University of Dubai gets international accreditation

The University of Dubai (UD) has received accreditation from the US-based Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Announcing this last week, Dr Omar Hefni, university president, said: “The University of Dubai is among the few universities in the UAE, and recognised by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, to be granted this accreditation. Less than 5 per cent of over 11,000 business schools worldwide have been able to earn this accreditation, and we are proud to be one among them.”

Hefni was speaking at a conference titled ‘World Class Practices in Management Education’ held in Dubai last week. Delegates from across the world met to talk about the AACSB accreditation process and its challenges.

AACSB International is an association of educational institutions, businesses and organisations helping to advance higher education in management. It is an accrediting agency of collegiate business schools and accounting programmes worldwide. Among UAE federal universities, UAE University was awarded AACSB accreditation several years ago.

More research needed

Jerry Trapnell, executive vice-president and chief accreditation officer for AACSB, said: “The AACSB accreditation is not mandatory. Universities choose to seek the accreditation. To be granted the accreditation, they must not only meet specific standards of excellence, but their deans, faculties and staff must make a commitment to ongoing improvement to ensure that the institution will continue to deliver high-quality education to students.”

When asked about what was lacking in business education provided in the region, he replied: “While I compliment the phenomenal growth of the education arena in the UAE, more needs to be done in the area of research and development.” He said he was positive and optimistic that changes were underway.

Sharing best practices

The three-day interactive conference connected the best practices of the world’s top business schools to region-specific interests and concerns. Proven strategies to improve curricula, enhance and expand global partnerships, and tackle institution-specific challenges were shared.

Institutions represented included the Indian School of Business, American University in Cairo, Babson College, USA, University of Dubai, American University of Beirut and UAE University.

Student speak

Final year business student from UAEU, Salama Al Badi, was at the conference with five of her peers.
“The conference is very interesting,” said Al Badi, president of her university’s media group. “We interviewed some very senior professors and experts, and it has been a great learning experience for us all. We will now prepare a report and share our experiences in the university magazine.”

MBA programmes next year

“The University of Dubai (UD) plans to offer MBA programmes in various disciplines by February 2010,” said Dr Ananth Rao, dean, College of Business Administration, UD. “The programmes are structured to be industry-specific and relevant to the job market. The AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) accreditation has come through due to sustained and collective efforts. It is a benchmark that will help us in continuously improving standards.”

Mohammad Ebrahim, UD professor and director of MBA programmes, added: “Programmes such as accounting and finance, leadership and HR (human resources), international business and marketing, logistics and operations management are some of the double concentrations on offer.”

The programmes are 15 months in duration and will be offered at the Dubai Chamber of Commerce Building.