An Interview with the President of Applied Science University Prof. Ghassan Fouad Aouad

1. Can you tell us about your role as President of the Applied Science University?

I’ve been the president of Applied Science University for five years. My role is to make sure that all functions related to university operations are managed properly. We are guided by the Board of Trustees which is chaired by Professor Waheeb Al Khaja, whose wisdom and knowledge inspired us while he was President for 10 years. We also have the Board of Directors which is chaired by Mr. Sameer Nass. My main role involves the day to day supervision of operations at the University.

2. What do you do to enable innovation in the university?

It’s all about creating a culture of excellence and quality. We have always put quality at the heart of everything we do. We feel that quality is the oxygen we breathe, and that leads to excellence and innovation.

Innovation happens at all levels: from students’ activities to staff events and performances to the ASU management team, in the way they have introduced innovative practices. We are grateful for the innovative guidance from the Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees, and at the National level we are guided by Vision 2030 and the excellent strategies from the Higher Education Council on research and higher education; so creating a culture of innovation has been one of our top priorities and it has been reflected in our achievements at all levels, by alumni, staff, and stakeholders.

I am happy to list a few of these achievements over the past few years. Recently we have achieved our institutional accreditation from the Higher Education Council. This is a major achievement for us because it opened doors to recruit students from outside Bahrain which is crucial to our targets. We have achieved ISO 21001- 2018 which deals with certifications of educational organization management systems. I think we are the first university in Bahrain and perhaps the first in the Arab region to achieve such certification.

We also have ISO 9001- 2015 which deals mainly with Business Processes. In terms of ranking, we have achieved high recognition from various accrediting bodies that rank universities across the globe. In the QS Arab region university rankings 2020 we have achieved rank 37th out of 1200 universities in the Arab world. We were 45th last year and now we have gone up 8 places this year. We have also done well in the Times Higher Education universities impact ranking. We are ranked number 301+ in the world out of over 20,000 universities. To receive that ranking from a prestigious award body is yet another achievement. We are ranked 25th in the Arab region in the Green Metric Ranking, dealing with green issues in universities such as sustainable campuses.

3. Talking about students, you recently hosted the International Conference on Innovation, Technology, Enterprise & Entrepreneurship. Would you like to tell us more about it?

We hosted a conference on innovation, technology, enterprise and entrepreneurship last 24th and 25th November 2019. It was held under the patronage of His Excellency the Minister of Education, Dr. Majid bin Ali Al Noaimi, in association with the London South Bank University and the Chartered Institute of Building, headquartered in the UK. We received support from the Association of Arab Universities and the Grove Hotel in Amwaj where the event took place.

This is the second conference we are doing in collaboration with the London South Bank University. It is a peer-refereed international conference and we received 69 papers from researchers in 16 countries: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and from many other countries in the Middle East and the Arab region. We have produced a proceedings report which is about 700 pages of knowledge and research findings. We had two key speakers; the Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of London South Bank University. The Gala Dinner speaker was the President of the Chartered Institute of Building.

The Secretary-General of the Association of Arab Universities, His Excellency Professor Amr Ezzat Salama was with us as well. It was a fantastic conference covering many themes including innovation, technology, education, sustainability, entrepreneurship, project and knowledge management, building information management, and financial innovation.

4. How do you see the university fitting in with the Bahrain Vision 2030?

The vision is to make Bahrain a knowledge hub to be able to attract students from various places and get investment in education and research in Bahrain and the region. The university, of course, will play a major role in contributing to the educational sector through various research and academic learning programs. Last year, we produced 116 research publications.

For a university of our size, I think it’s a major achievement. Our work with the community, our involvement with international partners to do joint research and publication will help us immensely in contributing to Vision 2030 and its goal to make Bahrain a knowledge hub. This is in line with the vision and strategies of the Higher Educational Council in Bahrain where a culture of innovation and research is created. The importance of STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering, and maths play a major role in making Bahrain an educational hub in the region.

5. What is the university doing to help or assist young graduates to step into the workforce?

It is very important to produce graduates who can meet the market demands, and the skills needed. We want to produce graduates who have the leadership, communication, analytical and presentation skills.

We have developed the graduate attributes model in the university where we work very hard to equip the graduates with the right skills they need to be competitive in the job market. In addition to the academic skills, we develop the extracurricular skills which are in demand in the market. We’re not just talking about Bahrain but also about the region. In the global market nowadays, companies are looking for a different type of graduate—someone who is well prepared and well informed about what’s happening in the world. We have an alumni division in the university to look after the alumni and their careers. We have an alumni club where we continuously hold gatherings, interactions, and an annual dinner.

6. Why should I choose to become a university graduate of ASU?

Why ASU? We feel that ASU is unique in terms of its achievements. From the very top vision of the Board of Directors and Board of Trustees who are on a mission to transform the university; we had a
goal to make it one of the best universities in the region and our achievements will speak for themselves. We have a diversity of programs that are taught in Arabic and/ or English, which is
really important for us.

Our infrastructure is state of the art. For years we have been recognized as one of the best-decorated buildings in the educational sector. This achievement was showcased in a competition arranged by the Capital Governorate and we publicized this in social media during the Bahrain National and Accession Day. We have won the title for four years straight.

The design of our campus is iconic similar to the facilities we have for our students: the staff development, HEA Center and the Business Incubation Centre. Our student’s achievements’ as well are public knowledge. Everyone knows we are winning in academics as well as in sports competitions. And of course, the staff we have is amazing. We have people from 22 nationalities, and that’s a truly multinational and very cosmopolitan type of environment.

The value system is fantastic, the team spirit is amazing. We all work together as a team. We are all moving in the right direction. Our students are full of energy. The student council is so active. The president and council members together with our alumni are the real essence of this institution, our best ambassadors for the university. Considering our ranking and achievements, publicity and marketing-we are very active in the press–the university is in a unique position to deliver consistent metrics in terms of academia, student life, and extracurricular activities.

7. What are you doing to support entrepreneurship in Bahrain?

The subject of entrepreneurship is really important to us. In the past, we teach it mainly in the business administration program, but now it is offered to all programs. We have created a business incubation center in our technology building and this supports students with entrepreneurial minds to have the right business environment.

We provide them with the right facilities and support them with their mentoring needs in order to nurture and realize their ideas. This is very important for us in order to encourage them to be engaged and become more entrepreneurial. In the digital age, many jobs in the public and private sectors will be disappearing in the future that’s why it is important for us to equip them with the entrepreneurial skills needed to set up their own businesses and flourish by themselves.

8. How do you tie-in with the government on this mission?

We have a set of student clubs and media clubs in the university, which encourage students to engage in activities and develop an entrepreneurial mind. We work with all agencies, especially with Injaz and Tamkeen. We follow the Higher Education Council guidelines in alignment

with Vision 2030. We have many partner companies with whom we encourage our students to enroll for their internship program and work for two months, learning about operations and applying knowledge which they have acquired in the university. We are a pillar in the field of Applied Science, and this is what makes ASU unique– we combine theory and practice with reality.

For more information

www.asu.bh