Under the patronage of Mansour Bin Zayed: 

The United Arab Emirates University, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, hosted the 49^th General Conference of the Association of Arab Universities on Sunday 10^th and Monday 11^th of April 2016. There were more than 300 delegates from Arab and international universities in attendance at the UAEU campus in Al Ain.

His Excellency Dr. Ali Rashid Al Noaimi, Vice Chancellor of UAEU stressed that the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan is based upon his interest in education and UAEU (the UAE’s national university). UAE universities are keen to cooperate with other Arab universities in pursuit of creativity, innovation and excellence. This contributes to sustainable development in the Arab world through higher education commensurate with the requirements of the modern era.

He said that, “It is important to coordinate between Arab universities in order to have a unified mission and vision that serves the citizens and contributes to supporting communities through supplying trained manpower needs, research activities and studies. This conference promotes governments efforts to improve mutual cooperation.” He explained the need for further work on implementing the conference’s recommendations to reflect the aspirations of the Arab world.

The conference discussed the work of each of its councils, centers and associations. They discussed cooperation between the association and regional and international organizations. Also mentioned was the Distinguished Arab Research Award and applications for membership from Arab universities wishing to join the association. These recommendations were to be endorsed later.

The General Secretariat of the Association of Arab Universities decided that the 49^th conference should carry the name of the founder of the UAE and UAEU, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. This is in recognition of his efforts in building the UAE and valuing Arab scientists and intellectuals.