Google Comes to Al Akhawayn; Engages and Encourages Students

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Published on Wednesday, 04 May 2011 11:21

Ifrane, May 4, 2011 – More than 60 Al Akhawayn University students, mostly studying engineering and business, attended a May 3, 2011 talk by two high-ranking Google representatives, Noha Salem, University Relations Manager in Middle East and North Africa, Google Egypt; and Parisa Tabriz, Information Security Engineer at Google. The event represented an advance of the University’s relationship with the Internet giant, and exposed students to the latest thinking behind key industry practices and trends.

Highlighting the opportunities available through the relationship with Google, many Al Akhawayn students were invited to explore employment opportunities at Google and encouraged to join special programs such as Google Ambassadors, the Online Marketing Challenge, Google Advertising Professionals, and the Anita Borg Scholarship (of which Al Akhawayn student Hind Saddiki was the 2010 winner), among others.

Noha Salem praised the involvement of Al Akhawayn students and encouraged participation in the Google Ambassadors program. “You have such amazing energy, self-motivation, and creativity – key traits that Google values highly among youth leaders and the Internet professionals of tomorrow,” she said.

Parisa then presented Google’s mission, and focused on one of its primary goals: to protect user data. She explained the Google security process, speaking about the principle of hacking “with no evil intent.” During the discussion, the knowledge of Al Akhawayn students was challenged through examples and questions about hacking techniques, with gifts presented for correct answers.