Vodafone Qatar and Alcatel-Lucent , the leading global telecommunications equipment company and a major technology supplier to Vodafone, today announced a joint agreement to take 6 university students for an internship programme at Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs located in Europe and the United States.

The Bell Labs programme is considered to be one of the most sought-out internship programmes of its kind in the world and one that is highly regarded by many in the engineering industry.

Vodafone Qatar will reach out to several universities in Qatar to choose two of its top performing students to join the 2-month programme which will kick-start in June 2014. The programme will entail a hands-on experience of the best in the academic and corporate realms for these students to leave the Bell Labs programme with an unparalleled exposure to the birthplace of many of the 20th century’s most influential technologies, which continues to drive the development of the communications networks of the future.
Eisa Abdulla, Head of Qatarization at Vodafone Qatar, said: “Contributing to the development of a strongly talented workforce ranks at the top of our priorities at Vodafone Qatar.

However, this can only be achieved when companies seriously and continuously invest to provide these growth opportunities that are underpinned with genuine and tangible benefits. That’s exactly what underlines our collaboration with Bell Labs. The Bell Labs programme is an experience that every student in the fields of engineering and technology considers to be an opportunity of a lifetime, owing to the fact that they’ll be working very closely with some of the world’s most distinguished scientists and researchers. Bell Labs is a true model for creative thinking.

“ Bell Labs is focused on the biggest technical challenges in the telecommunications industry, solving complex problems through both applied and fundamental research. Researchers at Bell Labs – many of them global leaders in their respective disciplines – are working to transform the way people connect with each other and with information and content.

“Bell Labs has a long tradition of collaborating with the world’s leading universities and research institutions, and is home to many of the most talented researchers in the field of communications networking,” Thierry Van Landegem, Vice President for Research Collaborations at Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs. “We are always seeking to enrich the Bell Labs research community with new talent, new skills and new perspectives. This program with Vodafone Qatar offers a great opportunity to meet and work with some of the top students at Qatar’s universities, while providing them with a chance to collaborate with world-renowned research teams.” Internationally recognized as one of the world's preeminent industrial research facilities and as a center of scientific and engineering excellence, few institutions have had as great an impact on modern society as Bell Labs.

An extensive array of awards has been bestowed upon Bell Labs researchers, including 12 Nobel Prize laureates, 12 US Medals of Science, 12 US Medals of Technology & Innovation, 4 Turing Award laureates, 6 Draper prizes, 9 Marconi Prizes and 3 Lifetime Achievement Awards, 4 Japan Prizes, 15 C&C prizes, 23 IEEE Medals of Honor, 13 Tyndall Awards, an Emmy, a Grammy, and an Academy Award.