In the presence of the Vice Chancellor, the College of Science Advisory Board holds first meeting at UAEU

The College of Science at the United Arab Emirates University held the first meeting of the College of Science Advisory Board on the morning of Monday 1^st June, 2015. His Excellency Dr. Ali Rashid Al Noaimi, Vice Chancellor of UAEU, Professor Mohamed Albaili, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, members of the advisory board, the Dean of the College of Science, the Vice Dean of the college, a number of assistant deans and the heads of the various academic departments in the college were all in attendance.

The meeting began with a welcome address by the Vice Chancellor to the members of the advisory board. He stressed the importance of the relationship between industry and academia. This was followed by the appointment of Sultan Al Hajji, Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Total E and P, as the chair of the College of Science Advisory Board.

This first meeting was chaired by Sultan Al Hajji. Professor Frederick Chi-Ching Leung, Dean of the College of Science, gave a presentation on the college’s overall strategy, explaining the importance of further developing the relationship between the college and the private sector. This can be achieved by training graduates for the labor market, strengthening communications between the university and society, and improving both innovation and scientific research. The various board members also stressed the necessity of studying the needs of the labor market in terms of scientific research.

The board formed four working groups: the first is concerned with attracting students to the college; the second is a quality assurance working group; the third is concerned with marketing the college while the final working group was tasked with conducting a comparative study looking at how the College of Science compares to other major universities.