UAE, January 8, 2017 - The Smart Dubai Office and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Dubai have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the presence of Her Excellency Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr, Director General, Smart Dubai Office and Dr. Yousef Al Assaf, President, Rochester Institute of Technology Dubai RIT Dubai, to launch the Corporate Happiness Program. Offered in conjunction with renowned performance-management and consulting company Gallup, the program will educate senior professionals on the key concepts of happiness and provide them with the tools which will help bring the concepts back to the organization.

H.E Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr said: “The Corporate Happiness Program is a major milestone in the path of fulfilling the Happiness Agenda launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai earlier this year. In line with the 'Educate' portfolio of the agenda, learnings from the program will be implemented in the workplace resulting in happier employees, leading to happier customers, helping us attain His Highness' vision of 95% happiness levels across the city. The Rochester Institute of Technology Dubai has already been a dedicated partner of the Smart Dubai initiative and the Corporate Happiness Program will add to the portfolio of programs provided by the institute to boost smart and happy learning in the city'

Dr.Yousef Al Assaf commented: “We are excited about further building on our relationship with Smart Dubai and helping develop both individual leaders and Dubai as whole through close cooperation, education and research. RIT Dubai has a strong remit to help drive the technical, educational and social development of Dubai and this agreement with Smart Dubai is an obvious continuation of this. Smart Dubai have always been heavily involved in our Master of City Science degree, and this new program and joint research activities are the next step in helping drive the human and technical capital agenda of Dubai.'

Through this program the Smart Dubai Office and RIT aim to help students in a number of ways:
•    Understand the scientifi¬c and practical notions of happiness in a professional environment.
•    Understand how to evaluate and assess an organization in terms of individual and corporate happiness and its related constructs. 
•    Understand leadership strategies and techniques that can increase happiness and apply them in a corporate environment. 
•    Create a Corporate Happiness Strategic Plan for their organization. 
•    Become an expert in current best practices of corporate happiness measures in both the UAE and beyond. 

The program consists of six modules and lasts for five months, where classes are only held during 3 days each month. Along with lecture modules being delivered by subject experts, students will have access to Gallup’s research repository in the subject, and will be expected to take part in case study discussions and project work.

Interested participants can visit the RIT Dubai website (www.rit.edu/dubai) or contact 04- 371 2033 for more details.