QS: What is your university’s vision, and how is its mission and actions unique within the region?

Ajman University (AU) is where global standards meet local purpose – cutting-edge learning, careers that stick, and research that shows up in people’s lives.

Our aim is clear and firm: empowering youth to thrive through inclusion, innovation and sustainability. We also see this as a social imperative since youth unemployment rates in the MENA region are among the highest in the world, with one of the youngest populations.

In 2024, we decided to put our values and purpose to work as a non-profit institution, a rare move for the region and one that requires significant support from donors and partners.

This strategic move is opening more doors for deserving young minds, ensuring that financial hardship never stands in the way of talent. Among our 8,000+ cohorts, 65 percent receive financial aid. Nothing should impede access for new generations of thinkers and new iterations of thinking. When access widens, so does impact: students and faculty channel this opportunity into research that tackles urgent needs in health, sustainability, and the knowledge economy; ideas that move from paper to practice.

Ultimately, we see AU’s role as fostering an integrated community of educators, entrepreneurs, trailblazers and changemakers – with student accessibility, inclusivity, employability and impactful research at the centre of this multilateral universe. We are dedicated to shaping the future by breaking down all barriers that have kept academics separate from society and industry.

Some examples of what that looks like in practice:

· Expanding the size and scope of our MASAR Career Excellence, with increased industry input and a more substantial presence on campus, and vice versa.

· Incubating start-ups at our Innovation Center, including projects such as Echo Sphere, which ideates and creates e-gaming for the visually impaired.

· Supporting students with disabilities through our Center for Inclusive Learning, which guarantees that every learner has the tools, support and opportunities to thrive at AU.

· Growing our industry-embedded coursework, such as the programme where our architecture students spend time on site with our partners from P&T Architects in Dubai.

· Pursuing multidisciplinary initiatives like a new, fully integrated Mobile Health Clinic that will allow aspiring doctors, nurses and pharmacists to collaborate with faculty to address the healthcare needs on-site for underserved communities. We’re leveraging the success of our Mobile Dental Clinic, which has been providing oral healthcare across the UAE since 2018.

Stakeholders mutually benefit from AU’s “gown meets town” approach. When academia and industry collaborate, they drive change. Together, we can foster the knowledge economy while preparing students to advance it.

QS: What skills and values does society need to succeed and why, and how is your university addressing those skills and values?

Society needs greater compassion and agile innovation to drive human resilience and environmental sustainability. Therefore, higher education should be cultivating critical thinkers and ethical leaders for a world in need of immediate solutions to collective problems. To make it happen, we need to bring diverse voices, perspectives, interests and abilities together in different spaces and places.

At AU, the pursuit of the greater good defines and unites us. And our campus community reflects the world at large. QS has ranked us #4 worldwide for the percentage of international students. This year, our cohorts represent more than 80 nationalities. AU’s inclusive spirit took root in 1988 when we opened as the first private university in the GCC to accept expatriate students. Since then, more than 45,000 alumni have gone on to forge meaningful lives and livelihoods in 102 countries.

Alumni like Lacina Kone in ‘93, who is the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of Smart Africa, a pan-African initiative bringing together 40 African countries, international organisations and private sector partners with one mission: to accelerate Africa’s sustainable socio-economic development through digital transformation.

Research at AU aims for real-world impact in real time. A notable example is a recent study, in collaboration with Universiti Sains Malaysia and the UAE health departments, that explored whether pharmacists could be effective on the frontlines of the battle against colorectal cancer (CRC). Each participating pharmacist was asked to encourage patients identified as high risk to purchase home-test kits to screen for the deadly disease.

In just 10 months, 146 patients/participants (out of 401) were identified as having undiagnosed CRC and sent for treatment. These critical results lay the foundation for integrating pharmacist-led screening programmes into public health initiatives both locally and internationally.

AU is also deeply engaged in global efforts to combat climate change. Sustainability is integrated into the curriculum, infrastructure, and daily operations. Key initiatives include our Mangrove Replanting Project, which engages students and local volunteers in restoring these vital ecosystems. With support from key partners, we have successfully planted 3,370 young mangroves along Ajman’s shores.

QS: Where are the biggest opportunities for growth in higher education and social advancement in your region?

The potential for growth and advancement for all of us – higher education and humanity – is enormous, but we must work together.

Specifically, those opportunities take the form of:

· Lifelong Learning. The degree will stay vital, but the growth is in stackable micro-credentials co-designed with employers (AI & data, sustainability, healthtech). This lets people upskill without pausing life. At AU, our microcredential pathways and MASAR’s employer co-assessment turn learning into hiring.

· A Green Economy. Net-zero commitments create demand for sustainability leadership, circular design and clean-tech operations. Universities can be living labs for this transition. The green economy, in the Arab region, in particular, has incredible potential to solve issues related to unemployment because millions of jobs can be created by the transition to a green economy. At AU, capstone projects and industry briefings are mapped directly to green jobs.

· Philanthropy and Endowment Culture. Sustainable, mission-aligned funding. At AU, named scholarships, endowed chairs and donor-funded community clinics are tied to measurable outcomes.

The road to knowledge is a superhighway. So why cling to segmented ideas, people and spaces? Every moment that stakeholders can share in pursuit of lifelong learning, a green economy and a giving culture boosts opportunities for meaningful social impact – AU’s raison d’être.

QS: If you could shape higher education in one key way to make it better, where would you focus on why?

My answer is straightforward: Access to higher education should not be limited to those who can afford it. The world is losing great minds, great talents and great potential to socio-economic stratification.

This is precisely the reason AU transitioned to a non-profit institution in 2024. And precisely the reason we have numerous giving opportunities. We are deeply grateful to all the donors, corporate and research partners, alumni, students, faculty and staff whose generosity empowers our students from diverse backgrounds.

Stakeholders are now coming together to support our 40th Anniversary Scholarship Fund (AU turns 40 in 2028). It’s critically important that students from all walks of life are welcomed, challenged and transformed here and leave ready for careers anywhere.

QS: What are you most hopeful for or excited about in the future?

I’m most excited about a future where learning, livelihoods and impact are one system. Three things offer great hope and promise:

· Personalised, AI-enabled learning that meets students where they are and keeps alumni reskilling for decades. This turns degrees into lifelong pathways.

· Research that shows up in people’s lives, from bioequivalence trials and mobile clinics to green-tech pilot projects, so knowledge moves from paper to policy to practice.

· An inclusive prosperity engine – need-based aid, work-integrated learning, and industry co-designed curricula – so more first-generation students access opportunity and become the region’s problem-solvers.

I am deeply excited about the opportunities for students and stakeholders to create what comes next. Together, we can do more than wait and see what will happen tomorrow. We can invent it today. The possibilities are truly limitless if we open all the doors.

The future depends on all of us.