Moving on up

Professor Samy Mahmoud was appointed the University of Sharjah's Chancellor and president last July. Mahmoud left the Canada-based Carleton University where he was president and vice-chancellor to tackle the task of achieving the vision of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, and supreme president of the University of Sharjah.

Mahmoud oversees 12 colleges, nearly 10,000 students, 525 faculty and about 700 staff members.

When Mahmoud finished his undergraduate degree in Egypt he moved to Canada to pursue his graduate studies. Little did he know that one day he would be president and vice-chancellor of his alma mater, Carleton University.

"I knew even from my years in high school that I wanted to be in academia and teach," he said. In his climb to the top, Mahmoud served in positions that included the masters and doctorate programme chair, dean of engineering and vice-president.

"I was the first person from an engineering and Arab background to head a major university in North America and it's something I'm really proud of. I hope that future generations of Arabs would also have the confidence to be leaders worldwide, not just in their own countries but wherever they travel."

It was when his term as president and vice-chancellor was coming to an end that Mahmoud took an interest in the emirate of Sharjah. "It's a major education and cultural centre and the Arab expat community overseas was quite intrigued and fascinated by the vision of Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi."

Mahmoud says he was impressed by the pioneering effort of Dr Shaikh Sultan who established an education and cultural centre in the form of University City in Sharjah. "When I got the opportunity to meet Dr Shaikh Sultan, it was wonderful to & listen to his vision and ideas. The call to come was irresistible to become the next chancellor. It was the icing on the cake in my long academic career."

Last July, Mahmoud joined the university and for the past six months he has been putting his experience to use to help the university move on to its next phase.

The fact that the University of Sharjah is a comprehensive university in the form of 12 colleges attracted Mahmoud early on.

"It's not narrowly focused on a few areas," he says. The university has humanities, arts, history and culture including law fields. It also has applied sciences and health sciences. The jewel in the crown, says Mahmoud, is the university's college of fine arts and design, "which is something you don't see often in this part of the world".

The university also has a community college that allows students to specialise in technical or administrative areas at the diploma level. "This is something that's needed in any education system to complement university education."

When Mahmoud talks about the multidisciplinary programmes that the university will soon offer, his eyes light up.

"We've heard about the financial crisis around the world. We are going to have a programme that's going to combine Islamic law and ethics with investment and banking in the future. Here students can combine their knowledge of social heritage issues and the ethics that go with that, with the world of finance, banking and investment and so on. This did not exist before. We are in the position to offer this and make it happen," he says.

A programme on renewable energy is also in the pipeline. Mahmoud says it's vital to add other sources to fossil fuels. However, it would not have been possible to put together such a programme unless the university had strong engineering, science, environmental studies and social science programmes already on offer.

The international law and business programme that will be offered soon will be useful to students in the UAE as the country does much business across borders.

Healthcare management is yet another programme that will be offered to teach students about the business of healthcare. Few universities have this, says Mahmoud.

"This really gives me a lot of enthusiasm. Interdisciplinary programmes are important because solving complex problems requires you to understand many sides of the problem. Our students really have to understand the complex issues and think about them critically and have effective solutions."

The new programmes will mean that the way students are educated will have to change, says the new president.

For students to cope in the real world they need to be challenged and be given problems to solve. "That's something I find very important in educational processes. Lead, don't wait! Propose, suggest, move forward. When this is done students become more excited."

Mahmoud has observed that when students come to the university they are a bit shy and withdrawn. "Look at them after the third year and you will find them engaging and ready to ask questions. They come to my office to ask questions and they are not afraid to discuss and debate," he says.

Developing an enquiring mind to apply the knowledge gleaned is essential in universities of the 21st century.

The new approach to learning also sees fine arts students, for example, educating future doctors on how to sketch drawings of internal organs or design students teaching journalism students how to put together advertisements in an artistic way.

"I believe a comprehensive university like the University of Sharjah needs to lead in these developments because we have the capabilities," says Mahmoud.

Mahmoud says the university's sports facilities are heavily used. "We have about 30 sports that we offer - track and field, soccer, volleyball to weightlifting." The university competes in all of them, not just in the Gulf, but also in Turkey and Egypt.

Many of the coaches had been training national teams before being recruited by the university.

"We are very much aware of the need to complement education with a healthy lifestyle," says Mahmoud, adding that student events are a "beehive of activity".

Mahmoud also spoke about the "soft skills" that the university is trying to instil in its students, who practise these skills by presenting their ideas, debating in societies and clubs.

Faculties such as law have simulated courts where students learn by example. Medical students, too, learn by example, diagnosing patients in case studies from year one.

"This style of learning makes them absorb the theory part easily and it also builds confidence in students. It's expensive to offer because you need a big staff complement. However it's offered throughout the medical faculty."

According to Mahmoud, the workplace is competitive, which is why students need self-confidence so they can think properly when confronted with a problem and find solutions. "Every one of our programmes has been revised with this in mind."

While some were accelerated early on, the pace has certainly picked up with Mahmoud joining the university.