The Emirates College for Advanced Education, ECAE, and the New England Centre for Children, Abu Dhabi, NECC-AD, have signed an appendix of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, that will see NECC-AD students enrolled in a training programme at the ECAE library in October.

These students will work as ‘Library Assistants’ and their duties will include distributing books and stationery, doing computer data entry, re-shelving books and magazines, and identifying the missing material. Students will work two hours per week.

The signing ceremony in Abu Dhabi was attended by Professor Robert Milne, Vice Chancellor of ECAE, and Dr. Daniel Gould, Executive Director of NECC-AD. Other executives from NECC-AD and the ECAE faculty and administrative staff were also present during the ceremony.

The signing of this appendix in the MoU reflects ECAE’s continuous desire to build fruitful and sustainable partnerships in line with its goal of providing community support. ECAE encourages all efforts to develop the abilities of individuals with autism and help them participate in various community activities.

ECAE’s support of this programme is crucial and it aligns with some of the objectives of the college’s Applied Behaviour Analysis programme. Providing hands-on training will increase the integration of individuals with autism with their community. This programme will give these individuals an opportunity to interact with ECAE students and help them improve their social and communication skills. Moreover, it will be an opportunity for them to develop friendships with other individuals.

This programme comes after ECAE signed a MoU with NECC-AD in 2015 to enhance their collaboration in the areas of educational and research development with the exchange of knowledge and academic expertise.

Professor Milne expressed his pleasure with this educational partnership between the two institutions. He stressed that this MoU is an essential step in ECAE and NECC-AD’s efforts to provide the best rehabilitation services to individuals with autism. He further added that vocational training is an integral part of the process of rehabilitation in individuals with autism where a team from various specialities comes together to help them reach their optimal level of functioning and satisfaction.

Dr. Gould expressed his happiness with this education partnership between the two institutions since it will support individuals with autism and help them improve their skills based on systematic and scientific strategies.