Ghassan Aouad; Hamad Ebrahim Ali Odhabi; Barry O’Mahony; Allison Hamilton; Stephen D’Cunha; Khulud Abdallah; Merlyn Kulapurath

The American University of Sharjah’s College of Engineering (CEN) has built a multi-pillar international strategy delivering measurable global impact. With faculty from 20+ nationalities and students from 60+ countries, the university embodies internationalisation. Since 2023, CEN has signed several institutional agreements across nine countries, including the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the University of Edinburgh, Queen’s University Canada, and the University of Texas at Dallas, creating 4+1 accelerated master’s and dual-degree pathways. The CEN Summer School brings international students from top global universities to engage alongside AUS students in technical and cultural programmes: 280+ applications were received from 32 countries, 88 per cent of the participants rated it excellent, and 100 per cent would recommend it. Annual delivery of the programme is planned. The CEN International Research Visit (CEN-IRV) programme spans KAIST, Edinburgh, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) and the University of Malaya, yielding several publications, joint grants and invited speakers at AUS. A new research programme targets partnerships across 34 countries. AUS climbed 97 places in QS Rankings. CEN’s Engineering & Technology ranking improved 54 places to number 311.

International Students Department
Project Lead: Aiad Rajeh Al-Towair, Director
Project Team: Shrouq Fawaz Al-Ghushayan, Deputy Head of Administrative Affairs Unit; Noura Abdulrahman Al-Othman, Academic Affairs Specialist

In 2025, Northumbria University in Qatar strengthened its international student recruitment strategy to expand access to UK higher education in Qatar and attract students from key overseas markets. The strategy combined targeted international outreach, flexible postgraduate delivery, digital admissions processes and continuous applicant communication. A key feature was the promotion of flexible study options for selected master’s programmes, allowing students to attend classes in person every second weekend. This supported working professionals and international students balancing study, employment and travel commitments. The strategy was supported by regional engagement activities, applicant follow-up, data-led admissions tracking and stronger coordination across admissions, marketing, academic and student support teams. The impact was reflected in measurable growth, including increased international applications and enrolments, stronger engagement from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and improved visibility of Northumbria University in Qatar as a destination for British higher education in the region.

Mohamed Amin

In 2025, I redesigned GRD411 Graduation Project in Graphic Design for Media from a final academic requirement into a bridge between learning, inclusion, professional practice and real-world impact. Guided by Education for Sustainable Development, I built a 16-week active-learning journey, where students became researchers, designers and problem-solvers, developing ideas into visual systems, prototypes and public presentations. The course became outward-facing through links with Ajman University Innovation Center, the Community Unit and Sustainability Unit, supporting SDGs, start-up branding, copyright awareness, incubation, volunteering and professional pathways. Students used generative artificial intelligence, 3D tools, augmented reality and virtual environments ethically to create accessible, interactive and future-ready communication solutions. The strongest evidence was inclusion: Houda, a student of determination, turned her graduation project into a drawing workshop with the Inclusive Unit and was recognised in AU Voice Magazine. For me, the graduation project became agency, confidence, professional readiness and sustainable impact beyond traditional classroom assessment.

Upon joining Alamein International University, Eslam Yacoub encountered a paradox: a fully English-medium university in which the vast majority of students had never been taught in English. Rather than accepting this as an unchangeable reality, he built an entire language ecosystem from the ground up – a diagnostic placement test, foundational English courses, bilingual disciplinary glossaries, a complete suite of English for Specific Purposes courses tailored to every programme, an academic writing course, a peer mentorship network, and a weekly conversation club. Each intervention was evidence-based, professionally grounded and student-centred. The cumulative impact of this work led directly to the founding an English Learning Centre. Yacoub’s innovations have since reached international peer-reviewed journals, carrying AIU’s model to the global English for Specific Purposes community. In a single year, he turned a systemic gap into a university-wide movement – and a language barrier into a bridge.

Generative artificial intelligence can displace the cognitive labour that learning requires. Dania Zantout’s response was not to ban AI or celebrate it uncritically, but rather to govern it pedagogically. In 2025, New York University Abu Dhabi’s Palm Teaching Award recipient built a locally hosted, privacy-preserving AI ecosystem that transforms GenAI from an answer machine into a course-governed tutor. The system reflects her pedagogy of precision: sequenced objectives, randomised problem architectures, worked solution models, feedback protocols and metacognitive scaffolds that help students notice structure, test ideas, repair errors and build reasoning step by step. It also reflects her care-centred teaching: students are supported through challenge with precise feedback, reflection, confidence-building and belonging. In summer 2025, four repeating students passed; mean final exam improvement was +214.2 per cent; explanation and feedback were rated 5.00/5.00. Her wider initiatives, from teacher training and the UAE IMO camp to WiMN+AI and Takāmul Cup, show one educator thinking across mathematical learning.

The United Arab Emirates’ coastal and inland ecosystems face two compounding crises: mangrove habitat loss and catastrophic groundwater depletion driven by Prosopis juliflora invasion. Institution-led research has mapped P. juliflora’s expansion from 0.2 km² (1990) to 16 km² (2019), with groundwater consumption reaching 22.22 million m³ per year – a 7,372 per cent increase over three decades. Launched in 2023, this integrated initiative unites community-based mangrove restoration with AI-powered satellite monitoring under one geospatial intelligence system. By 2025, more than 3,300 mangroves had been planted, 1,000+ community members engaged, and up to 990,000 tonnes of CO₂ sequestration potential secured. Random Forest classifiers achieve F1 accuracy above 0.90 in multi-temporal mangrove mapping. The initiative won the Gold Award at the QS Reimagine Education Awards 2024 (Middle East). Built on open-access spectral infrastructure and peer-reviewed science, the system is fully transferable across the Gulf Cooperation Council and global arid regions.

Omar Blibech (director, Sustainability and Development Makers Center)

Gulf University has established a measurable sustainability leadership model integrating environmental governance, sustainable infrastructure, academic transformation and community engagement aligned with Bahrain Vision 2030 and the UN SDGs. Environmental leadership is coordinated through the Sustainability and Development Makers Center (SDM-C), Sustainability Week initiatives, the Sustainability Club and the Sustainable Engineering Hub. During 2024-25, Gulf University achieved measurable environmental outcomes, including a 1.72 per cent reduction in electricity consumption, 15 per cent water savings through smart irrigation and recycling systems, renewable-energy generation covering 3.8 per cent of campus energy use, and 97.4 per cent deployment of energy-efficient systems. The university embedded sustainability across teaching, research and operations, with 33 per cent of courses integrating sustainability themes and 39 sustainability-related research publications produced. Sustainability Week activities, regional partnerships and student-led environmental initiatives further strengthened sector-wide impact and community engagement, positioning Gulf University as an emerging regional benchmark for sustainability leadership in higher education.

In 2021, the British University in Egypt identified a critical gap in climate education: despite being most affected by climate change, young people had limited access to meaningful participation in climate governance. In response, and in alignment with the SDGs, the Global COP Simulation Programme, now in its fifth year, was launched in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme. It brings together 150 international youth to simulate the COP through a research-driven learning journey. Participants undergo a two-week online capacity-building programme on soft skills and climate literacy, then draft policy research papers aligned with the real COP agenda. Participants attend the Simulation Conference, and a select delegate attends the actual COP. Recognised as one of the largest youth delegations at COP for four consecutive editions, the initiative has influenced policy discussions – most notably aligning with COP29 outcomes on the NCQG – and empowered alumni to pursue leadership roles in government, international organisations and climate-focused studies.

University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) has built an institution-wide sustainability system, not merely a commitment. As the first African university to achieve both STARS Silver and Gold certification, UM6P operates its Benguerir campus as a real-world test bed for sustainable solutions in an arid environment. With 25 LEED-aligned buildings covering 60 per cent of the campus, a 10 million Moroccan dirhams Sustainable Development Fund, and carbon emissions tracked against the GHG Protocol, environmental performance is measurable and independently verified. Research translates directly into impact: over 1,900 SDG-aligned publications, a zero-emission round-the-world flight project (Climate Impulse), and policy contributions to G7 agendas through the U7+ Alliance. As a capacity-building hub for Africa, UM6P delivers 283 executive education modules, hosts Bridge Africa with leaders from 30+ countries, and supports young African women through the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programem. UM6P is a scalable model of sustainable transformation for the Global South.

During the academic year 2025-26, Alamein International University (AIU) made history as the first institution in Africa to receive World Health Organization recognition as a “Healthy University”. This milestone followed a four-year strategic journey (2022-26) to integrate health into governance, infrastructure and research. AIU’s framework rests on three pillars: structured governance with clear KPIs; capacity building for students and staff; and evidence-based research fuelled by cross-sector partnerships. AIU utilised creative engagement strategies, including health-themed stand-up comedy and student-led podcasts, successfully shifting the campus culture towards advocacy. The impact is significant: in 2025, AIU provided specialised healthcare to over 8,000 underserved residents while certifying hundreds of students in health promotion and emergency response. AIU is now launching a national dissemination plan to scale this health-driven development model across Egypt.

Ahmed Almaiman (vice dean for quality and information technology, Deanship of Admission and Registration) – representing a university-wide effort involving the Vice Rectorate for Educational and Academic Affairs, academic advising units across colleges, and EDUgate technical development teams

In 2025, the governorate of Bethlehem documented more than 2,000 violations by occupation forces, including arrests, assaults, injuries, demolitions and military incursions. In this context, Palestine Ahliya University launched the Youth-Friendly Health Space (YFHS) Emergency Preparedness Program, the first university health unit in Palestine integrating accredited physical first aid, civil defence and psychological first aid. Training, certified by PMRS, the Paramedics Syndicate, and Civil Defense, follows Red Cross, Red Crescent, WHO and IASC standards. Ten first aid kits and two advanced PMRS bags support campus preparedness, while a student-led first aid team remains active year-round. In its first year, the programme reached nearly 500 students. Readiness levels increased from 6 per cent to 73 per cent after training, with practical knowledge scores reaching 86 per cent. YFHS-trained students intervened in more than 36 emergencies during 2025. Through partnerships with PMRS, UNFPA, Civil Defence, and the Ministry of Health, YFHS also became a platform

Antje von Suchodoletz (PI, NYUAD); Jan L. Plass (co-PI, NYU); Bruce D. Homer (co-PI, CUNY); key personnel: Yared G. Kahsay; Hala Sukkar; Khadijah Alhashmi (NYUAD)

Achuthy Kottangal (principal investigator, from the Sustainability Research Group, Amity University Dubai) led the overall sustainability and textile innovation framework of the research. The project was further supported by a collaborative team including Thomas Welzel (TITK e.V., Germany); Wise Mbewe; Ayesha Shaikh (student researcher).

Saud Alkathiri (director, Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching); Elham Alsadoon (vice-director for female departments, Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching); Khalid Almowibet (vice-director, Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching)

IntelliCEN is an AI and digital innovation ecosystem developed by the College of Engineering at the American University of Sharjah to transform engineering education, student services, advising, scheduling, work placement and research planning. The initiative integrates advanced AI tools, including large language models (LLMs), with a redesigned digital workflow ecosystem covering more than 20 academic processes such as digital forms, mobile attendance app, exam conflict scheduling, internships portal, wait-listing portal and course alerts. Tasks that previously required days or weeks can now often be completed within hours or minutes, improving transparency, responsiveness, student satisfaction and employability. IntelliCEN reduces routine advising effort, minimises exam conflicts, accelerates feedback and enables faster strategic research planning. Built with modular design, phased deployment, training and feedback, IntelliCEN is scalable and replicable for institutions seeking meaningful AI-powered digital transformation.

Alaa Omar Khadidos; Fatemah Omar Kamel; Mohammed Reda Ali Kabli (vice president for educational affairs); Admissions and Registration Deanship data team; Jamaan Salem AlGhamdi; Fatemah Omar Kamel; Alaa Omar Khadidos; Ali Hassan Shareef