Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority has opened applications for the 2026 Ajyal Summer Internship Programme, offering Emirati secondary school and university students a four-week pathway into one of the emirate’s most active public-service and infrastructure agencies.The programme will begin on 7 July 2026 and is designed to expose students to workplace disciplines tied to Dubai’s transport future, including engineering and infrastructure, AI-enabled smart mobility, sustainability strategies and the green economy. Participants will receive a financial reward, specialised workshops and training programmes, and an accredited training certificate issued by the authority.
The announcement places Ajyal within a broader effort to build a pipeline of young national talent for a transport system that has become central to Dubai’s economic growth, urban planning and climate strategy. The authority is managing a network that now spans metro, tram, buses, taxis, marine transport, cycling links, roads and digital services, making the internship more than a conventional summer placement for students seeking early exposure to public-sector careers.
Athari Mohamed, Executive Director of Human Resources and Development at the Corporate Administrative Support Services Sector at RTA, said the programme aims to deliver “a practical, knowledge-rich training experience” that develops participants’ skills and strengthens their professional and personal capabilities. She said students would gain exposure to a corporate work environment and to practices and innovations used across the authority’s work areas.
The 2026 edition also coincides with the UAE’s Year of Family initiatives, giving the programme an added social-development dimension. The emphasis is on preparing young people to contribute to the country’s development agenda while encouraging families to support students in acquiring workplace discipline, career awareness and practical skills before graduation.
Ajyal has been used by RTA over several years as a structured summer platform for Emirati students. The 2025 edition selected 40 male and female students from secondary schools and universities and ran from 7 July to 4 August, with training across engineering, administrative, technology and innovation functions. The programme included field exposure to operational sites and workshops linked to artificial intelligence, sustainability, intellectual property and digital transformation.
The latest application window comes as Dubai’s transport system continues to expand in size and technical complexity. Public transport and shared mobility services carried 802.1 million riders in 2025, up 7.4 per cent from 747.1 million in 2024. Dubai Metro remained the backbone of the network, carrying 294.7 million riders across the Red and Green lines, while public buses served 197.2 million passengers. Marine transport carried 18.4 million riders and Dubai Tram handled 9.9 million.
That scale has raised demand for specialist skills in operations, data systems, passenger services, safety, asset management and sustainable infrastructure. Students entering the programme are likely to encounter a work environment where mobility is increasingly shaped by automation, artificial intelligence and climate-linked policy targets, rather than traditional road and vehicle management alone.
RTA’s Strategic Plan 2024-2030 has set a target of raising the share of sustainable transport modes to 42.5 per cent by 2030. The authority is also working towards converting taxis and limousines in the emirate to electric and hydrogen vehicles by 2040 and moving the full public bus fleet to electric and hydrogen models by 2050. Dubai’s autonomous transport strategy aims to make 25 per cent of total transportation trips autonomous by 2030.
The internship therefore gives students early contact with sectors that are expected to shape public employment and private contracting opportunities over the next decade. Transport authorities worldwide are competing for skills in systems engineering, cybersecurity, data analytics, green mobility, customer experience and infrastructure resilience, and Dubai’s own expansion has made such capabilities more important to government planning.
Students applying through RTA’s training channels are required to provide personal and academic details and upload supporting documents, including education letters, transcripts, photographs, CVs, passport copies, Emirates ID documents and, where applicable, family book details. The application process reflects the authority’s formal training conditions, including workplace attendance, confidentiality obligations, supervisor feedback and completion of assigned tasks.
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