Representing Prof. Ali Zeidan AbuZuhri- the University President, Prof. Mohammad Asia- the VP for Medical Schools Affairs in Arab American University singed an MoU with Dr. Tracy Fitzsimmons- the President of Shenandoah University, Virginia that aims to enhance collaboration efforts and international partnership between the two universities.

The signing took place in a ceremony that was organized in Shenandoah interactive lab (SCIL) with the presence of Eng. Bara Asfour- the Assistant to the President of AAUP and Dr. Ahmad Owais- the Associate Professor of Computer Science and the Director of E-Learning in AAUP as the team from Arab American University were in an official visit to the US to discuss new educational, research, activities and administrative methods.

The MoU included experience mobility between both universities in addition to benefiting from the virtual reality platform project that aims to help students of the Faculty of Nursing in AAUP to learn the basic skills in the labs of the Faculty. This project started during the Fall semester of the year 2021 led by Dr. Mohammad Obaid- the Associate Professor and the Manager of the Virtual Reality Design Program from Shenandoah University, Virginia.

Dr. Tracy Fitzsimmons- the President of Shenandoah University said that: “Such projects help to save the lives of human beings and will help nursing students gain more experiences and will learn faster in order to provide good and well-trained help to those who are in need”, and said that this step will lead to bigger steps.

Prof. Mohammad Asia- the VP for AAUP praised the role of Shenandoah University, and its academic programs in technology and health care fields as it played a great role in a multidisciplinary project. This requires both universities to communicate and collaborate through virtual reality labs, computer sciences, nursing, health professions and medical programs.

Eng. Bara Asfour- the Assistant to the President in AAUP emphasized on the importance of this MoU between the universities and explained that this project will have a great impact on students of the university.

Dr. Mohammad Obaid- the Associate Professor and the Director of the Virtual Reality Design Program from Shenandoah University expressed his happiness in the joint partnership between both universities and considered this agreement to be of mutual benefits including the researches and joint curriculums. Additionally, this collaboration will allow joint collaboration of programs and activities between both organizations, and explained that this will introduce students to the basics of nursing and then translate those topics into an engineering language that can be used in technical projects afterwards.