Efficient Approach to Curricula Development In Newly Established Private Universities
Prof. Abdul-Rahim Sabouni, PEng, FASCE, FACI
Prof. Raymond Tennant, PhD
Vice Chancellor and CEO ALHOSN University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
[email protected]
Head, Effectiveness and Accreditation Center ALHOSN University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
[email protected]
This paper provides an innovative approach used to tackle this issue for the efficient development of the academic programs and curricula of a newly established university including the process used by ALHOSN University, a private institution in the city of Abu Dhabi which was established in 2005.
Abstract—This paper addresses the subject of curricula development for the accreditation of academic programs before the university is operational and only partially staffed with faculty. For a newly established private university, efficiency in the startup is of paramount importance to reduce the large initial capital investment required at this stage. An efficient approach is presented for the academic program development in a newly established university along with a successful application described as a case study for the startup of ALHOSN University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirate (UAE).
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A. Background Located on the Arabian Peninsula, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a modern dynamic country which is playing an ever increasing role in global affairs. Firmly rooted in Arabic and Islamic traditions, the country has a vibrant international atmosphere with residents coming from all parts of the world. Education, and specifically, Higher Education within the UAE, has the unique task of supporting the growth in all sectors, both public and private, of the evolving landscape by supplying knowledgeable and skilled graduates for the country’s workforce.
Keywords-curricula, academic programs, private university, accreditation, feasibility, outsoursing.
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PRIVATE UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN THE UAE
INTRODUCTION
Program development is an important milestone in the startup of any new university. Approaches to program development differ from one system to another, but often they are closely connected to and guided by accreditation standards. One of the challenges of the program and curricula development of newly established university is that this development takes place before the university is operational.
To accommodate the growing numbers of university-age students and to serve the needs of the country, private higher education institutions are working side by side with their public counterparts in delivering graduates who enter the workforce ready to make meaningful and sustainable impacts within their respective disciplines. The less explicit mission of Higher Education, however, is that of bridging cultures and building upon the social fabric of the country by challenging students to achieve more than the status quo.
Typically, most new universities prior to admitting students choose to hire the faculty for the purpose of program and curricula development (Development Stage) and then apply for accreditation of the proposed programs. Once the new university addresses recommendations from the accreditation commission the focus then shifts to program delivery (Operation Stage). This approach has some disadvantages especially for private universities, where financial efficiency is critical to reduce the initial investment cost. Furthermore, there is often great uncertainty about the time required and the final outcome of the initial accreditation of the programs, which render the hiring of the faculty well before the program delivery (and student enrolment) very costly.
Fostering a greater and strategic relationship amongst public and private entities within the UAE helps achieve a more dynamic culture of entrepreneurship. Several successful private universities have been established over the past ten years, as the country has witnessed the unprecedented growth in the city of Abu Dhabi and the UAE as a whole. This has increased the importance of incorporating efficient approaches into curricula and academic program development as such tasks become critical to initiating, building up, and sustaining the newly established universities.
In the case of the initial licensure of new institutions and the initial accreditation of academic programs in higher education in the UAE, the process is governed by Ten Standards of Excellence as developed by the Commission of Academic Accreditation (CAA) in the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research [1].
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efficient utilization of resources so that they can continue to produce academically rigorous programs for their students. As the UAE continues to develop at such a rapid pace, investing in private education can be both economically sustainable and academically rewarding. Federal policies and regulations must continue to support both individual and corporate initiatives and foster a culture of innovative entrepreneurship in all fields and especially in higher education.
B. Private Higher Education in the UAE Private pre-university education is already popular and successful in the UAE and many private schools have proven to outperform their public school counterparts despite the everincreasing sums of money being spent on them. Given this decreasing rate of return, the time may be right for governments to address this issue by encouraging expanded growth of high-quality private education, in parallel with public schools.
With the proper regulatory and quality assurance measures, preparing the atmosphere that encourages innovative entrepreneurs to invest in the business (yes, the business) of higher education, will lead to the development of high quality, state of the art, private universities that exist side by side with other public universities and constitute the best mix of higher education.
Challenges to higher education in the UAE is less about simply preparing graduates to handle today’s challenges, but rather the more demanding task of preparing them to not only recognize, but also to solve tomorrow’s challenges. The young entrepreneurs on our campuses today have an unparalleled landscape in which they are able to create, innovate, and capitalize on the dynamic energy within the UAE. As a model, entrepreneurship in education offers a unique case for achieving the competency outcomes needed to support the overall development of the UAE. III.
What's more, in education - as in so many areas - increased competition improves quality throughout the entire system. In addition, while there is some overlap between these competing institutions, there are distinct populations of students that each group serves [3]. The existence of alternatives is good for everyone, even those students who do not or cannot attend private universities.
ENTERPENEREUSHIP IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Entrepreneurship when it becomes an integral component common to all curricula will challenge and encourage students to be both social and economic change agents who will fuel the progress of a nation. To accomplish this lofty goal, students can be encouraged to think creatively by having academic programs that are integrated with courses on innovation and transformational thinking. A major challenge for universities in this regard is to maintain the rigors of learning that are familiar to students from their pre-university education while initiating them to creative models of discovery, learning, research, and problem solving based on 21st Century tools.
Academic curricula in most disciplines and especially in Engineering Education have witnessed great development which has been reflected on the curricula to accommodate new technologies and software developments [4], [5]. IV.
FEASIBILITY ISSUES IN CURRICULA AND PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT
Usually, the submission of curricula and academic program materials is one of the first steps in initiating the process of accreditation applications for new universities. In the UAE, no university or higher education institution is licensed to operate without first receiving official licensure by the Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA) in the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MOHESR).
In addition, Entrepreneurship in higher education will increase the number of private universities to accommodate the growing number of students seeking higher education, with great benefits to the students and community at large. Because these schools tend to follow a business model, they see their students as customers and are able to respond to their needs with strategies drawn from business. Many for-profit institutions like DeVry Institutes of Technology and the University of Phoenix view accreditation as a business objective that determines what it will take to meet or exceed the standards of excellence and then simply allocating the financial and human resources required to meet them [2]. As they strive to attract new students and be market-competitive, private universities may be pushed to innovate and improve at a relatively faster rate. Another positive result is that these innovative learning environments are often more flexible for students. For example, many private universities offer degree programs through the day or at night, which makes it easier for mature students to earn their degree without having to disrupt their life responsibilities or career.
Only after the new University is granted the licensure as an Academic Institution (Institutional level) is it allowed to apply for accreditation for its academic programs (Program Level). Usually, the process that precedes the application submission for academic program accreditation takes one academic year, during which the institutional licensing process takes place. The licensure process involves the entire institution and all its activities and involves facilities visits by the Commission for Academic Accreditation and sometimes external reviewers after which the license is granted. Licensure signifies that the institution has appropriate mission as well as governance structure, policies and procedures, by-laws, and financial and physical resources to support the mission. To increase efficiency, and reduce initial capital establishment cost, the University at this phase does not need to have its organizational charts fully populated, and only a small number of faculty and staff will suffice. Accordingly, the faculty are required to carry on the development of curricula and academic programs are not available in the university, especially if several programs are being developed and submitted for accreditation.
The misconceptions that private universities are often associated with purely commercial enterprises, fails to account for the optimizations in efficiency and quality control and assurance that are necessary to continue operations in an increasingly competitive environment. Self-dependent profitable academic intuitions, by default, must rely on
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students who will take up professional roles to help develop the emerging dynamic country of the United Arab Emirates.
ALHOSN UNIVERSITY, A CASE STUDY
A. Efficient Approach for program development ALHOSN University, established in 2003, is a private institution of higher learning committed first and foremost to educating students who will take up professional roles to help develop this emerging dynamic country of the United Arab Emirates as well as to equipping its graduates to move beyond its borders.
B. Gradual Program Development This process of curricula and program development has been applied proposing and receiving initial accreditation for eighteen academic degree programs that ALHOSN currently offers on the undergraduate (Bachelor’s) and graduate (Master’s) levels in three colleges, Arts and Social Sciences, Business, and Engineering and Applied Sciences. Once programs with initial accreditation have their first batch of graduates, they are required to apply for full accreditation.
Admitting its first students in 2005, ALHOSN’s commitment to students has a two-prong approach involving first, the creation of a university based on North American standards of excellence and second, the development of academic programs to address the needs of the UAE and the Gulf region. ALHOSN University’s mission encapsulates these two sides of the same coin as a pledge “to emphasize a facultystudent learning community that promotes the value of service and research” and a belief “in educating professionals to be leaders for a modern community.” The vision of ALHOSN University encapsulates this pairing even further as, “Global Knowledge with Local Vision.”
As part of the application for full accreditation, the program faculty undertake a process self-study in order to present a complete picture of the strengths and challenges of the program. Upon submission of the self study and supporting evidence by the University, an international external review team visits the University for three or four days to inspect the facilities and discuss all the details with the University officials, faculty, students, employers, and alumni. ALHOSN University current accreditation status is as follows:
To address this vision, curricula and academic program development at ALHOSN University has followed an efficient approach utilizing scholars from ALHOSN University in collaboration with teams of academicians from several North American Universities. This partial “outsourcing’ of the program development has been done in accordance with the provisions of the CAA accreditation (Local) standards [1] by international scholars (Global).
programs
and
their
College of Engineering and Applied Sciences: 1.
Bachelor of Architectural Engineering (Self Study submitted) 2. Bachelor of Interior Design (Granted initial accreditation) 3. Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (Granted full accreditation) 4. Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering (Granted full accreditation) 5. Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering (Granted full accreditation) 6. Bachelor of Urban Planning (Pending – full accreditation) 7. Master in Buildings Engineering (Granted initial accreditation) 8. Master in Engineering Management (Granted initial accreditation) 9. Graduate Certificate in Buildings Engineering (Granted initial accreditation) 10. Graduate Certificate in Engineering Management (Granted initial accreditation)
As ALHOSN University began the process of developing a working university, this outsourcing of the original work of curricula and program development allowed for the gradual well-planned hiring of the faculty members required to deliver the programs once they achieved accreditation. Typically, academic program development takes from nine to twelve months from the first application and writing and submission of the proposal until the granting of the initial accreditation status of the program. This includes a campus visit by an external review team of experts and time to respond to recommendations made by the Commission for Academic Accreditation. As required by the Ministry of Higher Education, no students are allowed to register and enroll in any academic program until it is officially granted the initial accreditation status. Due to this waiting period for accreditation, the full staffing of the university at this early stage is unjustified, especially for a private university where feasibility matters are of great importance. One other advantage of the outsourcing of the program development is that such processes and proposal can be developed and written by distinguished scholars at the top of their careers in prestigious universities. In this way, faculty of the highest caliber may be utilized for the critical purpose of program development where they most likely would not be attracted to join a university that was still being established and applying for accreditation.
College of Arts and Social Sciences:
According to this plan, ALHOSN University has developed programs that are committed first and foremost to educating
15. Bachelor of Education (Elementary Education in Arabic Language and Islamic Studies) (Self Study submitted)
College of Business: 11. Bachelor of Business Administration (Pending – full accreditation) 12. Master of Business Administration (Pending – full accreditation) 13. Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting (Pending – full accreditation) 14. Bachelor of Management Information Systems (Pending – full accreditation)
Commission for Academic Accreditation. In addition, ALHOSN University is developing a comprehensive system of institutional and program effectiveness to be able to assess its own programs, analyze assessment results, and make strategic plans for improving programs and the institution. A new program in engineering was recently proposed with the all of the curriculum developed at ALHOSN.
16. Master of Education (Granted initial accreditation) 17. Diploma in Education (Post Baccalaureate Level) (Granted initial accreditation) C. Maturing System of Curricula and Program Development From its beginning in 2005 with less than fifty students and a handful of faculty, the University has just observed it third graduating class (2010). Now in its sixth year, ALHOSN University has grown to have 1,800 students and seventy-five teaching staff. The University has developed into a diverse environment of students, faculty, and staff from the Arab and Western worlds. A majority of the students in the undergraduate and graduate programs are Emirati with the remaining students coming from surrounding Arab countries, Africa, Europe, and North America.
As the process of full accreditation with the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research is progressing towards a successful conclusion, the University is looking at specialized international accreditation for each of its programs. Currently, three engineering programs are writing self studies for accreditation by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Although, ALHOSN University is now maturing to the point of being self sufficient to develop its own curricula and academic program, it remains committed to the idea of utilizing best practices from around the world. In recent years, ALHOSN University has now shifted its attention to collaborative affiliations with institutions to develop academic partnerships to exchange students, faculty, and research ideas.
The University’s philosophy, pedagogy, faculty, and administration reflect educational experiences in the United States and the West. A U.S. model of higher education is being adapted to fit and serve the country, and at the same time the style and substance of that model is influencing higher education in the U.A.E. and therefore contributing to national development. The University’s faculty and staff share in the excitement and the challenge of creating a new type of university that has the potential to change the country and the region.
REFERENCES [1]
The partial outsourcing of curricula and program development has afforded ALHOSN University the opportunity to efficiently build the institution to a point in six years to now have an institution that is fully functioning. While the University has been performing institutional research since the very beginning, two years ago, an Effectiveness and Accreditation Center was launched and now oversees all curricula and program development in coordination with the various colleges.
[2] [3]
[4]
[5]
At ALHOSN University, all of the programs that received initial accreditation during the first two years of the institution are in the process of receiving full accreditation from the UAE
Commission for Academic Accreditation, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Standards for Licensure and Accreditation, UAE, 2007. Retrieved from https://www.caa.ae/caa/images/standards2007.pdf. R. S. Ruch, Higher Ed Inc. The Rise of the For-Profit University, The Johns Hopkins University Press.2001. D. Breneman, B. Pusser, and S. E. Turner (Ed.), Earnings from Learning: The Rise of For-Profit Universities, State University of New York, Albany, 2006, pp. 23–49. A. R. Sabouni, A Model for Computer-aided Engineering Education, The Engineer Journal, No. 11, UAE University, Al-Ain, April 1993, pp. 51-55. A. Arwani, K. El-Sawy, and A. R. Sabouni, Spreadsheet Programming as a Tool for Structural Engineering Applications, The World of Engineering Journal, No 35, Society of Engineers, UAE, December, 2001, pp. 30-34.
