AUS holds Happiness Lab to prepare students for future workplace

The Student Leadership Program at American University of Sharjah (AUS) hosted the Happiness Lab on campus, to introduce and prepare students to the opportunities and challenges of the workplace environment, on October 9.

In collaboration with Dubai Silicon Oasis, a total of 65 AUS students from different majors registered to the Happiness Lab to help understand the workplace environment better and learn how to shape their own future.

The Happiness Lab took AUS students through a design thinking process that had five dimensions to it, and included empathizing to understand a situation, defining the needs and problems that need to be resolved, coming up with ideas on how to do that, solve the issue through a prototype to see the challenges in day to day basis, and sharing with everybody else what they come up with.

Dr. Moza Al Shehhi, Dean of Students at AUS, commented on the event and said, ”Our students enjoyed the interactive Happiness Lab workshop and were able to express their views on how they foresee future work environments.  It was a great opportunity for students to work in teams and present their ideas to the rest of the groups.  We thank Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority for bringing this wonderful workshop to AUS and look forward to future collaboration with them.

Huda Al Abbar, Senior Manager-Happiness, Dubai Silicon Oasis, said, “The whole idea is to see how the next generation in university oversee their future work place. The current generation has a different mentality than those who are already employed and today, we try to give the opportunity to understand the most suitable workplace environment for them. For Dubai Silicon Oasis, we aim by 2021 to become the employer of choice and in the top five great places to work for among free zones. In order to achieve that, we need to enhance the environment so we can attract employees.”

Nada Nassereddin, an international relations major at AUS and a program participant,said, “The Happiness Lab was an intriguing experience that allowed students and involved members to exchange ideas and thoughts through different activities to better understand the workplace environment. Personally, I really felt that the workshop cultivated my abilities in creativity, leadership and teamwork. Not only did it prove to be intellectually fruitful, but it was socially engaging as well.”