Al Ain University Honors Distinguished Research
- Posted on:Mar 26, 2013
Al Ain University honored faculty members who have been distinguished in research during their course of work at the university; their effort in scientific research was also lauded. This came at the meeting organized by the AAU administration with the faculty members in the presence of Dr. Noor Aldeen Atatreh, AAU Chancellor, and Prof. Ghaleb El Refae, AAU President.
Dr. Noor Aldeen Atatreh, AAU Chancellor reiterated that the university is working hard to develop and encourage scientific research which is evident through establishing the Deanship of Scientific Research and Graduate Studies over a year ago to further advance the work in scientific research at the university. In order for faculty members’ performance to be complete, they need to contribute effectively to teaching, community engagement as well as be involved in research.
Dr. Atatreh mentioned that the AAU’s excellence in scientific research in recent years is in fact the outcome of continuous work in the development of this area, and we have been able to overcome obstacles and provide all forms of facilities. As a result, we now have colleges, such as Engineering and Pharmacy, which can produce world-class research. The College of Pharmacy has received support from the Emirates Foundation for Research in addition to other colleges such as Business Administration, Law, and Education that have numerous scholarly contributions whether through publishing in scientific journals, or organizing and hosting conferences. Further, AAU is committed to providing the necessary infrastructure for laboratories and libraries with a varied range of sources.
On his part, Prof. Ghaleb El Refae, AAU President, considered scientific research a fundamental factor in the development and advancement of the university and requires keeping pace with. He reiterated that scientific research is the key to the world of excellence and advancement to stand side by side with the top world universities; scientific research cannot be separated from sustained development.
Prof. El Refae also underlined that research and scholarly activities are in fact what distinguish faculty members from other professions in education. Therefore, AAU pays special attention to scientific research and continuously encourages faculty members to engage in various forms of scholarly activities. To that end, the University considers itself a patron of scientific research and has allocated all resources to ensure the continued support for faculty’s research activities.
Along with the growth of the colleges, student body, faculty, and campuses came great development in research. Nevertheless, it is not only the quantity of research that matters; rather the quality. AAU is proud that faculty members have published in indexed first-order journals that are well-reputed internationally, El Refae added.
Keeping Up with Development
Dr. Hasan Wahbeh, Dean of the College of Engineering and Information Technology, stated that in pursuit of keeping abreast with the fast-paced development in the field of computer science, software engineering, networks, and communications engineering, scholarly activities by faculty members have increased considerably in 2012 through publishing papers and participating in conferences. This may be attributed to the faculty members’ capabilities encouraged by AAU administration. The scientific achievement at the college has now become an indispensible asset that we aim at developing even further.
Personal Effort
On his part, Dr. Khairi Moustafa, Dean of the College of Pharmacy, mentioned that scientific research requires personal effort on the part of the researcher and an ability to develop scientific research. Research at the college of Pharmacy is of a practical nature and requires a huge effort to produce high quality research. The college has come a long way since its establishment with one paper published back in 2007 and 18 papers in 2012.
Strategy
Dr. Husain Al Mougy, Dean of the College of Law, reiterated that the college has implemented a research strategy in light of the AAU Administration’s directives in order to assist in the general development of the college. In 2012, 46 scientific papers have been published in prominent journals at the college of Law.
Significant Development
Dr. Ibtehal Aburezq, Dean of the College of Education, mentioned that the scientific achievement at the College of Education has witnessed significant development especially when compared with previous years. The data at the college show that the number of papers has increased from 19 papers in 2011 to 24 in 2012.
Distinguished Research
Dr. Sobhy Al Khatib, Dean of the College of Business Administration, explained that the secret to distinguished research lies in selecting the topics. Accordingly, the college has encouraged faculty members to choose important topics and publish papers in prominent international refereed journals which will support the learning outcomes and students’ learning.
It is worth mentioning that the scholarly achievement for faculty members at AAU for 2012 has reached over 150 including papers published in international refereed journals, international and local conferences, and scientific books.
