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One of Bahrain’s leading universities is making great strides helping to turn the kingdom into an international educational hub of excellence after forging partnerships with two leading British learning institutes and offering new English language courses.
The Applied Science University has struck a deal with London South Bank and Cardiff Metropolitan universities, which will see students and ideas shared between the organisations.
The agreement comes as another boost to the year-long bicentenary celebrations in the kingdom commemorating the bilateral relationship between the UK and Bahrain which began officially with a signed agreement in 1816.
A college of engineering, covering the entire spectrum of that field, is being established with London South Bank, whilst Cardiff and ASU will share a school of management and business, plus accounting and finance.
Furthermore, ASU is now offering in-depth English language courses for students of all backgrounds after recruiting specialists to teach the curriculum.
President of ASU, Professor Ghassan Aouad, said: “The Applied Science University is only 10-years-old, so this was a fantastic opportunity to become more international and widen our educational scope.
“It’s perfect to announce these partnerships during the 200th anniversary of Bahrain-United Kingdom relations, strengthening the bond between the two nations in the education sector.”
Lebanese-born Professor Ghassan is also celebrating his own achievements after receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Technology from the University of Loughborough. This is his second degree from that university, having obtained a Masters in Construction in 1987 and a PhD in Integrated Planning Systems for the Construction Industry in 1991.
He was named as one of the Top 10 academic leaders shaping executive education in the Middle East by the Middle East Economic Digest.
His academic career also involved being a Research Fellow at the UK’s University of Salford, where he successfully supervised 24 PhD students, externally examined 52 more, and generated more than $30m in research funding. Furthermore, he was the first person from the Middle East to become the president of the Chartered Institute of Building in its 182-year history. It has 50,000 members worldwide.
“It was an absolute privilege and honour to receive this second doctorate,” said a delighted Professor Ghassan. “Two degrees from the same university is a great achievement.”
He lives with his wife Faiza, who also earned her PhD at Loughborough and who is the dean of students at ASU, and has two daughters, Sarah and Hannah. His focus has now concentrated on Bahrain, however, and growing the university.
Professor Ghassan said: “Our plans are ready to go into motion. We first need a visit from a specialised committee before we can recruit students, but we’re extremely confident of getting the green light by January 2017.
“This will open many doors of opportunity in various fields and I hope we will make the kingdom an educational hub, able to attract students from the Gulf and beyond.
“The Higher Education Council are accrediting us and doing it with a British board. This will help us immensely to become a legitimate global centre for education.”
The university has a cosmopolitan demographic, with staff representing 22 nationalities and a student body consisting of 3,000 - 85 per cent of which are Bahraini students and 15 per cent expats.
Professor Ghassan, whose prized office possession is not a photograph with a dignitary or one of his hundreds of academic certificates, but instead a signed toaster given to him as a gift in honour of his favourite fable he tells at keynote speeches about the idiocy of academics overcomplicating the simplest of tasks, believes the new English courses will create a brighter future at ASU.
“With English, you need a culture of learning vocally, not just spelling and grammar,” he said. “People need analytical skills and an academic voice, and know how to communicate properly. We will be following this mantra in our courses, and also will be offering Arabic courses for non-Arabic speakers to offer the other side.”
As part of its inclusion philosophy, ASU last month announced plans to set up an annual BD70,000 fund to support low-income students and help them fulfil their academic potential, in the form of scholarships, as revealed exclusively in GulfWeekly.
