graduation, while the rest end up pursuing higher education or opening a business venture.

The University Development Office

The University Development Office (UDO) at Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT) was launched in early 2006. It was established to assure the continuation and development of a journey of excellence in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The UDO administers and manages fundraising initiatives with students, parents, alumni, friends, foundations, and corporations. The funds help the university in developing its academic programs, student scholarships, professorship, research, renovation projects, and new facilities.

UDO manages contributions that does not only ensure that academic standards are met, but also pledge to improve them. By giving, donors will join an elite group of people who invest in the future generations to come. Donors can earn a membership in one of the special recognition clubs depending on the amount of the gift bestowed.

The Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship

The establishment Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship is an integral part of the expansion plan of PSUT. The idea was to name the Center after a prominent Arab dignitary known for his/her distinguished role in developing entrepreneurship. Thus, work towards launching the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE) started in October 2004. This state of the art center will be located at the heart of Jordan's scientific, academic and R&D corridor. Furthermore, the center will extend its services to cover not only Jordan but the region as a whole.

The center is planned to be the regions' corner stone for technology commercialization and entrepreneurship development. The QRCE will target university students, researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs and others. According to PSUT's development plan, the next step will be the establishment of a business school to be linked to the center.

Working closely with local and international organizations; the QRCE focuses on issues such as: capacity building, consulting, counseling and developing the local "Entrepreneurial Personality & Spirit". Furthermore, the QRCE is actively working on extending the intellectual wealth of Jordan while maintaining strong links with the business community in general.

Vision

An economic engine by which Jordan's intellectual wealth can be uplifted to unprecedented levels and a regional cornerstone for technology commercialization and entrepreneurship development.

Mission

The Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship's mission is to support economic growth by providing an array of services in entrepreneurship development and technology commercialization.

Objectives

1. To evolve and expand into a comprehensive entrepreneurship enabler, involved in fostering creativity, incubating viable concepts, and facilitating the success of entrepreneurial ventures to a level that affects the cultural orientation of the Jordanian community

2. To bridge the gap between academia, business and government in the entrepreneurial arena and increase knowledge transfer in all directions.

3. To facilitate Jordan's economic diversification through promoting applied research and technology transfer.

4. Bring the benefits of commercializing knowledge to national technology entrepreneurs and to the Jordanian economy in general.

5. To provide an educational platform for aspiring and practicing entrepreneurs through added value programs aimed at strengthening their technical and soft skills in order to help them develop more productive, profitable and growth-oriented businesses.

6. To promote healthy business cultures.

7. To promote corporate governance and recommend policies, laws and regulations concerning technology commercialization and entrepreneurship.

"The QRCE is running the following programs:"

The Technology Commercialization Program

The Technology Commercialization Program is a national program initiated by PSUT, the Royal Scientific Society, the Higher Council for Science and Technology, and several key organization and companies from the private and public sectors. It aims at increasing the awareness of researchers and innovators about the economical value of their intellectual assets.

Creating national intellectual wealth requires protection and continuous support. Building on this vision, the program incorporates the idea of enabling intellectuals and researchers to protect their intellectual output, hence facilitating the creation of high return investments.

The program is supervised by a group of specialists from Jordan and the region representing both the private and public sectors. Currently, we are working on creating the Innovation & Intellectual Property Forum of Jordan (I²FJ) that will bring together institutions concerned with fostering innovation and commercializing technology.

The Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition

The Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition (QRNEC) provides a platform to increase the interest of Jordanian university students to design the path to achieve their dreams. The competition strives to advocate entrepreneurship skills as students coalesce their university knowledge with their resources along with their competitive drive to create a business plan that is both practical and innovative.

The vision of QRNEC is to evolve and expand into a comprehensive entrepreneurship enabler, involved in fostering creativity, incubating viable concepts, and facilitating the success of entrepreneurial ventures to a level that affects the cultural orientation of the Jordanian community.

The Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition objective is to stimulate entrepreneurship among university students and youth by presenting a chance for students to analyze their environment and discover entrepreneurship opportunities to catalyze future development.

The competition combines technical and business skills to establish a long lasting profitable business. It focuses on the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Applied engineering sectors, to assist young Jordanians to start taking steps towards their future.

DART; The Student Entrepreneurship Society

DART was founded in September, 2004. DART is the student's entrepreneurship society at PSUT's campus. The DART name and logo resembles an arrow hitting a target. It is also an acronym for: Dream, Aim, Reach and Target. DART students work hard to bridge the gap between students in the academic world and companies in the business world. The DART team focus on promoting the entrepreneurial spirit amongst PSUT students as a style of life. In the ICT-oriented youth society we live in, the increasing demand for highly competent graduates makes us realize the pressing need to be innovative and aware of the ever evolving labor market.

The CONNECT Jordan

CONNECT is an organization that links entrepreneurs to the financial, technical and business development resources they need to create and develop high-growth technology companies in Jordan. Founded in 1985 at the urging of San Diego’s business community, UCSD CONNECT is widely regarded as the most successful program in the USA. By organizing activities and offering advice, CONNECT Jordan supports and improves the opportunities for entrepreneurs and start-ups. The needs of entrepreneurs are always central, and CONNECT’s objective is to speed up the start-ups’ commercialization, thus creating additional jobs in Jordan.

Working closely With CONNECT Sweden; CONNECT Jordan links entrepreneurs and resources through what is called springboards; springboards are intended to support the development of growth companies.

An expert panel helps entrepreneurs solve problems and identify opportunities, and gives practical advice on what action entrepreneurs should take to exploit these opportunities. Springboards are intended primarily to serve newly started companies, but can also help more mature companies to make progress.

Springboards make up the core CONNECT activity. Other important activities include financial forums, partnership forums and instructional publications.

External links

* [http://www.psut.edu.jo Princess Sumaya University for Technology]
* [http://www.qrce.org The Queen Rania Ceenter for Entrepreneurship]
* [http://www.qrnec.com The Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition]
* El Hassan Science City [http://elhassansciencecity.com/ www.elhassansciencecity.com]