ALHOSN University marks 5th year with new accreditations, international partnerships & student distinctions

ALHOSN University, a leading Abu Dhabi-based university dedicated to high-quality, value-based education, marked its 5^th year of operation with a series of international partnerships, new academic programs and several distinctions for its industrious students. The university also participated in various high-profile events and social causes in line with its aim of promoting holistic institutional development.

ALHOSN formally celebrated its 5^th anniversary via a Gala Dinner held in February at the Beach Rotana Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The anniversary reaffirms the institution’s commitment to maintaining its leadership in the educational field, raising awareness and support for various social and environmental causes, and recognizing the valuable contributions of key personnel and management.

Achievements and Recognitions 

The University recently obtained full accreditation for two of its undergraduate programs, Industrial Engineering and Software Engineering, from the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Four more undergraduate programs in business and urban planning as well as the postgraduate MBA program are currently going through the accreditation exercise with the Ministry and are expected to be approved by the end of the next term.

ALHOSN students figured in several prominent regional competitions throughout the year, attesting to their high caliber. Senior students from the Software Engineering Department won the Best Oral Presentation award for their ‘Capstone Project Manager Software’ during the 2^nd Annual Conference on Undergraduate Research on Applied Computing, which took place at Zayed University.

The 1^st Annual Career Fair held at the ALHOSN campuses, on the other hand, successfully facilitated meetings between students, alumni and leading employers.  The event gave ALHOSN students and alumni the opportunity to network with local and regional industry leaders, learn about available career opportunities, and explore various internship and training prospects.

The accomplishments of ALHOSN graduates also brought great pride to the university. Among 2010’s marquee achievers was alumnus Saleh Al Yarabi, who was bestowed the Abu Dhabi Award by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Introduced in 2005, the award recognizes the invaluable contributions of recipients to society, and is the highest honor granted to civilians in the Emirates. Al Yarabi, who has been confined to a wheelchair since the age of 18, has authored several books and articles and delivered motivational speeches to audiences from all walks of life.

Agreements and partnerships

ALHOSN University launched partnerships and agreements with several prestigious private and public organizations over the past 12 months. These included a training and curricular development Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank; research, training and student and faculty exchange MoUs with the University of Salford in Manchester, England; and two American institutions, namely Kettering University in Flint, Michigan and the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The university also signed an information and expertise exchange MoU with the UAE Society of Engineers and was commissioned by the UAE National Transport Authority (NTA) to conduct a comprehensive nationwide road safety study.

ALHOSN also liaised with the Office of H.H. Sheikh Sultan Bin Zayed, the representative of H.H. the President of the UAE, on the development of the ‘TOMOOH’ (‘Aspirations’) training program. The program involves the delivery of human resource and executive management training by ALHOSN’s Training and Continuing Education Centre (TCEC) to UAE nationals.

“Over the past five years, ALHOSN University has consolidated its status as a source of world-class education and has emerged as a vibrant agent for socially-relevant change. Our achievements in 2010 bear witness to the success of our mission to deliver ‘global knowledge with local vision’ and to attain sustainable and holistic institutional development. We thank all members of our community, our students, our partners and our management for their valiant efforts to ensure that 2010 become a productive and eventful year,” commented Prof. Abdul Rahim Sabouni, Vice Chancellor and CEO of ALHOSN University.

Event participation and hosting

ALHOSN actively participated in several high-profile local, regional and international events in 2010. It hosted gatherings such as the Foundations for the Future Forum for architectural academics and professionals; its 1^st Annual Urban Planning Day and 1^st Annual iDesign Summit for interior design; as well as professional workshops and seminars conducted by eminent professors from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, the University of South Australia, the University of Detroit Mercy, and the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

The University also joined the 4^th NAJAH Education Training and Careers Exhibition; the 9^th Specialized Exhibition of Universities Institutes & Universities Equipments in Damascus, Syria – widely regarded as the largest gathering of public and private educational institutions from Syria and the region; the Global Conference for Technology and Innovation in Education at the Gulf Education and Training Exhibition (GETEX), the largest education fair in the Middle East and Asia; a professional event on accreditation and assessment hosted by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools  in Decatur, Georgia, USA; and the Arabian World Construction Summit, which was attended by representatives from the ALHOSN Society of Women in Engineering (SOWIE), to name a few.

Social Responsibility

Equally notable on ALHOSN’s 2010 calendar was the emphasis laid on socially-relevant activities. ALHOSN supported Abu Dhabi’s 1^st Sports fest for the Handicapped which was attended by around 1,500 participants. The university also joined ranks with many charitable and educational institutions to offer employment opportunities for people with special needs during the Technology and Career Exhibition organized by Takaful Conferences and Exhibitions in November.

The university’s Green Club organized its own Energy Saving Campaign in support of the Heroes of the UAE resource conservation campaign undertaken by the Emirates Wildlife Society in association with the World Wide Fund for Nature and in partnership with the Environmental Agency-Abu Dhabi. Visits to institutions for people with special needs, such as the Special Care Centre in Abu Dhabi, the Gulf Autism Center - the first specialized autism center in Abu Dhabi - and the ‘Estirahat Al Shuwwab’ home for the elderly in Dubai were also organized throughout the last quarter of 2010.

Founded in 2005, ALHOSN University admits qualified students of all nationalities to its 11 undergraduate and 7 graduate programs under the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Faculty of Business, and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. The university, which is named after the historic ALHOSN Palace in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, was created by the Abu Dhabi Holding Company in response to the growing local demand for high-quality education based on the North American model of higher education.