Al Ghurair University adopting an enhanced learning scheme

dubai — Bringing decades of academic experience from the US to the UAE, Prof Basem Alzahabi, president of Al Ghurair University, is armed with a mission — to transform the university into an engaging value-added platform for students.

“My interest in academics stems from my role model and hero, my late father, who was an academic and an educator. I have always been fascinated by the brain, cognition, and how we learn, so when the opportunity came in academics, I was ready to get involved,” he said.

At Al Ghurair University, students are encouraged to go beyond the subject matter. It hones the intellectual development of the individual such that they could be beneficial to society.

Prof Alzahabi is at the helm of creating a student centred education. The initiative puts emphasis on the importance of establishing a culture of excellence across all its colleges — Business, Engineering and Computing, Architecture and Design, Education and Social Sciences, as well as Law.

“We plan to address the quality of education from three angles – the content itself, the teachers, and the support for students,” he added.

Armed with a background in engineering, Prof Alzahabi passionately shares his views on education as a three-dimensional model.

“In this sense, students are here to gain more than just knowledge. They are here to acquire skills and develop their characters. Our future plan is to implement the Cooperative [Co-op] Education model, where students can be involved in a systemic mode of study and work,” he said.

Explaining further, he said that the concept, which is widely practised in the US, is part of a university’s curriculum where students gain practical experience by learning from the field he or she is studying in and allows him/her to determine if this is the path they would like to take. The partnership also benefits employers as they could gain a valuable asset, while the institution understands the need of the job market and enhances their curriculum accordingly.

“My goal is to create a climate in which AGU students dream more, learn more, do more and become more,” Prof Alzahabi concluded.

Students are here to gain more than just knowledge. They are here to acquire skills and develop their characters Prof Basem Alzahabi, President of Al Ghurair University