Destined to Lead Document - Zayed University

Destined to Lead
NEW HORIZONS
Zayed University shall become the leading university
in the region, embodying the same rigorous standards and
intellectual elements found in major universities
throughout the world.
His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan
President, Zayed University
U.A.E. Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research
1

“There are no great cities
without a great university.”
2

Table of
Contents
I. Foreword
II. Executive Review
III. Implementation, Costs, and Sources of
Revenue
IV. Next Level Programs and Plans:
Detailed Descriptions
V. Conclusion
VI. Appendices
VII. Acknowledgements
3

Foreword
Zayed University shall become the leading university in the region.
Zayed University is destined for a leadership role in the Middle East and beyond.
Destined to Lead is the University’s statement of readiness to move forward to the
“next level” as it continues to strengthen its leadership capacity. It presents a bold but
achievable action plan that will enable it to fulfill the vision of becoming the leading
university in the region.
That leadership role will not fully materialize, however, without the considerable
growth and development of academic programs, successful recruitment and retention
of outstanding faculty members, a markedly expanded program of research, and greater
service to the United Arab Emirates through outreach and engagement.
With the implementation of this action plan, Zayed University will lead higher
education in the region to new levels of service, academic achievement, and
meaningful research. The significance of the University’s becoming the leading
university in the region emanates from its commitment to serve its students and the
U.A.E., not from a desire to gain celebrity for itself.
Other universities will model programs, policies, and practices on those of ZU and will
seek to partner with it. The University will be recognized by citizens, communities,
governments, business, and industry for its academic excellence, student achievements,
and institutional leadership. The University will be rewarded by the knowledge that it is
preparing and serving the future leaders of this dynamic young nation.
The United Arab Emirates, already a leader in the Middle East, is rapidly becoming an
international leader because of its developing institutions, expanding economy, cultural
attractions, natural resources, and beauty. Yet another requirement for international
leadership is a great university. History shows that the great cities of leading nations
have had great universities. Educating future leaders in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai,
Zayed University is destined to be that great national university.
4

Inspired by His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, founder of the U.A.E.,
the actions described in this document will take Zayed University to the “next level”
on its path to greatness and leadership. Its actions will provide a solid foundation
for service to the community and nation, will constitute a mandate for academic
leadership, will assure high quality, and will be innovative in the uses of technology.
Zayed University has accomplished an outstanding and enviable record of achievement
under the leadership of His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, President
of Zayed University and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research. It is now
time to follow His Excellency’s directive to take Zayed University to the “next level” of
achievement.
Our university community believes Zayed University is destined to lead. The faculty,
staff, and students are committed to this bold vision.
Dan Johnson
Provost
May 2009
5

Vision
Futures
Report
Funding
Formula
Zayed University
“The Next Level”
ZU priorities:
H.E. Sheikh Nahayan's
2008 Convocation Speech
Destined to Lead
New Horizons
“The Leading University in the Region”
6
Mission
Strategic Plan
2008-2010
Endowment
Campaign

Executive Review
Zayed University will move toward new horizons over the next five years. Its initiatives,
focusing on service, leadership, quality, and innovation, will take it to the “next level.”
Service to Community and Nation
• Outreach, Engagement, and Research
• Graduate Academic Programs
• Undergraduate Academic Programs
Mandate for Leadership
• Leadership Education
• Academic Leadership
• Institutional Leadership
Quality Assurance
• Accreditation
• Assessment and Program Review
• Facilities
Innovative Uses of Technology
• Student Learning
• Administration
Destined to Lead identifies particular horizons, provides implementation plans for
reaching them, specifies resource requirements, and offers detailed descriptions of
activity and commitment required for becoming “the leading university in the region.”
7

Service to Community
and Nation
Outreach, Engagement, and Research
Institute for Islamic World Studies: Establish the Institute for Islamic World
Studies to strengthen the capacity of Islamic communities in adapting their discourses
to current conditions and to encourage dialogue between Islamic civilization and other
civilizations worldwide.
Zayed University Institute for Community Engagement: Develop the
Institute for Community Engagement as the primary conduit for continuing education,
training, applied research, and service provided for the community and the nation by
the University.
Zayed University Judicial Academy: Develop the Judicial Academy for the
professional and continuing education of the judicial branch of the U.A.E. government.
Zayed Diplomatic Academy: Establish the Zayed Diplomatic Academy to provide
education and training of future U.A.E. diplomats for successful careers in diplomacy
and international affairs.
Zayed University Academy: In partnership with one or more Emirates, establish
Zayed University Academy, a research-based model for reforming secondary education
in the U.A.E.
Institute for Social and Economic Research: Expand the scope and capability
of the former Economic Policy and Research Unit so that it is a fully staffed and
functioning Institute for Social and Economic Research, available especially to respond
to governmental and private sector requests for applied research.
Masdar Institute of Science and Technology: Develop a partnership with the
Masdar Institute of Science and Technology for securing ZU student internships and for
establishing a long-term research program on the social and behavioral dimensions of
the Masdar City project.
8

U.A.E. Center for Bilingualism and Bilingual Education: Initiate this newly
approved center’s work in applied language and language-education research to
promote high levels of academic and professional proficiency in Modern Standard
Arabic and English among Arabic-speaking peoples of the U.A.E., the Gulf, and the
wider Arab world.
Confucius Institute: Seek approval from the People’s Republic of China for funding
of a Confucius Institute in partnership with Xinjiang University and the Chinese
communities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai to promote understanding of Chinese culture
and to create a Chinese language curriculum.
Undergraduate Research Program: Foster, encourage, sustain, and support ZU
undergraduates performing faculty-mentored research in their major field of study by
establishing an Undergraduate Research Program.
Graduate Research: Promote and support research by graduate students through
research fellowships and assistantships.
Graduate Academic Programs
Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Establish a graduate
program in Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management, a joint project of the
College of Business Sciences and the College of Information Technology that can
answer a significant need in government, the military, and private industry.
Cultural Heritage Management: Develop a graduate program in Cultural
Heritage Management in Abu Dhabi that will prepare Emiratis to lead efforts in
preserving and presenting the cultural heritage of the U.A.E. and to fill professional
roles in museums, libraries, and archives.
Public Health: Build on the current undergraduate program in Health Sciences to
develop a graduate program in Public Health that will prepare graduate students for
leadership roles in the nationwide effort to reduce environmental risk and to improve
the health and well-being of the population.
9

Undergraduate Academic Programs
Zayed University College for International and Advanced Studies: Establish the
Zayed University College for International and Advanced Studies staffed by visiting
international scholars who will lead seminars and conduct classes on critical global
issues for visiting international students and the best of U.A.E. students.
Multimedia Communications Degree: Establish an undergraduate major in
multimedia communications, a joint project of the College of Information Technology,
the College of Communication and Media Sciences, and the Department of Art and
Design, that will prepare students for professional roles in the growing practice of using
a variety of media in communications.
Department of Science: Establish a Department of Science that will, through
appointments of faculty in physics, chemistry, and biology and the appointment of a
Professor for Public Understanding and Application of Science, create courses for new
majors in science.
Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics: Strengthen and focus the
current Department of Mathematics and Statistics as the Department of Applied
Mathematics and Statistics so that it can enhance the education of all students in
mathematics and develop mathematics and statistics as a more prominent discipline at
the University.
Specialty in Emirati Studies: Develop an academic specialty in Emirati Studies that
will assist students in identifying, interpreting, evaluating, and preserving the Emirati
national heritage.
10

Mandate for Leadership
Leadership Education
Conversation on Leadership: Conduct a campus-wide “Conversation on Leadership”
during academic year 2009-2010 to highlight the Zayed University Learning Outcome
for Leadership, stimulate thinking about the best ways for helping students achieve the
leadership outcome, and raise the ethical consciousness of the campus.
Women as Global Leaders: Resume the University’s series of conferences on Women
as Global Leaders in 2012 on the new Abu Dhabi campus with an emphasis on student
inclusion, worldwide recognition, and substantive outcomes.
Physical Activity: Develop and nurture opportunities for physical fitness activities and
organized sports to promote health and mental alertness and to develop teamwork and
leadership.
Academic Leadership
Mission-Based Workloads: Reformulate baccalaureate faculty workloads and
reorganize faculty positions in a way that will strengthen research, improve teaching
of undergraduates, increase efficiency of staffing, and align the University with
accreditation standards.
Faculty Contracts: Selectively employ the options of five-year and rolling contracts to
promote institutional stability, compete effectively in the market, reinforce pedagogical
success, and support long-term research projects.
Provost’s Research Fellowships: Expand up to ten the number of Provost’s Research
Fellowships, initiated in spring 2009 with the award of fellowships to the top three
competitors from the University faculty.
Endowed Chairs: Establish ten endowed chairs, well-supported by resources for research,
for distinguished professors who will enliven the intellectual environment and stimulate
and produce significant research in the academic units to which they are assigned.
11

Institutional Leadership
Office of Development: Establish an Office of Development to prepare and execute
a campaign for a Zayed University Endowment.
Financial Aid: Institutionalize financial aid to students in a way that is fair, adequate,
and confidential and ensures that the University does not lose worthy students because
they lack financial resources.
Global Partnerships: Promote additional strategic partnerships with the world’s
leading universities.
Study Abroad: Develop new global opportunities for educating undergraduates and
broadening their horizons through an expanded and institutionalized study abroad
program that provides for short and long-term periods of study and service.
Alumni Affairs: Establish an Office of Alumni Affairs charged with maintaining contact
with ZU alumni, engaging them in the campaign for the ZU Endowment, obtaining
their participation in publicizing the University to prospective students, and involving
alumni in important events on campus such as career planning and the Conversation
on Leadership.
12

Quality Assurance
Accreditation
College and Program Accreditation: Pursue and obtain international accreditation
for major programs in business, education, information technology, communications
and media sciences, and art and design.
Middle States Commission on Higher Education Accreditation: Prepare for the
reaffirmation of accreditation by complying with reporting and self-study timelines,
implementing a strategy for complying with recommendations, and adopting, as
appropriate, the suggestions in the 2008 report.
Assessment And Program Review
Assessment Structure: Refine assessment practices so that they will coordinate all
review, accreditation, assessment, and evaluation activities within a comprehensive and
integrated framework with a focus on institutional effectiveness and student learning
outcomes.
Academic Program Review: Reactivate Academic Program Review using external
reviewers on a five-year cycle during which all undergraduate and graduate programs
will be carefully reviewed for quality and standards.
Peer Institutions: Continue to refine the identification of institutions, benchmarks, and
metrics against which the University can measure itself and set high standards for the region.
Facilities
New Campus at Abu Dhabi: Establish a Facilities Committee that will participate actively
and imaginatively in the planning and development of the new campus at Abu Dhabi to
ensure that the facilities and their arrangement will enhance the quality of the ZU education.
Dubai Campus: Complete construction of unfinished interior spaces, reconfigure the
former CTL space for a full-service University bookstore, and construct new facilities.
13

Innovative use of
Technology
STUDENT LEARNING
Multimedia Learning Laboratories: Establish state-of-the-art multimedia learning
laboratories on the Dubai campus and the new Abu Dhabi campus.
Technology-Assisted Learning: Develop current and future technologies in effective
support of dynamic, learner-centered instructional laboratories and environments, to
include the possibility of distance learning, enhanced through multimedia presentations
and fully integrated software and augmented by broadband and internet delivery
systems with electronic connectivity worldwide.
ADMINISTRATION
Enrollment Management: Capitalize on new and innovative technologies to recruit,
enroll, and retain new students, including males and international students, in an
orderly and efficient fashion.
Marketing Zayed University: Market Zayed University to prospective national and
international students through the newly constituted Office of Marketing in ways that
promote and preserve the integrity of the University and succeed in presenting an
accurate picture to the target audiences, especially those that gain their information
electronically.
Web Strategy Upgrade: Establish a superior web presence that allows the University
to employ a variety of media and succeed in effectively projecting itself to national and
international audiences.
Communications: Develop informed, creative, and coherent internal and external
communications programs for the University that capitalize on the multimedia assets of
the institution and keep all significant stakeholder groups informed of major activities,
accomplishments, and developments on both campuses.
14

Implementation, Costs, and
Sources of Revenue
15

Implementation, Costs, and Sources of Revenue
Subject to the approval of His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan,
President of Zayed University and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific
Research, every administrative and fiscal tool available to the Provost will be employed
to implement successfully the programs, projects, and policies described in this
document, Destined to Lead.
These specific actions will support implementation:
• The administrative structure will be modified, and the portfolios of
senior managers will be realigned to accomplish the objectives.
• A professional development program for deans will ensure full
implementation at the college level.
• Developments involving more than one college will be managed by
inter-collegiate program groups.
• Leaders will be appointed for each project and program.
• All projects and programs will follow best practices of project
management with clearly specified lines of authority, timetables, costs,
sources of funding, and partners.
The following chart provides details about implementation.
16

Campus Recurrent Annual Cost
Capital
Costs
Grants and
Other
Revenue
Funding
Formula
Target
Year
Project
Leader
Project
DXB AUH Endowment New Funds
Institute for Islamic World Studies Thomas Cochran 2011 Yes Yes 9,900,000
Zayed University Institute for Community Rex Taylor 2009 Yes Yes 2,990,000
Engagement
Zayed University Judicial Academy Rex Taylor 2010 No Yes 10,000,000
2010 No Yes 10,000,000
Zayed Diplomatic Academy Thomas
Cochran
Zayed University Academy Dan Johnson, 2011 Yes Yes 20,000,000
COE
Institute for Social and Economic Research Chet Jablonski 2009 Yes Yes 5,400,000
Masdar Institute of Science and Technology Rex Taylor 2010 No Yes 1,000,000 1,000,000
U.A.E. Center for Bilingualism and Bilingual Ingrid Piller 2009 Yes Yes 7,500,000
Education
Confucius Institute Bob Cryan 2010 Yes Yes
17
Undergraduate Research Program Dan Johnson 2009 Yes Yes 100,000
Graduate Research Chet Jablonski 2010 Yes Yes 1,500,000
Global Logistics and Supply Chain
Rex Taylor, 2010 Yes Yes 1,000,000
Management
CBS, CIT,
Chet Jablonski
Cultural Heritage Management Rex Taylor, 2010 No Yes 1,000,000
CAS,
Chet Jablonski
2011 Yes Yes 5,175,000
Public Health Rex Taylor,
CAS,
Chet Jablonski
Zayed University College for International Rex Taylor 2010 Yes Yes 4,650,000
and Advanced Studies
Multimedia Communications Degree Rex Taylor, 2010 Yes Yes 500,000
CIT, CCMS, CAS
Department of Science Thomas Cochran 2011 Yes Yes 1,800,000

Campus Recurrent Annual Cost
Capital
Costs
Grants and
Other
Revenue
Funding
Formula
Target
Year
Project
Leader
Project
DXB AUH Endowment New Funds
2011 Yes Yes 1,200,000
Thomas
Cochran
Department of Applied Mathematics and
Statistics
2010 Yes Yes 4,800,000
Specialty in Emirati Studies Rex Taylor,
CAS
Conversation on Leadership Dan Johnson 2009 Yes Yes 500,000 500,000
Women as Global Leaders Dan Johnson 2012 Yes Yes
Physical Activity Thomas 2010 Yes Yes 1,500,000
Cochran
Mission-Based Workloads Dan Johnson 2011 Yes Yes 21,600,000
Faculty Contracts Dan Johnson 2009 Yes Yes
Provost’s Research Fellowships Chet Jablonski 2009 Yes Yes 1,200,000
2011 Yes Yes 8,000,000
Endowed Chairs Deans
Office of
Development
18
2009 Yes Yes 5,000,000
Office of Development Safia Saeed
Al Raqbani
Financial Aid Andre Racette 2009 Yes Yes 16,500,000 1,800,000
Global Partnerships Bob Cryan 2010 Yes Yes
Study Abroad Bob Cryan, 2011 Yes Yes 500,000 500,000
Denise Gifford
Alumni Affairs Dan Johnson 2010 Yes Yes 1,000,000 1,000,000
College and Program Accreditation Deans, 2009- Yes Yes 8,600,000
2013
Jeffrey Belnap
Middle States Commission on Higher Elizabeth 2012 Yes Yes 100,000
Education Accreditation
Stanley

Campus Recurrent Annual Cost
Capital
Costs
Grants and
Other
Revenue
Funding
Formula
Target
Year
Project
Leader
Project
DXB AUH Endowment New Funds
Assessment Structure Jeff Belnap 2009 Yes Yes 800,000
Academic Program Review Jeff Belnap 2009 Yes Yes 300,000
2009 Yes Yes
Peer Institutions Elizabeth
Stanley
2009 Yes
New Campus at Abu Dhabi Thomas
Cochran
2009- Yes 800,000 96,000,000
12
2011 Yes Yes 600,000 30,000,000
Dubai Campus Thomas
Cochran
Multimedia Learning Laboratories Thomas
Cochran
Technology-Assisted Learning Andre Racette, 2010 Yes Yes 6,000,000 50,000,000
Bob Cryan
Enrollment Management Bob Cryan 2009 Yes Yes 1,500,000
19
Marketing Zayed University Bob Cryan 2009 Yes Yes 500,000
Web Strategy Upgrade Bob Cryan 2009 Yes Yes 1,000,000
2009 Yes Yes 100,000
Communications Peter
Stromberg
TOTALS 84,115,000 22,500,000 32,000,000 30,800,000 176,000,000
Endowment: Annual income from Zayed University Endowment. But the need for these funds is immediate. The Endowment will not yield
income for several years.
New Funds: Source of funds not yet determined.
Funding Formula: Current operating budget.
Grants and Other Revenue: Income from other known sources.

Resources related to Projected Operating Revenue
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Next Level Programs and Plans:
Detailed Descriptions
21

Institute for
Islamic World Studies
Establish the Institute for Islamic World Studies to strengthen the capacity of Islamic
communities in adapting their discourses to current conditions and to encourage
dialogue between Islamic civilization and other civilizations worldwide.
Description:
In establishing the Zayed Institute for Islamic World Studies, Zayed University
will found a world center dedicated both to supporting the capacity of Islamic
communities to adapt their discourses to rapidly changing social, cultural, and
economic conditions and also to facilitating dialogue between Islamic civilization
and other civilizations. Through its educational, research, and engagement
programs, the Institute will support the development of the next generation of
leaders able to provide well-informed guidance for complex, twenty-first-century
realities.
Housed at Zayed University’s campuses in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and capitalizing
on the geographic location of the United Arab Emirates at the center of the
historically Islamic homelands (a territory that extends from western Africa to
eastern Asia), the Institute will bring together distinguished scholars, university
faculty, students, and leaders in government and civil society from across the
Islamic world. Inspired and sustained by the progressive, humanistic vision of His
Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, the Institute will become a hub
for knowledge-based consensus building, conflict alleviation, and cross-cultural
understanding. Consideration will eventually be given to the development of a
doctoral program (Ph.D.) in Islamic World Studies.
Administrative Oversight: Thomas Cochran
Annual Endowment Income: AED 9,900,000
Target Year: 2011
22

Zayed University Institute for
Community Engagement
Develop the Institute for Community Engagement as the primary conduit for
continuing education, training, applied research, and service provided for the
community and the nation by the University.
Description:
The recent reorganization of outreach activities follows His Excellency Sheikh
Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan’s 2008 Zayed University convocation speech in
which he stressed the need for “institution-wide collaboration and participation to
serve the wider needs of the communities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.”
The Institute for Community Engagement (ICE) is an amalgamation of previously
college-managed units to provide a single point of contact between the community
and the University. Its Training & Consultancy section already offers customized
programs for a range of organizations, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai
municipalities, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Academy and Judiciary, U.A.E. Central Bank,
and the U.A.E. Military.
To take the Institute for Community Engagement to the next level, three
developments are planned. A Director and additional staff will be appointed to
establish a section for Continuing Education to offer a wide range of vocational and
non-vocational courses. Classes in English, Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, in IT, and in
Communication Skills will be complemented by non-vocational classes covering a
diverse range of subjects. Those courses will be important as learning opportunities
in themselves and will also offer occasions for the U.A.E.’s multicultural
communities to come together and learn together.
Additional staff will be appointed to establish a section responsible for Community
Service and Service Learning for all ZU students. That section will furnish students
the opportunity to gain the widely accepted educational value of undertaking work
placements and performing community service, a value increasingly significant in
the private sector.
Administrative Oversight: Rex Taylor
Annual Endowment Income: AED 2,999,000
Target Year: 2009
23

Zayed University
Judicial Academy
Develop the Judicial Academy for the professional and continuing education of the
judicial branch of the U.A.E. government.
Description:
The Judicial Academy will offer a major, indispensible capacity-building program for
members of the judiciary of Emirati society. To that end, the Department of Arabic
and Islamic Studies will offer training in administrative, civil, commercial, criminal,
and family law, and in legal theory and argumentation. The Institute for Community
Engagement will offer training in the English language and in information
technology. The extensive training opportunities will be complemented with a
schedule of stimulating seminars and conferences on topics of current concerns
such as the use of technology in the courtroom and procedures for achieving greater
consensus in legal decision-making.
Administrative Oversight: Rex Taylor
Grants and Other Revenue: AED 10,000,000
Target Year: 2010
24

Zayed Diplomatic Academy
Establish the Zayed Diplomatic Academy to provide education and training of future
U.A.E. diplomats for successful careers in diplomacy and international affairs.
Description:
The Zayed Diplomatic Academy will educate and train future generations of diplomats
from the United Arab Emirates and eventually professionals from other countries as
well. Students will be prepared for successful careers in diplomacy and international
affairs. The academic curriculum and professional training will be delivered by Zayed
University in collaboration with leading academic institutions in Europe and the United
States.
The interdisciplinary nature of the programs will guarantee the preparation of versatile
professionals knowledgeable about local and international contemporary history, the
characteristics and major elements of an interconnected global economy, the law of
nations, and modern theories in international politics.
The intensive academic training will be combined with workshops designed to equip
diplomats with the written and oral language skills, analytical tools, and leadership
capabilities demanded in their work as diplomats. Those resources will allow them to
communicate effectively with their own government, the general public, and the press
and to perform as effective diplomats.
Administrative Oversight: Thomas Cochran
Grants and Other Revenue: 10,000,000
Target Year: 2010
25

Zayed University Academy
In partnership with one or more Emirates, establish Zayed University Academy, a
research-based model for reforming secondary education in the U.A.E.
Description:
The need for a new, more effective approach to secondary education in the U.A.E.
has been well documented and widely discussed in the media, education circles,
and government agencies. Zayed University can do much to answer that need by
establishing research-based pedagogy and a curriculum for Emirati secondary school
students that is focused on learning outcomes and preparation for college or university
education. The University will bring new thinking and a bold, new approach that will
transform secondary education into an effective learning experience that fully prepares
students and graduates for the rigors of university education without intermediate
college prep courses and developmental education programs. The importance of a new,
more cost-effective approach can be measured in terms of financial and human capital
costs. Savings in these areas alone through a more effective approach to achieving
the learning and educational objectives in secondary schools will provide significant
new assets for investment in the U.A.E.’s future. The Zayed University Academy could
realistically become a model for improving the entire public K-12 education system in
the U.A.E. and, perhaps, beyond. The proposed model could catapult the U.A.E. into
the currently vacant role of leadership in public education in the Middle East.
The proposed Academy rests on the central premise that its entire operation
would be based on validated knowledge derived from contemporary research
and empirically-based best practices. The ZU Academy would lay a foundation
for program development based on well-researched principles. A team of
internationally recognized researchers with specializations in learning, teaching
methods, pedagogy, curriculum, behavior, technologies, and related fields would
be a vital and integral part of the Academy. In turn, the researchers in residence at
the Academy would work in partnerships with two or three leading international
universities recognized for their contributions to knowledge in the field of learning
and secondary education.
Administrative Oversight: Dan Johnson and the College of Education
New Funds: AED 20,000,000
Target Year: 2011
26

Institute for
Social and Economic Research
Expand the scope and capability of the former Economic Policy and Research Unit so that
it is a fully staffed and functioning Institute for Social and Economic Research, available
especially to respond to governmental and private sector requests for applied research.
Description:
The former Center for Economic Policy and Research will now have a portfolio that
includes social as well as economic issues. The addition of social issues will lead to a
broader research agenda that promises results even more rich than those of the past.
The expanded Center will work closely with U.A.E. government departments and other
organizations to conduct research in areas such as demographic trends, economic
indicators, and household surveys (research in partnership with relevant government
departments and agencies such as Dubai Statistics Center); social and behavioral aspects
of energy saving and sustainability (in partnership with Masdar City and the Masdar
Institute of Science and Technology); and transportation, integrated traffic systems, and
traffic management (in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Department of Transport and
Urban Planning Council). Partnership with organizations such as the Dubai Statistics
Center will give access to large-scale data sets that are not now sufficiently analyzed.
The Center for Social and Economic Research needs a director, and an appointment is
anticipated in 2009.
Administrative Oversight: Chet Jablonski
Annual Endowment Income: AED 5,400,000
Target Year: 2009
27

Masdar Institute of
Science and Technology
Develop a partnership with the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology for
securing ZU student internships and for establishing a long-term research project on
the social and behavioral dimension of the Masdar City project.
Description:
The Zayed University faculty, led by its social scientists reinforced by a host of
specialists in other relevant academic disciplines, is perfectly poised to study the
social and behavioral factors that will have a critical bearing on the overall success
of Masdar City.
Planners of Masdar City are currently and necessarily concentrating on the existing
and still developing technologies required to create Masdar as a new kind of
sustainable urban community. But in the long run Masdar City will be a home for
people, and people exhibit attitudes, behaviors, and practices that will deeply affect
the project. They will have a fundamental impact on energy consumption levels,
on the success or failure of specific energy-related technologies, and on the overall
acceptability of energy-related policies and measures. The project leaders need to
know about those attitudes, behaviors, and practices; they must understand them;
and they must recognize possible ways for maintaining or changing them. Social
and behavioral scientists know how to discover and analyze that information. Zayed
University is currently negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding with Masdar
City officials that prepares the way for this extraordinary longitudinal study of the
human dimension of one of the most significant initiatives in modern times.
The partnership also provides for internships at the Masdar Institute of Science
and Technology for qualified Zayed University students. Not only will the students
benefit from the experience but also the University will gain insights that will assist
it in developing a four-year curriculum to prepare students for study in the Masdar
graduate program.
Administrative Oversight: Rex Taylor
New Funds: AED 1,000,000
Grants and Other Revenue: AED 1,000,000
Target Year: 2010
28

U.A.E. Center for Bilingualism
and Bilingual Education
Initiate this newly approved center’s work in applied language and languageeducation
research to promote high levels of academic and professional proficiency
in Modern Standard Arabic and English among Arabic-speaking peoples of the U.A.E.,
the Gulf, and the wider Arab world.
Description:
While aiming to generate knowledge relevant to the promotion of linguistic
competence in English and Modern Standard Arabic, the Center’s work will
be based in a sociolinguistic tradition which recognizes the importance of
acknowledging all the languages in speakers’ repertoires to ensure their educational
success and full participation. Research will thus also take into account the role that
Gulf Arabic and other languages of the home play as languages of identity.
Committed to the functional multilingualism that Arab citizens of the twenty-first
century need to command both the linguistic resources of their modernized mother
tongue and the language of international communication (English), the Center will
be dedicated to descriptions of actual language use and language development
patterns in the U.A.E. The Center’s objective is to conduct multilingualism research
to strengthen the U.A.E.’s institutions and practices so that the nation’s citizens and
residents will be equipped with linguistic tools enabling them to be full participants
in local, regional, and international communities.
Housed at Zayed University and supported by the National Research Foundation,
the U.A.E. Center for Bilingualism and Bilingual Education will work with
institutional and individual partners within the region and throughout the world
to promote the transitions from Gulf Arabic and other languages of the home to
bilingualism in English and Modern Standard Arabic as the languages of educational
success, economic advancement, and full participation and citizenship in
contemporary Arab societies.
Administrative Oversight: Ingrid Piller
Grants and Other Revenue: AED 7,500,000
Target Date: 2009
29

Confucius Institute
Seek approval from the People’s Republic of China for funding of a Confucius Institute
in partnership with Xinjiang University and the Chinese communities of Abu Dhabi and
Dubai to promote understanding of Chinese culture and to create a Chinese language
curriculum.
Description:
The Confucius Institute at Zayed University will incorporate the features that have
marked the extraordinary success of similar institutes in other countries. The Chinese
faculty, fully supported by the Chinese government, will teach the Chinese language
using a variety of methods including multimedia and the Internet; train teachers to
teach Chinese language in primary schools, high schools, and colleges; administer
the Chinese Proficiency Test and other tests to certify teachers’ ability to teach
Chinese as a foreign language; teach a variety of Chinese courses for individuals
who are not registered students of Zayed University; sponsor academic activities
and Chinese movies and TV programs, subject to applicable copyright requirements;
and provide reference materials for educators and consulting services for individuals
wishing to study in China. Most notable, the faculty will develop a credit-bearing
curriculum in the Chinese language for Zayed University students.
The agreement with Xinjiang University will entail no budgetary cost to the
University. The University will furnish space and IT support and will add Institute
faculty members to its own faculty as appropriate. The agreement will exemplify the
rewarding nature of global partnerships and will build the capacity of the U.A.E. to
interface successfully with the People’s Republic of China.
Administrative Oversight: Bob Cryan
Grants and Other Revenue: Expense borne by People’s Republic of China
Target Year: 2010
30

Undergraduate
Research Program
Foster, encourage, sustain, and support ZU undergraduates performing faculty-mentored
research in their major field of study by establishing an Undergraduate Research Program.
Description:
Planning, conducting, and completing significant research projects inspires
undergraduate students and enlivens the undergraduate experience. To date, Zayed
University has not formally encouraged special research activities by its students and
has taken no steps in establishing a resourced structure to support such endeavors.
Nonetheless, some students, diligently mentored by dedicated faculty members, have
produced research that has resulted in invitations to present their results at international
academic conferences. Those students have exemplified the potential that a formal
research structure will develop in even more University students. Students who conduct
research train themselves to contribute in the future to the knowledge economy. Key
to the program’s success will be a simple, well-publicized system for evoking research
proposals from students enrolled in majors and a fair and open way of evaluating the
proposals and awarding research support. Important also will be the presentation,
publication, and recognition of completed projects. Although the cost initially may be
quite modest, a successful program will see scores of students engaged in research, and
the costs could become quite substantial. The rewards to the student, the faculty, the
University, the U.A.E., and the global community of scholars will, however, be beyond
financial estimate.
Administrative Oversight: Dan Johnson
Funding Formula: AED 100,000
Target Year: 2009
31

Graduate Research
Promote and support research by graduate students through research fellowships and
assistantships.
Description:
Comprehensive research universities offer graduate students support for research
and reap significant synergistic advantages. A faculty deeply engaged in research
profits from the energy and fresh ideas customarily provided by graduate students.
The graduate students thrive in an environment that furnishes role models and
skilled mentors. Zayed University should seek those outcomes by offering support.
Research fellowships awarded to promising graduate students will provide the
necessary support. While professional masters programming could remain cohortbased
and income-based, competitive high quality research graduate programming,
which trains the builders of a knowledge society and attracts high-quality faculty
who deliver the new knowledge and research, requires regular, full-time, on-campus
offerings, thesis-based graduate programs, and a high level of subsidy. Graduate
tuition in such research programs repays only a small fraction of real costs which
derive from graduate fellowships, research library, laboratories, graduate student
space, small classes, thesis management, and competitive salaries to attract and
retain high quality faculty.
Graduate research fellowships and assistantships (three to five in the first instance)
will increase the research productivity of faculty, help prepare graduate students for
advanced research activities, and help increase the competitiveness of the University
for outstanding faculty members.
Administrative Oversight: Chet Jablonski
Annual Endowment Income: AED 1,500,000
Target Year: 2010
32

Global Logistics and
Supply Chain Management
Establish a graduate program in Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management, a joint
project of the College of Business Sciences and the College of Information Technology
that can answer a significant need in government, the military, and private industry.
Description:
Extensive consultations with leaders at Fedex, Dubai Ports, Emirates Airlines, Dubai
Duty Free, and other vital private and public enterprises in the U.A.E. have identified
the need for this graduate program in Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management
that leads to an Executive Masters degree. Current planning has drawn together not only
two critical ZU colleges but also the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the
Institute for Community Engagement. That interdisciplinary effort will gain strength from
the global partnerships envisioned with Michigan State University and Pennsylvania
State University, currently ranked highest in the world for their training programs in
Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management. The ZU graduate program will build
the capacity of the U.A.E. to manage a vital part of its economy.
Administrative Oversight: Rex Taylor, College of Business Sciences, College of
Information Technology, and Chet Jablonski
Funding Formula: AED 1,000,000
Target Year: 2010
33

Cultural Heritage
Management
Develop a graduate program in Cultural Heritage Management in Abu Dhabi that will
prepare Emiratis to lead efforts in preserving and presenting the cultural heritage of
the U.A.E. and to fill professional roles in museums, libraries, and archives.
Description:
A new Masters program in Cultural Heritage Management (with a thesis route as
well as a course route) will prepare graduate students for positions of leadership in
the management of museums and heritage sites throughout the U.A.E., including
those currently being developed on Saadiyat Island. Developed in the College of
Arts and Sciences, the graduate program in Cultural Heritage Management will
benefit directly from the college’s academic resources in matters such as history,
identity, language, natural resources, geopolitics, and social, economic, and
political development.
A complementary graduate program in Archive, Library, and Information Sciences,
developed by the Library and Learning Sciences and the College of Information
Technology in conjunction with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
could prepare graduate students for leadership roles in the management of libraries
and archives throughout the country.
Administrative Oversight: Rex Taylor, College of Arts and Sciences, and
Chet Jablonski
Formula Funding: AED 1,000,000
Target Year: 2010
34

Public Health
Build on the current undergraduate program in Health Sciences to develop a graduate
program in Public Health that will prepare graduate students for leadership roles in the
nationwide effort to reduce environmental risk and to improve the health and well-being
of the population.
Description:
For the last five years Zayed University has offered an undergraduate major in
Health Sciences, with specializations in environmental health, health education and
promotion, and nutrition. Moving successfully to the next level of a graduate program
in Public Health requires substantial investment of new resources, particularly in faculty
expertise.
Zayed University must strengthen its capacity to offer a solid graduate program by
making a number of key faculty appointments in Environmental Health, Epidemiology,
Medical Sociology, and Behavioral Change, appointments related to specific public
health concerns in the U.A.E. such as obesity, vitamin D deficiency, diabetes, and
asthma.
The University currently offers an Executive Masters Program in Health Care
Administration. A strengthened faculty will enable the University to offer a related
Masters Program in Public Health and a wide range of customized courses in hospital
care, screening procedures, health promotion, and education.
Administrative Oversight: Rex Taylor, College of Arts and Sciences, and Chet Jablonski
Annual Endowment Income: AED 5,175,000
Target Year: 2011
35

Zayed University
College for International
and Advanced Studies
Establish the Zayed University College for International and Advanced Studies
staffed by visiting international scholars who will lead seminars and conduct classes
on critical global issues for visiting international students and the best of U.A.E.
students.
Description:
This new College will connect exceptional students with exceptional teachers
for an exceptional educational experience. International students from selected
universities worldwide will study alongside selected U.A.E. students and be taught
by a distinguished international faculty chosen for their expertise in topics reflecting
the pivotal and exemplary position of the U.A.E. and the Gulf in global affairs.
The College will connect Zayed University students with their peers from abroad
and within the U.A.E., will connect the University with peer institutions, and will
connect the U.A.E. with other countries. In making connections, it will make a
difference.
At first the College will offer semester-long undergraduate programs of study; at
a later stage it may be possible to offer programs of variable length. It is planned
that the College will rapidly become a residential learning community – students
and distinguished visiting faculty sharing accommodation designed to maximize
opportunities for out-of-classroom learning. This residential dimension will support
the mission of promoting mutual understanding between future leaders of ZU and
its partners throughout the world.
Administrative Oversight: Rex Taylor
Annual Endowment Income: AED 4,650,000
Target Year: 2010
36

Multimedia Communications
Degree
Establish an undergraduate major in multimedia communications, a joint project of the
College of Information Technology, the College of Communication and Media Sciences,
and the Department of Art and Design, that will prepare students for professional roles in
the growing practice of using a variety of media in communications.
Description:
A truly intercollegiate undertaking, the formation of an undergraduate degree in
multimedia communications will respond to widespread student interest, faculty
expertise, and the demands of contemporary society. The interdisciplinary degree will
offer instruction in a blend of interactive digital technologies in design, production,
management, and evaluation. Study in the program should excite and challenge
the imagination of students eager to make the most of the plethora of digital
technologies now available. Students interested in a variety of careers in the public
and private sectors will benefit from the study required for the degree in multimedia
communications.
Administrative Oversight: Rex Taylor, College of Information Technology,
College of Communication and Media Sciences, and
Department of Art and Design
Funding Formula: AED 500,000
Target Year: 2010
37

Department of Science
Establish a Department of Science that will, through appointments of faculty in
physics, chemistry, and biology and the appointment of a Professor for Public
Understanding and Application of Science, create courses for new majors in science.
Description:
Opportunities for the study of science at Zayed University are few. Most graduates find
it difficult to compete for jobs requiring more than a rudimentary knowledge of science.
Taking Zayed University to the next level requires a substantial investment in new
faculty and equipment and the establishment of a separate Department of Science.
The Department will be dedicated to raising the quantity and quality of science
teaching in the ZU curriculum and also raising the level of public understanding of
science in the country as a whole – particularly in its schools.
The importance of this dual mission dictates that one of the key appointments will
be a professorship for the Public Understanding and Application of Science. Other
appointments in physics, chemistry, and biology will give precedence to scientists
having a particular interest in the applications of science to everyday life.
Further strengthening of ZU science will come from partnerships with the Masdar
Institute of Science and Technology and the U.A.E. Military.
The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology offers an opportunity for wellprepared
ZU students to proceed to MIT-endorsed Masters Programs in alternative
and sustainable energy. The Institute is keen to recruit ZU students and the proposed
strengthening of science, plus the development of a “Masdar Science Track,” will
equip them to compete. The ZU-Masdar Science Track will complement the ZU-
Masdar Research Partnership in which ZU will act as the portal for all research on
social and behavioral aspects of the Masdar project.
Administrative Oversight: Thomas Cochran
Annual Endowment Income: AED 1,800,000
Target Year: 2011
38

Department of Applied
Mathematics and Statistics
Strengthen and focus the current Department of Mathematics and Statistics as the
Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics so that it can enhance the education of
all students in mathematics and develop mathematics as a more prominent discipline at
the University.
Description:
Applied mathematics and applied statistics are subjects that concentrate on the use of
mathematical methods and reasoning to solve real-world problems in a wide variety
of areas, principally engineering and technology, the physical, biological, and health
sciences, and economics, business, and the social sciences. The study of mathematics
and statistics will help students achieve two of the University’s six learning outcomesinformation
technology and, especially, critical thinking and quantitative reasoning.
The employment opportunities for Zayed University graduates possessing a respectable
level of mathematical and statistical knowledge and expertise can only be widened and
enhanced. The recently established Dubai Statistics Center and private organizations
have, for instance, expressed desires for mathematically apt graduates.
Increasing opportunities for the study of applied mathematics and statistics will come
with a cost associated almost exclusively with additional faculty members. The rewards
to the University will be notable, quite immediately in the education of undergraduate
students and eventually in the practical research that professional mathematicians can
and will produce.
Administrative Oversight: Thomas Cochran
Annual Endowment Income: AED 1,200,000
Target Year: 2011
39

Specialty in Emirati Studies
Develop an academic specialty in Emirati Studies that will assist students in
identifying, interpreting, evaluating, and preserving the Emirati national heritage.
Description:
Developed out of resources located primarily in the College of Arts and Sciences,
Emirati Studies will enter the curriculum initially as a specialty of an existing major.
Enrolled students will take a substantial number of courses devoted specifically to
aspects of Emirati culture as viewed from many disciplinary angles such as history,
literature, language, anthropology, sociology, religion, economics, archeology, and
the performing arts.
Concurrently the University will increase its capacity to support the program with
relevant academic appointments to include a senior appointment skilled in the
development of innovative and interactive multi-media materials to support teaching
and learning. That person and other faculty members would work closely with the
Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), the National Centre for
Documentation and Research, and other heritage organizations to draw on their
resources for the undergraduate specialty and concurrently raise the standards of
interpretation and heritage management throughout the U.A.E. This collaboration
will extend to schools through a parallel program enabling children (and their
teachers) to make full use of the multi-media heritage resources that will be
developed in support of the academic specialty in Emirati Studies.
Administrative Oversight: Rex Taylor and College of Arts and Sciences
Annual Endowment Income: AED 4,800,000
Target Year: 2010
40

Conversation on Leadership
Conduct a campus-wide “Conversation on Leadership” during academic year 2009-2010
to highlight the Zayed University Learning Outcome for Leadership, stimulate thinking
about the best ways for helping students achieve the leadership outcome, and raise the
ethical consciousness of the campus.
Description:
Zayed University will conduct an extended conversation on leadership during the
2009-2010 academic year. The conversation will concentrate on one of the six
University learning outcomes, that “graduates will be able to undertake leadership roles
and responsibilities, interacting effectively with others to accomplish shared goals.”
Besides renewing the University’s commitment to developing its students as leaders, the
conversation will elicit thoughts on ways for further infusing the University experience
with academic and experiential opportunities for students to move toward the learning
outcome. Prominent in the conversation will be members of the scholarly community
that studies leadership development. They will visit the University for several days of
discussion. The conversation will always recognize the ethical dimension of leadership
and relate it to the University’s commitment to its new honor code. In a timely fashion,
the conversation will prepare the way for the University in spring 2010 to make deliberate
adjustments in the curriculum for 2010-2011 and to take other actions that will quickly
imbue the Zayed University experience with new inspiration for emerging leaders.
Administrative Oversight: Dan Johnson
Funding Formula: AED 500,000
Grants and Other Revenue: AED 500,000
Target Year: 2009
41

Women as Global Leaders
Resume the University’s series of conferences on Women as Global Leaders in 2012
on the new Abu Dhabi campus with an emphasis on student inclusion, worldwide
recognition, and substantive outcomes.
Description:
The fourth Women as Global Leaders (WAGL) Conference was tentatively scheduled
for spring 2010. But the reality of the global financial crisis triggered a fresh
consideration of subjects such as financial prudence, conference attendance, global
expectations, and the precise relation of WAGL to the University mission and led to
an adjustment in date.
The University has rescheduled the next edition of WAGL for 2012 in Abu Dhabi,
possibly to inaugurate the convention center on the new Abu Dhabi campus. The
format of the fourth WAGL will depend on the outcome of the Conversation on
Leadership to occur in academic year 2009-2010. The degree of conference luxury
will be consistent with the intellectual program that the Conversation on Leadership
will develop and with the spirit of the times in 2012 so that WAGL 2012 will be
deserving of worldwide recognition.
Administrative Oversight: Dan Johnson
No Funding Required Until 2011
Target Year: 2012
42

Physical Activity
Expand and nurture opportunities for physical fitness activities and organized sports to
promote health and mental alertness and to develop teamwork and leadership.
Description:
Sports are part of the fabric of many major universities, particularly in the West. The
opportunity to compete as a member of a team and the benefits of an active lifestyle
are all well understood. Zayed University in its brief history has sought to embrace
these values and has organized sports teams. ZU currently fields a basketball team,
football team, table tennis team, badminton team, street ball team, and volleyball team.
The University belongs to the Higher Education Sports Federation, which sponsors
competitions among the various post-secondary institutions that field teams. The sports
and teams are, of course, gender segregated.
The future needs and demands for athletic activity and support will increase with more
students, the addition of male students, and a desire to involve more students in sports.
To provide equitable coverage for men and women on both campuses the University
will need additional personnel and facilities.
Administrative Oversight: Thomas Cochran
Formula Funding: AED 1,500,000
Target Year: 2010
43

Mission-based Workloads
Reformulate baccalaureate faculty workloads and reorganize faculty positions in
a way that will strengthen research, improve teaching of undergraduates, increase
efficiency of staffing, and align the University with accreditation standards.
Description:
Zayed University must give research-oriented faculty members the opportunity to
produce high-quality research, one of the most distinguishing “intellectual elements
found in major universities throughout the world.” While committing half of the
baccalaureate faculty wholly to the scholarly endeavor of teaching its students,
the University will assign research time to the other half. Research will constitute
twenty-five percent of the work assigned to forty percent of the faculty, the balance
of its work being devoted to teaching. For ten percent of the faculty, the University’s
most important and productive researchers, teaching will be limited to no more than
half of an assigned workload. Faculty members will compete to fill the positions that
incorporate research time. Within each college a review group will advise the dean
who will select the individual faculty researchers for approval by the Provost. All
researchers will annually provide reports on their research and will be renewed in
the research positions on the basis of quality and quantity of research.
By concentrating on its most promising researchers, the University will increase
the likelihood of efficient productivity in research and will renew concentration on
teaching its students well. Academic promotion will be based on the demonstrated
potential of faculty members to fulfill their assigned roles: teacher-scholar (fifty
percent of the baccalaureate faculty), teacher-researcher (forty percent of the
baccalaureate faculty), or researcher-teacher (ten percent of the baccalaureate
faculty). That model of work allocation, largely modified only by the need to
allot some faculty time for unavoidable administrative functions, will produce a
predictable pattern.
44

By 2015 this approach should show results of the scope and quality that will distinguish
the University. Although some faculty members in the teacher-scholar category may
not be approved in their quest for status as teacher-researchers, they will have a chance
each year to change their status. Some teacher-researchers and researcher-teachers may
change status as the result of sub-standard productivity as determined by a rigorous
annual review process. New guidelines for academic promotion to associate professor
will apply to teacher-scholars and will privilege teaching and service almost exclusively
while recognizing publications as supernumerary evidence for promotion.
Administrative Oversight: Dan Johnson
Formula Funding: AED 21,600,000
Target Year: 2011
45

Faculty Contracts
Selectively employ the options of five-year and rolling contracts to promote
institutional stability, compete effectively in the market, reinforce pedagogical
success, and support long-term research projects.
Description:
The absence of a tenure system at Zayed University permits a degree of
administrative flexibility and efficiency from which the University has always
benefited. The standard three-year contract has served the University well. But
the University administration puts itself at a disadvantage if it restricts itself to the
prospect of three-year contracts only, especially when rival institutions are able to
offer higher wages or more benefits, if only for three years. Exercising the options of
the five-year contract and the rolling contract will increase the University’s chances
of retaining selected employees.
Neither the five-year nor the rolling contract will in any way become a norm. On
the contrary, the options will be very selectively employed and offered only to those
employees such as the truly outstanding teacher, the uniquely skilled specialist, or
the very successful researcher. The cost should be minimal in that the use of fiveyear
and rolling contracts does not necessitate new hiring.
Administrative Oversight: Dan Johnson
No New Funding Required
Target Year: 2009
46

Provost’s Research
Fellowships
Expand up to ten the number of Provost’s Research Fellowships, initiated in spring 2009
with the award of fellowships to the top three competitors from the University faculty.
Description:
The ZU faculty has responded positively to the opportunity afforded by the Provost’s
Research Fellowships. The program has recognized a need felt by productive
researchers, the need for long periods of uninterrupted time enabling them actually to
finish a project. Fair conduct of the competition and the fulfillment of the promise to
suspend all duties for the fellows characterized the first round of fellowship awards.
Completing the program plan by requiring fellows to present their work publicly and
to be objectively evaluated will secure the Provost’s Research Fellowships a respected
place in the ZU milieu.
Like the Research Incentive Fund, which will surely be the original supporter of many of
the research projects at issue, the Provost’s Research Fellowship proceeds at some cost
since it funds the hiring of adjuncts to teach the classes not being taught by the fellows.
Expanding the program to meet faculty needs and to ensure the production of highquality
research adds predictably to the cost. The Provost anticipates awarding up to ten
Fellowships each year.
Administrative Oversight: Chet Jablonski
Annual Endowment Income: AED 1,200,000
Target Year: 2009
47

Endowed Chairs
Establish ten endowed chairs, well-supported by resources for research, for
distinguished professors who will enliven the intellectual environment and stimulate
and produce significant research in the academic units to which they are assigned.
Description:
Virtually every leading university enjoys the benefits of endowed chairs. Endowed
positions relieve the institution of the obligation to commit money from its own
budget for the services of the professor. The endowed chair is an essentially cost-free
addition to the faculty and strengthens a university’s ability to attract outstanding
candidates, especially when the endowment underwrites the professor’s research
program. Capitalizing wisely on the donor’s largesse, a university can engage
professors who will enliven the intellectual environment of the institution and
stimulate the research productivity of the faculty.
Zayed University will gain immense power from the addition of endowed chairs.
Scholars who might never have considered working in the U.A.E. will respond to
the prospect of certain research funding. The University will be free to exercise its
most imaginative recruiting strategies in the knowledge that funding for the positions
is not dependent on unpredictable budgets. The very prestige of occupying an
endowed chair will give the University an extra edge in recruiting.
Distinguished professors occupying endowed chairs will significantly fortify
the University and will aid in projecting its intellectual worth globally. Every
extraordinary team has its stars. Professors holding endowed chairs will be the stars
of Zayed University’s remarkable faculty. They will signal the University’s fulfillment
of its destiny to lead.
Administrative Oversight: Deans, Office of Development
Annual Endowment Income: AED 8,000,000
Target Year: 2011
48

Office of Development
Establish an Office of Development to prepare and execute a campaign for a Zayed
University Endowment.
Description:
In establishing an Office of Development, Zayed University is providing a
structure for the preparation and execution of a campaign to establish and grow
an endowment for the University. Proceeding on the professional advice of the
Phoenix Philanthropy Group, the Office of Development, before launching a public
campaign, will identify priorities, develop cases, identify initial prospects, complete
plans, policies, procedures, and materials, identify and recruit volunteer leaders,
and contact lead donors. In both the quiet and the public phases of the campaign,
the Office of Development will manage fund-raising in accord with international
best practices and the protocols of the United Arab Emirates. Financial support for
the office will eventually come from the endowment itself.
Administrative Oversight: Safia Saeed Al Raqbani
Annual Endowment Income: AED 5,000,000
Target Year: 2009
49

Financial Aid
Institutionalize financial aid to students in a way that is fair, adequate, and confidential
and ensures that the University does not lose worthy students because they lack financial
resources.
Description:
Zayed University has long provided financial aid to entering students for whom the
purchase of a laptop imposes family hardship. Now the time has come for expanding
the capacity of the University to offer financial aid that will assist students to participate
in a variety of new activities that could be inordinately expensive for some families.
For example, were students expected to purchase and retain their own textbooks, a
fair, ample, and discreetly managed support system must be in place. In purchasing
textbooks, students must suffer no embarrassment and must be able to obtain the full
inventory required. Likewise, the University cannot allow financial obstacles to block
the participation of any student in the full range of potentially proliferating off-campus
activities ranging from service learning in the local community to a semester of study
abroad.
Because the expense of graduate education at the University tends to be high compared
to other programs in the U.A.E., financial aid to potential graduate students will almost
surely enable the participation of a greater number of qualified students, an outcome of
value to the University as well.
Administrative Oversight: Andre Racette
Annual Endowment Income: AED 16,500,000
Grants and Other Revenue: AED 1,800,000
Target Year: 2009
50

Global Partnerships
Promote additional strategic partnerships with the world’s leading universities.
Description:
Zayed University has already realized the value of global partnerships and has
profited from them particularly in the conduct of its graduate programs that have
partnered with Clemson University, Oklahoma State University, University of
Kentucky, University of Houston, Arizona State University, Indiana University,
University of Utah, University of California-Berkeley, University of Leicester, Iowa
State University, Georgetown University, University of Washington, and others. The
University has learned how to formulate the most effective and mutually beneficial
agreements with its partners and is eager to expand the range and significance of its
partnerships. An outstanding example of imaginative partnering is the prospective
establishment of a Confucius Institute in the U.A.E., the result of a partnership with
Xinjiang University, People’s Republic of China. Another example is the University’s
recent admission to the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities that will
multiply the opportunities for negotiating new strategic partnerships.
Establishing productive global partnerships requires extensive research, consultation,
negotiation, and review and necessitates an unusual amount of foreign travel.
Likewise, the University incurs special obligations for hosting its partners when
they are in the U.A.E., as will be the case when partnerships embrace collaborative
scholarly work with partner university faculty. The University anticipates funding
the push for productive global partnerships within its current budget.
Administrative Oversight: Bob Cryan
No New Funding Required
Target Year: 2010
51

Study Abroad
Develop new global opportunities for educating undergraduates and broadening their
horizons through an expanded and institutionalized study abroad program that provides
for short and long-term periods of study and service.
Description:
Recognizing the importance of global awareness and the understanding of various
international perspectives, the University has already undertaken short-term projects
in Australia, Belgium, Bosnia, Canada, Cambodia, France, Germany, Herzegovina,
India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the
United Kingdom, and the United States. The proven value of that travel and study has
convinced the University that it must increase the opportunities and additionally seek
to develop experiences that will merit University academic credit. It would be ideal if
every ZU student studied abroad at least once.
Refreshing and horizon-expanding experiences for students will also strengthen the
faculty. New MOUs might provide for not only student but also faculty exchanges that
would enrich the educational experience on the ZU campuses and would provide for
the return of faculty members positively affected by their time abroad.
The staffing and administration of Study Abroad will require restructuring as the program
grows. A separate office may become desirable.
The underwriting of past ventures has come largely from private citizens. Neither the
students nor the government has borne the typically considerable cost. That approach to
financing works only on a small scale. The full development of new global opportunities
requires a new approach to financing.
Administrative Oversight: Bob Cryan and Denise Gifford
New Funds: AED 500,000
Formula Funding: AED 500,000
Target Year: 2011
52

Alumni Affairs
Establish an Office of Alumni Affairs charged with maintaining contact with ZU
alumni, engaging them in the capital campaign for the ZU Endowment, obtaining
their participation in publicizing the University to prospective students, and involving
alumni in important events on campus such as career planning and the Conversation
on Leadership.
Description:
Alumni of Zayed University constitute one of its most valuable assets. The
University should communicate routinely with its graduates and ensure that they
have the latest information on developments in the curriculum, significant new
policies, future events, and opportunities for service to the University. Informed
alumni will influence prospective students. Alumni can also offer the University
valuable advice and counsel, particularly on matters requiring an informed
assessment of current societal and economic conditions in the U.A.E. Because
alumni established close relationships as students with their colleges, the colleges
can help to involve graduates in events such as Majors Days, Careers Days, Women
as Global Leaders Conference, and the Conversation on Leadership. The University
should explore with its alumni the possibility of a mentoring program that would
link them with students and involve them, for example, in student service projects.
Alumni of Zayed University are surely ready to play a greater role in the life of the
University and will undoubtedly be key players in the endowment campaign. They
want their alma mater to be the leading university in the region, and the University
now has the opportunity to enlist them in productive activities oriented on that goal.
Managing alumni affairs, always a function of the Office of Student Affairs, now
constitutes a task so large and complex that it justifies the establishment of a new
unit. A separate Office of Alumni Affairs will require a director on one campus and
an assistant director on the other, plus one staff member and one administrative
assistant on each campus. With adequate funding, the office could be established in
fall 2010.
Administrative Oversight: Dan Johnson
New Funds: AED 1,000,000
Formula Funding: AED 1,000,000
Target Date: 2010
53

College and
Program Accreditation
Pursue and obtain international accreditation for major programs in business, education,
information technology, communications and media sciences, and art and design.
Description:
Having been accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education in
2008, the University is now eager for the recognition due the individual elements of
the University that made University accreditation possible. The requirements differ for
each major program because they each are subject to review by separate, independent
accrediting organizations. The College of Business, for example, has already entered
pre-candidacy with an international accrediting organization and expects to submit
its plan in the fall and be accepted for full candidacy in January 2010, from which
date the college will have three years to complete its self-study report. The College of
Communication and Media Sciences, already accredited by the International Advertising
Association, is planning to seek further accreditation from yet another body and will
face different requirements. The College of Information Technology, the College of
Education, and the Department of Art and Design are likewise in various stages of
preparing to initiate self-studies for their major programs.
All units will very likely identify resource deficiencies that they can correct only with
University assistance, help that the University is dedicated to furnish. For example,
the College of Business will have to meet high standards for research productivity, but
at the moment the heavy workload required of all faculty members may be inhibiting
research. The University will have to increase faculty strength appreciably at a cost not
accommodated by current budgeting.
A most significant step toward accreditation and the strengthening of the faculty will
be twenty endowment-funded professorships. Carefully assigned to units seeking to be
accredited, the professorships will be essential reinforcements in the advance toward
accreditation.
Administrative Oversight: Deans and Jeffrey Belnap
Annual Endowment Income: AED 8,600,000
Target Year: 2009 - 2013
54

Middle States Commission
on Higher Education
Accreditation
Prepare for the reaffirmation of accreditation by complying with reporting and self-study
timelines, implementing a strategy for complying with recommendations, and adopting,
as appropriate, the suggestions in the 2008 accrediting report.
Description:
The process of institutional self-study strengthened Zayed University as it prepared for
the spring 2008 visit by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The award
of accreditation in June 2008 raised the morale and self-confidence of the University.
The report declaring that the University had met all fourteen accreditation standards also
offered valuable suggestions and recommendations for future action. The University’s
next Self-Study Report, to be submitted to the Commission in 2012-2013, will respond
to those suggestions and recommendations.
Already the University has responded in some way to the majority of the suggestions
and recommendations. A methodical, point-by-point review of the report will
identify the nature of all relevant actions and matters requiring further reflection and
consideration. For example, the appointment of an Assistant Provost for Research, the
expansion of capacity in the University research office, the improved administration
of the Research Incentive Fund, the establishment of Provost’s Research Fellowships,
and the initiation of mission-based workloads speak forcefully to the visiting team’s
suggestions about the environment for productive research. Like creating the 2008 Self-
Study Report, preparing for reaffirmation of accreditation will strengthen the University.
Administrative Oversight: Elizabeth Stanley
Formula Funding: AED 100,000
Target Year: 2012
55

Assessment Structure
Refine assessment practices so that they will coordinate all review, accreditation,
assessment, and evaluation activities within a comprehensive and integrated framework
with a focus on institutional effectiveness and student learning outcomes.
Description:
During four years leading up to the reaffirmation of Zayed University’s accreditation
by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the institution will
intentionally deepen and broaden its commitment to excellence in all aspects of
its mission-aligned activities. This data-driven quest for excellence will be achieved
through the coordination of all review, accreditation, assessment, and evaluation,
activities within a comprehensive and integrated framework. The excellence initiative
will align unit activities with institutional mission; assure that assessment and
evaluation activities add value; create a culture of evidence by providing annual data
regarding key performance measures for each unit and for the University as a whole;
focus specifically on student and faculty success; and enable efficient and effective
program reviews, accreditation, budgeting, and strategic planning.
The core elements of this quest for excellence will include a comprehensive calendar
that charts program reviews, accreditation processes, and annually updated action
plans for the improvement of learning, research, and community engagement. A
system of annually reported key performance measures for each unit and for the
University as a whole will form the basis of annual improvement and program
expansion initiatives. A strategic map will show the relationship between each unit’s
performance measures and the University’s mission. A robust learning assessment
program will systematically specify high academic standards for all undergraduate
and graduate students. A mechanism for promoting institutional improvement will
direct resources to areas of strategic need.
Accumulating, organizing, and analyzing the vast amount of data attending the
actions described above will almost surely require the hiring of some employees
skilled in data processing and institutional research.
Administrative Oversight: Jeff Belnap
Formula Funding: AED 800,000
Target Year: 2009
56

Academic Program Review
Reactivate Academic Program Review using external reviewers on a five-year cycle
during which all undergraduate and graduate programs will be carefully reviewed for
quality and standards.
Description:
Zayed University policy calls for the systematic review of all academic programs
on a four-year cycle (ACA-PRO-06). During the 2009-2010 Academic Year, the
University will launch a new cycle of program reviews that will engage all academic
programs systematically.
Conducted within the policy framework, the reviews will begin in August or
September of the review year when deans submit program review plans to the
Provost. A program review plan will present a rigorous research design that accounts
for the questions contained in the policy and procedure. The research design will
be carried forward in the fall and early spring of the review year. A two-member
external review team, selected in conformity with the criteria contained in policy and
procedure, will review the results of the research and submit a report to the Provost
and dean responsible for the program. In consultation with the Provost, the dean will
develop an action plan that responds to the report by the external review team. The
dean will incorporate that action plan in the program’s strategic plan.
That approach to academic program review entails real costs for the various twomember
teams of external reviewers. Costs will increase when, at the discretion
of the Provost and Vice President, the University initiates reviews of administrative
units.
Administrative Oversight: Jeffrey Belnap
Formula Funding: AED 300,000
Target Year: 2009
57

Peer Institutions
Continue to refine identification of institutions, benchmarks, and metrics against which
the University can measure itself and set high standards for the region.
Description:
As Zayed University moves to the “next level” in fully achieving its vision, it will profit
from sound guidance. It needs to identify elements and best practices in other universities
in order to better understand Zayed University’s current position and make informed
decisions about its aspirations. Peer institutions might be identified, in the U.S. or in the
region, which are comparable to Zayed University in terms of specified parameters such
as enrollments, program mix, or environment. Likewise, the University might identify
aspirational peers, institutions with characteristics that Zayed University would like to
possess.
Initial investigations have demonstrated that, with Zayed University’s continuing
rapid development and ambitious future plans, it will be most productive to focus on
aspirational peers for help in determining strategies to advance to the “next level” and
assessing progress in achieving that level. Because Zayed University is unique in its
combination of characteristics and programs, U.S. aspirational peer universities will
be selected for their excellence in specific areas, such as community engagement,
expanding research programs, and competency-based learning. Such clusters of
aspirational universities will provide an evidence-based resource for decisions about
future directions and a basis for future assessments of success. They will also provide a
resource for benchmarking and identifying best practices.
U.S. universities will be used for initial comparisons and benchmarking because of the
availability of federal U.S. databases and rankings. In the long term, information will
be sought for international universities, and Zayed University might establish a regional
research center to coordinate the collection of benchmarking information among GCC
universities.
Administrative Oversight: Elizabeth Stanley
No New Funding Required
Target Year: 2009
58

New Campus at Abu Dhabi
Establish a Facilities Committee that will participate actively and imaginatively in
the planning and development of the new campus at Abu Dhabi to ensure that the
facilities and their arrangement will enhance the quality of the ZU education.
Description:
Representatives of the University meet regularly with the architects and managers
of the Abu Dhabi campus now under construction. The effective representation of
University interests requires the formation of a Facilities Committee. That committee
must ensure that the final product incorporates the features that should mark a
leading university and does not exhibit any serious defects. For example, the
Abu Dhabi campus must have enough laboratories of the sort that will support
current and prospective academic programs. As important, the laboratories must be
designed according to the highest standards as specified in documents like “General
Requirements for Stanford University Laboratories.” Stanford University requires
the anticipation and evaluation of all health and safety hazards so that protective
measures can be incorporated in the design. Stanford requires the segregation of
laboratory and non-laboratory activities. Laboratory employees should have separate
offices. If the laboratory has windows or doors that open to the outside, they must
be fitted with insect screens. The laboratory must have sufficient space or facilities
so that incompatible chemicals and gases can be physically separated and stored.
Lab waste water lines must be separate from domestic sewage, and easily accessible
sampling points must be available outside the building. Those few considerations of
many cited by Stanford indicate the complexity of proper planning and suggest the
importance of the role that the University must play in the design and construction
of the Abu Dhabi campus.
Administrative Oversight: Thomas Cochran
No New Funding Required
Target Year: 2009
59

Dubai Campus
Complete construction of unfinished interior spaces, reconfigure the former CTL space for
a full-service University bookstore, and construct new facilities.
Description:
The handsome Zayed University campus at Dubai appears to be completed and does
indeed function as a finished project. Nevertheless, some spaces remain undeveloped,
and their fitting out will raise the level of the facilities to those that should mark the
leading university in the region. For example, the facilities for the library and its associated
learning activities remain a work in progress. Plans have always foreseen the entire book
collection and Emirates Collection placed on the second floor, now an empty concrete
shell. That floor will also feature study carrels for faculty and graduate students and offices
for library staff. The first floor would then be available for more classrooms, the learning
enhancement center, student study areas, and the library’s technical services. The space
now occupied by technical services on the ground floor will become the long-awaited
“information common,” a computer-supported study center for students.
The addition of a full-service, multipurpose university bookstore in the former CTL
space near the atrium and auditorium will vastly increase the opportunities for students
to enhance their education. While the bookstore will speak to the intellect of the ZU
community, a finally completed dining facility will speak to its aesthetic interests. The
main dining room will shift, according to the unfulfilled plan, to a first/second floor
dining space much more in keeping with the grand design of the campus.
Further construction on the Dubai campus will provide a University Early Childhood
Education Center that will offer potential benefits to employees with young children and
will constitute a vital laboratory for students majoring in education. Another project of
significance will be the construction of a student residence.
Administrative Oversight: Thomas Cochran
Annual Endowment Income: AED 800,000
Capital Cost: Library, AED 30,000,000; University Early Childhood Education
Center, AED 20,000,000; Student Residence, AED 46,000,000
Target Years: 2009-2012
60

Multimedia Learning
Laboratories
Establish state-of-the-art multimedia learning laboratories on the Dubai campus and
the new Abu Dhabi campus.
Description:
The essential importance of multimedia communication directly affects many
existing programs at the University. Students in those programs – most notable,
Communications and Media Sciences, Information Technology, Art and Design –
must be masters of the current hardware, software, and attendant techniques of
multimedia communication. The University needs facilities on both campuses that
will support the proper education of students in those fields. They would efficiently
share the expensive resources. State-of-the-art multimedia learning laboratories
will offer a range of training and learning opportunities in web design, multimedia
convergence, desk-top publication, script-writing for TV and film, company
publications, and media mastery. In well-functioning laboratories students will learn
the principles applicable to the employment of multimedia resources in support
of worthy projects, and they will enter the workplace prepared to handle both the
technical and intellectual expectations of their employers.
Administrative Oversight: Thomas Cochran
Annual Endowment Income: AED 600,000
Capital Cost: AED 30,000,000
Target Years: 2011-2012
61

Technology-Assisted Learning
Develop current and future technologies in effective support of dynamic, learner-centered
instructional laboratories and environments, to include the possibility of distance
learning, enhanced through multimedia presentations and fully integrated software and
augmented by broadband and internet delivery systems with electronic connectivity
worldwide.
Description:
The University must take full advantage of technology as it strives to enable the
education of its students. To that end, organizations such as a prospective center for
teaching excellence will assist faculty in learning, mastering, and employing current
technologies and can provide, in conjunction with Computing Services, instruction in
new technologies. The colleges themselves, knowing their specialized requirements, will
all provide support in capitalizing on the relevant technologies and in experimenting
with non-traditional options such as distance learning. The colleges will insist on
routine use of Blackboard as the primary electronic method of communication between
teachers and students. Assessment of the effectiveness of technology use will become
critical. Increased emphasis on the use of technology may well inspire more frequent
and more imaginative use of technology, which will probably add some cost to the
pedagogic effort. The use of video conferencing will, for instance, surely increase—at
a price. But that will be nothing compared to the cost of fully integrating all software
and keeping the University’s inventory of hardware and software current. The premium
will be on wise decisions that lead to the purchase of exactly the right hardware and
software. For example, the University has not yet acted on its recognition of the need
to replace student laptops when students enter their major program of study. Delivery
systems will be at issue, and sophisticated multimedia demands will require greater
broadband capacity. Whatever the digital future holds, it will be expensive.
Administrative Oversight: Andre Racette, Bob Cryan
Annual Endowment Income: AED 6,000,000
Capital Cost: AED 50,000,000
Target Year: 2010
62

Enrollment Management
Capitalize on new and innovative technologies to recruit, enroll, and retain new
students, including males and international students, in an orderly and efficient
fashion.
Description:
The University is currently enrolling Emirati female students for both campuses and
Emirati male military students for the Abu Dhabi North campus. The University will
also enroll for both campuses international female students and for the Abu Dhabi
North campus a limited number of male civilian Emiratis. When the new campus
opens in Abu Dhabi, the number of male civilian Emirati students will rise. In 2010
Dubai will begin enrolling males.
The addition of the male component in Abu Dhabi has been a major step by the
University toward the fulfillment of its vision. Representing this step to the current
“culture” of the university is a delicate matter given the need to segregate the
undergraduates by gender and all of the attendant issues of parents, security, and the
mix of civilian and military students. The various colleges must now be considering
the applicability of their current majors to the expectations and desires of the male
population that will be choosing a major field of study as early as 2010.
Projected male enrollments for 2010 and 2011, the last years on the Abu Dhabi
campus, may give rise to needs for additional space, extra expenditure on security,
food services, and parking, and reinforcement of the Office of Student Affairs.
An adequate Enrollment Management unit will require at least five staff members
to include a director and assistant director. Such an office must be in full operation
in anticipation of the opening of the Abu Dhabi campus in 2012 with its planned
capacity of 2,700 males.
Administrative Oversight: Bob Cryan
Formula Funding: AED 1,500,000
Target Year: 2009
63

Marketing Zayed University
Market Zayed University to prospective national and international students through
the newly constituted Office of Marketing in ways that promote and preserve the
integrity of the University and succeed in presenting an accurate picture to the target
audiences, especially those that gain their information electronically.
Description:
The Office of Marketing, working with the offices of publications and admissions, will
bring order and coherence to an activity designed to obtain the best students for the
University. Members of a marketing element will draw on their specialized knowledge
of the audiences and the technology available for communicating with the target
audiences. Marketing experts will know the effectiveness of the various media and
will analyze options through comparisons of costs and benefits. They will consider all
possible media: E-mail and SMS mailshots, exhibitions, school fairs, banner advertising
on third-party websites, radio, television, magazines focused on the target audiences,
newspapers, the University website, workshops, and career seminars.
The University marketing theme might center on education of future leaders,
graduation with the best employment opportunities, and preparation for
postgraduate studies worldwide.
The University will focus on U.A.E. national and G.C.C. national recruitment for
the 2009-2010 academic year and take the opportunity where possible to build the
Zayed University brand in the U.A.E.-based international community ahead of the
2010-2011 academic year.
The strategy and marketing effort and branding in relation to postgraduate studies
must be in keeping with everything else that Zayed University represents. Currently
there is little continuity in branding, and the postgraduate marketing is quite
separate from other University activities. The Office of Marketing, staffed by five
employees to include a director, will be able to provide the necessary services.
Administrative Oversight: Bob Cryan
Formula Funding: AED 500,000
Target Year: 2009
64

Web Strategy Upgrade
Establish a superior web presence that allows the University to employ a variety of media
and succeed in effectively projecting itself to national and international audiences.
Description:
The U.A.E. has developed into a nation that seeks new information primarily by
accessing the vast global resources of the World Wide Web by way of computers and
mobiles connected to the Internet. The U.A.E. is one of the nations leading the way into
the reality of the 21st century. Eventually the rest of the world will follow.
They will discover what Emiratis already know: web sites constitute identities. Internet
users know organizations and individuals as web sites. In the case of Zayed University,
for example, the ZU website is the University for most of the citizens of the U.A.E. and
for virtually all people outside the country. Among the many stunning implications of
that fact, one conclusion predominates. Zayed University must present itself in the full
knowledge that it is in fact presenting itself.
The issue of web presence therefore raises the fundamental question: What is Zayed
University? With an absolutely clear and certain sense of its own identity, the University
will be able to establish its proper web presence.
Reconstruction of the present site will, of course, necessarily meet the highest standards
of accuracy, objectivity, currency, coverage, and utility. More problematic, though vitally
important, will be the physical appearance of the web site. Upon entering www.zu.ac.
ae, a stranger to the University will see the opening screen before reading a single word
on the screen. That stranger will see the University, and one might hope for love at first
sight. But even the World Wide Web gives scant counsel on the nature of a universal
aesthetic. The University must debate deeply and widely in determining its appearance
as an aspect of its total identity.
A “web strategy upgrade,” like the Delphic oracle, will challenge the University to know
itself. Meeting that challenge is truly a new horizon.
Administrative Oversight: Bob Cryan
Formula Funding: AED 1,000,000
Target Year: 2009
65

Communications
Develop informed, creative, and coherent internal and external communications
programs for the University that capitalize on the multimedia assets of the
institution and keep all significant stakeholder groups informed of major activities,
accomplishments, and developments on both campuses.
Description:
No one has made a convincing argument that ZU is altogether failing to
communicate appropriately with its many audiences. Almost everyone, however,
recognizes room for improvement. The University must aim for continual
improvement and must proceed flexibly and aggressively, first by formulating a
program based on careful analysis and pragmatic thinking.
Sound planning will describe the attributes of effective communications for each of
the many audiences and propose actions that would allow such communications
to materialize. The University must address the state of communication among a
host of parties: Provost, University administration, various unit administrations,
faculty, Majors, Colloquy, ABP, staff, students, ZU at Abu Dhabi, ZU at Dubai,
prospective students, parents, Emirati leaders, colleges and universities both local and
international, the press.
The University might consider actions such as these: the routine use of multiple
channels of communication; a student-run multimedia news site on the ZU Intranet;
personal notes from the Provost, accompanied by notes from other staff members;
periodic luncheons bringing together the Provost and a variety of ZU faculty and staff;
faculty-centered events in the colleges; imaginative use of films and videos by the
University. Many suggestions for action have come from the College of Communications
and Media Sciences, an obviously invaluable source of advice and talent. A University
planning group for communications will consider those observations and ideas and
many more, gathered perhaps in part from focus groups since almost everyone at the
University has thoughts about communications. A plan for action will include provisions
for assessing the effectiveness of actions in achieving he outcomes desired.
Administrative Oversight: Peter Stromberg
Formula Funding: AED 100,000
Target Year: 2009
66

Conclusion
67

Conclusion
The Zayed University Vision Statement, in calling for the University to “become the leading
university in the region, embodying the same rigorous standards and intellectual elements
found in major universities throughout the world,” expresses sincere, genuine intent for
this, the newest of the U.A.E.’s national universities. From the very beginning, the leaders of
Zayed University were determined that this new university, in this relatively young country,
would soon set the pace of academic development in the U.A.E. as well as the entire Gulf
Region.
Great progress has been achieved in the University’s first decade of development. New
facilities, an international faculty, an innovative curriculum in five colleges, 4,000
students, and a dedicated staff have come together to earn the high mark of international
accreditation in ten short years. But the ascent toward becoming “the leading university
in the region” is not complete. In many ways the climb to fulfill the grand Vision is just
beginning.
The commitment to this Vision is stronger than ever. The new administration, working
with dedicated faculty and staff, has set a course that will take Zayed University to what
His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan has called “ever higher levels.” The
preceding pages describe that course and the major elements that will take the University
to those levels during the next five years.
This bold initiative is going forward during the world’s worst economic period in recent
history. Zayed University and the U.A.E. cannot afford to wait for a global economic
recovery. Only swift action will ensure that Emirati national students in the U.A.E. have the
opportunity to attend the leading university in the region and one of the best in the world.
There is no turning back from this commitment to the Vision that inspires the University’s
ascent to “even higher levels.”
68

Appendices
Fall Undergraduate Enrollment (1998-2008) and
Projected Enrollment (2009-2014)
Graduate Enrollment (2001-2002 to 2008-2009) and
Estimated Enrollment (2009-2010 to 2014-2015)
Fall Faculty Headcount (2004-2008) and
Projected Headcount (2009-2014)
69

Zayed university
Fall Undergraduate Enrollment (1998-2008)
and Projected Enrollment (2009-2014)*
Year
Office of Institutional Research
6 May 2009
Abu Dhabi Dubai Total
Female Male Female Male Female Male
1998 423 - 708 - 1131 0
1999 705 - 908 - 1613 0
2000 872 - 994 - 1866 0
2001 1028 - 1197 - 2225 0
2002 1035 - 1179 - 2214 0
2003 1055 - 1148 - 2203 0
2004 1182 - 1308 - 2490 0
2005 1458 - 1467 - 2925 0
2006 1573 - 1658 - 3231 0
2007 1511 - 1853 - 3364 0
2008 1808 154 2166 - 3974 154
2009 2092 204 2524 - 4616 204
2010 2445 254 2903 100 5348 354
2011 2819 304 3269 150 6088 454
2012 3172 354 3656 200 6828 554
2013 3589 404 4054 250 7643 654
2014 3962 454 4445 300 8407 754
• Projections assume increases in male enrollments of 50 per year in both Abu Dhabi and
Dubai and annual increases of 10% in new female enrollment in both Abu Dhabi and
Dubai.
70

Zayed University
Fall Undergraduate Enrollment (1998 - 2008) and Projected Enrollment
(2009-2014)*
1000
Female
9000
Male
8000
7000
6000
5000
71
4000
Headcount
3000
2000
1000
0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Academic Year
* Projections assume increases in male enrollments of 50 per year in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai and annual increases of 10% in new female enrollment in both
Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Office of Institutional Research
6 May 2009

Office of Institutional Research
6 May 2009
Zayed University
Graduate Enrollment (2001-2002 to 2008-2009)
and Estimated Enrollment (2009-2010 to 2014-2015)*
Academic Years Total
2001 - 2002 36
2002 - 2003 61
2003 - 2004 49
2004 - 2005 36
2005 - 2006 142
2006 - 2007 275
2007 - 2008 263
2008 - 2009 351
2009 - 2010 400
2010 - 2011 450
2011 - 2012 500
2012 - 2013 500
2013 - 2014 500
2014 - 2015 500
• Estimated enrollment is based on expected increase in enrollment in existing programs
and the addition of new programs.
72

Zayed University
Graduate Enrollment (2001-2002 to 2008-2009) and Estimated
Enrollment (2009-2010 to 2014-2015)*
73
* Estimated enrollment is based on expected increases in enrollment in existing programs and the addition of new programs.
Office of Institutional Research
6 May 2009

Zayed University
Fall Faculty Headcount (2004-2008) and Projected Headcount
(2009-2014)*
Projections
Fall
2014
Fall
2013
Fall
2012
Fall
2011
Fall
2010
Fall
2009
Fall
2008
Fall
2007
Fall
2006
Fall
2005
Fall
2004
Fall
2003
Fall
2002
Fall
2001
Fall
2000
Fall
1999
Fall
1998
ABP Enrollment
Abu Dhabi South 272 241 424 381 411 509 575 584 479 669 829 933 1032 1136 1248 1369
Dubai Al Ruwayyah 255 142 334 432 525 579 535 545 609 752 844 921 1011 1112 1221 1339
Abu Dhabi North 143 106 132 158 184 210 236
Dubai Knowledge
Village 52 78 104 130 156
Total ABP 527 383 758 813 936 1088 1110 1129 1088 1564 1779 2038 2279 2536 2809 3100
74
ABP Faculty 63 90 102 101 97 90 89 84 86 108 119 136 152 169 187 207
Baccalaureate Enrollment
Abu Dhabi South 423 433 631 604 654 644 673 883 990 1032 1139 1263 1512 1787 2036 2341 2593
Dubai Al Ruwayyah 708 653 852 863 747 623 729 932 1112 1244 1414 1679 1982 2258 2544 2833 3106
Abu Dhabi North 11 98 122 146 170 194 218
Dubai Knowledge
Village 48 72 96 120 144
Total Baccalaureate 1131 1086 1483 1467 1401 1267 1402 1815 2102 2276 2564 3040 3664 4263 4846 5488 6061
Baccalaureate Faculty 158 155 153 184 217 187 173 199 196 188 201 241 291 343 395 451 501
Total Faculty 158 218 243 286 318 284 263 288 280 274 309 360 427 495 564 638 708

* Projected Faculty counts are based on enrollment projections which assume increases of 50 males per year in both
Dubai and Abu Dhabi and increases of 10% per year in new female enrollments in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Projections for ABP faculty are based on one faculty per 15 students.
Baccalaureate faculty projections are based on an average class size of 18 and faculty teaching an average of 3.5 courses
per semester through fall 2010 with slightly decreased teaching loads after that.
Notes:
• There was no ABP program in fall 1998.
• Dubai Knowledge Village campus will begin enrolling male students fall 2010.
• Proportion of ABP to baccalaureate male students was assumed to be the same as for female students from the fall
2008 term (52% ABP, 48% baccalaureate).
• Faculty counts for fall 1998 and 1999 are estimates based on number of budgeted faculty positions (170 for fall
1998 and 235 for fall 1999) using a historical 5-year average of budgeted-to-actual faculty positions (93%).
• Faculty counts for fall 2000 and 2001 are estimates based on limited data.
• Faculty counts for fall 2002 to fall 2008 were obtained from HR People and Positions Report.
75
Office of Institutional Research
6 May 2009

Zayed University
Fall Faculty Headcount (2004-2008) and Projected Headcount
(2009-2014)*
76
* Projected Faculty counts are based on enrollment projections which assume increases of 50 males per year in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi and increase of 10% per year in new
female enrollments in both Abu Dhabi.
Projections for ABP faculty are based on one faculty per 15 students.
Baccalaureate faculty projections are based on an average class size of 18 and faculty teaching an average of 3.5 courses per semester through fall 2010 with slightly decreased
teaching loads after that.
Office of Institutional Research
6 May 2009

Acknowledgements
77

Acknowledgements
Destined to Lead is the product of a large team of committed members of the Zayed
University community. This team included members of the Provost’s Council, senior
administrators, and numerous members of the staff. However, there were several who
devoted many hours–indeed, days–in the planning and preparation of this report.
Special thanks goes to Peter Stromberg for taking the lead in editing the several drafts of
this document and for his own substantive contributions to the collective thinking and
critiquing of ideas outlined in this report.
Gemma Ornedo, Executive Assistant to the Provost, had responsibility for preparing the
document for publication. She did an outstanding job of keeping the project moving
forward.
Substantive contributions were also made by Andre Racette, Rex Taylor, Bob Cryan,
Jeff Belnap, Tom Cochran, Chet Jablonski, Elizabeth Stanley, Safia Al Raqbani, and Vice
President Sulaiman Al Jassim.
Suzanne Kadoura and her team contributed greatly through the creative design of the cover
and contents of the report. They made us all “look good.”
We are also thankful for the contributions of Fred Carlisle, member of the ZU Board of
Visitors, and Blaine Brownell, external advisor to the Provost, who helped bring focus,
energy, and ideas to the early stages of the process that led to this document. Ken Wilson
played a major role through his facilitation of the Provost’s Council retreat where priorities
were set that are now reflected in Destined to Lead.
Richard Tollefson and Sherry Cameron of the Phoenix Philanthropy Group contributed to
this effort through their planning for ZU’s Endowment Campaign, one of the major sources
of support needed to realize this vision.
Cecil Mackey and Sayed Noor, also members of the University’s Board of Visitors, provided
their feedback on drafts of this report. Their encouragement was much appreciated as the
document neared completion.
The quotation on page 2 is attributed to Dr. John Keiser, former President of Boise State
University and of Missouri State University.
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