Dubai : The American University in the Emirates (AUE) seemed doomed to failure when it opened in 2007 and lost a significant number of students but years later AUE has bounced back.
In its first year of operation, AUE lost 50 of its initial 80 students due to their poor English and Maths skills. However, due to a shift in strategy and a new approach, AUE now boasts a student body of nearly 1,200 and 100 faculty and staff members.
Dr Muthanna Abdul Razzaq, President of AUE, believes it is the institution's unique programme offerings that have contributed to its revival.
Unique programmes
Speaking of AUE's newly introduced master's programme in library and information science, Abdul Razzaq said: "In this country we are facing a shortage of manpower of librarians from qualified backgrounds, to the extent that when we asked undergraduate students if they'd pursue a master's in library information science they refused the idea because they perceived it to be a servant's job."
Such a misperception, Abdul Razzaq said, was due to a lack of awareness among youth about the importance of rich resource centres, hence the new programme.
"No society can grow without research, but fruitful research can't be achieved without the knowledge base found in libraries and resource centres, which require fully qualified professionals," he added.
Abdul Razzaq believes the same philosophy applies to undergraduate programmes offered at AUE, such as digital forensics and the study of computer and cyber criminology, which he said is not a field widely recognised or considered important in the region.
Abdul Razzaq believes the university's growing success is also based on its approach to learning. "The whole management team from the chairman to the office assistant should act to serve the students because our priority is for them to learn," he said. "If we don't make the students fall in love with learning then ultimately we at the university are the losers, because it is our duty to make sure they learn all they can," he added.
A professor of management accounting, Abdul Razzaq makes it a point to teach undergraduate and postgraduate classes every year to keep in close contact with students and monitor the quality of education.
Straight to the source
"I find it better to go straight to the source and hear the students' feedback," he said.
AUE is licensed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and offers various disciplines in partnership with US, UK and Middle Eastern universities. Most programmes are accredited by the Commission for Academic Accreditation and link AUE's website visitors to that of the ministry to prove it, simply to ensure potential students trust in the institution said Abdul Razzaq.
