​​​​​​​​​University College of Applied Sciences​

Gaza, Palestine, 2014, April 24​

University College of Applied Sciences (UCAS) in Gaza city started celebrating International Girls in ICT Day with a brilliant academic lady.

Eng. Hwayda Hemaid is a computer engineer, with more than 8 years working experience in ICT education, including representing Palestine in the Department of State Techwomen program that help female leadership in ICT in San Francisco, CA, USA in 2012.

When she returned back home, Miss Hemaid has been working on bringing opportunities closer to female students, mentoring and empowering them to be entrepreneurs in ICT businesses. One of these opportunities is to celebrate the Girls in ICT Day 2014 and to join more than 121 countries worldwide. This will encourage girls to participate and engage in the ICT sector and to have a better understanding of ICT sector employment opportunities, incubators, startups and academic disciplines. 

For the girls to get the maximum benefit, the event was directed to gather girls interested in ICT with women working in ICT jobs at many  levels of experience. The event gathered academics, private sector representatives, IT unions, entrepreneurs, international organizations and fresh graduates.

All IT clubs at the public schools were contacted to nominate female students in IT to be hosted by the IT department of UCAS to spend a full activity IT day that include: IT projects exhibition, entrepreneurship panel, Multimedia Cartoon Industry workshop and finally the Tech competition. At the end of these interactive activities, girls had the great opportunity to network and exchange experiences.​