Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University launches El Baz Award for Excellence in Organisational Sustainability

Moving forward with its vision to establish an integrated knowledge-based environment for individuals and institutions and to stimulate creativity and innovation, Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University (HBMeU), a leader in the field of e-Learning and quality management in the Arab World, has announced the launch of an award named after Professor Farouk El Baz, Research Professor and Director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University in the USA, and Adjunct Professor of Geology at the Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University in Egypt. 

The “El Baz Award for Excellence in Organisational Sustainability” is in recognition of Professor El Baz's great achievements in the field of scientific research. The El Baz Award and a host of other prestigious awards, which seek to promote scientific research and academic and organisational excellence, were held as among the key highlights of the Annual Conference 2011, which is organized under the theme "Being at the Leading Edge – How to give Quest for Excellence a New Meaning". 

El Baz Award for Excellence in Organisational Sustainability has been established to encourage organisations to continue to adopt social responsibility programs on a large scale in the 21^st century and to stimulate excellence in various scientific and practical fields all over the world. The launch of the award also celebrates the ongoing work and scientific excellence Professor El Baz has demonstrated over the years, inspiring and influencing humanity through his important achievements, including being one of the scientists that worked with the US space agency NASA to assist in the planning of scientific exploration to the moon and as head trainer of the “Astronauts Group”. The El Baz Award has three major categories: small and medium projects category, public sector and non-profit category, and private sector category. 

The Annual Conference 2011 also honored Professor Noriaki Kano by launching “Kano Medal Excellence Catalyst” to encourage managers and heads of quality departments and sections of institutions around the world to uphold and help in the development of concepts of quality and excellence, and support the implementation of programs to improve quality management. 

On the sidelines of the Annual Conference 2011, which is held under the auspices of Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University (HBMeU), three Scientific Awards were also introduced to recognize outstanding research work. The “Harrington Best Total Quality Management Thesis/Project Award" is in recognition of unique contributions of individual Master’s students in helping develop the TQM concept and in advancing efforts that can demonstrate best practice applications and the documentations of organisational quest for achieving improvement and excellence; the “Parasuraman Service Excellence Prize" aims to further encourage research in the Middle East and North Africa region towards sharper focus and success in excellence in the service sector; and the “Kondo Research Prize: People and Organizational Culture Perspective” that supports planned research that addresses the Middle East needs, research interests and development questions in the area of people and organizational culture and behavior. 

Winners of the 2011 awards include: 

Harrington Best TQM Thesis / Project Award 2011 - Dr. Vinod Prabhu and Sameer Murdeshwar for an MBA thesis titled “Six Sigma Report on Reduction of Medication Delivery Turnaround Time for Newly Admitted In-Patients” IMT, Dubai. 

Parasuraman Service Excellence Prize, 2011 - Hamda Hassan Khansaheb for the research titled “Quantitative assessment of some preventive health services for adolescent individuals in Dubai 2010” - HBMeU, UAE. 

e-Learning Excellence Regional Awards - Individual Outstanding Achievement in e-Learning Award, 2011 - Dr. Ali H.Abureesh, Umm Al-Qura University, KSA. 

Winners of Kano Medal, 2011 

Farid Mohammed Ahmed, Secretary General, Dubai World, UAE; Hawa Abdulla Bastaki, Director, Dubai Central Laboratory, UAE; Shawqi Hamdan Sajwani, Independent Consultant, UAE; Abdulqader Obaid Ali, Chief of Internal Audit, Dubai World, UAE; and Major General Abdul Quddoos A. Razaq Al Obaidli, Dubai Police General Head Quarters, Director General - Department of Total Quality, UAE. 

Mansoor Al Awar, Chancellor of HBMeU, said: "We are keen to take advantage of the Annual Congress 2011 as a suitable platform to assess the level of creativity, innovation and scientific excellence in the Arab World, and to launch awards designed to encourage countries and communities to improve in the key areas of quality and excellence. Moreover, the awards support and help develop the economies of Arab countries, create a knowledge-based environment and improve social responsibility programs that help build a strong and integrated national economy. Moreover, we have launched the awards in four categories: individual awards, which honor prominent figures in the field of scientific research and organisational excellence; organisational awards, academic awards and professional awards.” 

Al Awar added: "El Baz Award for Excellence in Organisational Sustainability is perhaps one of the most prestigious awards that we have launched. The award is based on a vision to cultivate a culture of excellence, especially through corporate social responsibility programs. We have underlined the importance and significance of this award by naming it after Professor Farouq El Baz; one of the most important Arab and global pioneers in the field of scientific research. Furthermore, we wish to emphasize our commitment to the directives of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and the President of Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University, by launching awards that recognize creativity and innovation in the Arab and global academic community and help maintain HBMeU's leadership across all scientific and academic fields and in quality and excellence.” 

HBMeU is the first e-learning institute in the Arab World that was established with the vision to develop a new learning process through the implementation of learning practices characterised by flexibility, quality and diversity to strengthen self-leadership among learners and prepare them socially and academically for a future career through integration in the job market. HBMeU’s philosophy is based on vital methods that have been developed through extensive research and development by specialists from all over the world. These methods include offering high quality programs, supporting the pursuit of lifelong learning, promoting the freedom of information, reinforcing the culture of excellence and innovation and providing education for everyone in line with the highest standards of comprehensiveness and credibility. The university seeks to constantly identify knowledge needs, support research and development programs and create an outstanding environment for e-learning.