Dean's Message
Dean’s Message
Welcome to the College of Business at Al Ain University.
It is a privilege to lead the College of Business at an important and exciting stage in its journey. Building on the strong foundation established over the years, our ambition is to further strengthen the College as a business school that delivers academic excellence, impactful research, innovative teaching, meaningful industry and community engagement, and positive contributions to society. Our AACSB accreditation represents an important milestone in our journey of commitment to quality and continuous improvement. We continue to strengthen our academic and institutional practices while ensuring that our priorities remain firmly connected to our mission, our students, our stakeholders, and the evolving needs of business and society.
At the heart of our work are our academic programs. The College offers a diverse portfolio of undergraduate and graduate programs designed to respond to evolving business and industry needs, including Bachelor of Business Administration programs in Management, Accounting, Finance and Banking, Marketing, Human Resource Management, Management Information Systems, and Business Analytics, alongside the Master of Business Administration (General), Doctor of Business Administration, and Master of Science in Business Data Analytics. We are committed not only to maintaining academic quality, but also to ensuring that our programs remain relevant, future-oriented, and responsive to a rapidly changing world of work.
Our partnerships with professional and industry organizations further strengthen this commitment. Our Accounting program's endorsement by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), our alignment of the BBA in Human Resource Management with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and our partnership with ICAEW in learning provide students with opportunities to connect academic learning with professional practice. These relationships are an important part of our commitment to producing graduates who are prepared not only to enter the workplace, but to contribute and lead.
Teaching excellence remains central to our mission. We are particularly proud of our recent recognition through the AACSB Global Impact Awards for excellence in teaching and learning. This recognition reflects our commitment to innovation in education and our efforts to prepare students for a rapidly changing world, including the opportunities and challenges emerging from artificial intelligence and other disruptive technologies.
Moreover, our commitment to responsible management education is strengthened through our engagement with the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). We continue to promote sustainability, ethics, responsible leadership, and the Sustainable Development Goals across our teaching, research, and engagement activities. Our commitment has been well-recognized by PRME, which featured the College’s transformation journey and its efforts to embed responsible management education across its activities. At AAU, we believe that business education should prepare graduates not only for successful careers, but also for responsible leadership and meaningful contribution to society.
We also believe that a business school should have an impact beyond its classrooms. Our engagement with industry and the wider community is an essential part of our identity. Through our College Advisory Council, industry partnerships, professional engagement, community initiatives, and applied learning opportunities, we seek to create meaningful connections between the College and the communities we serve. Through the Women Leadership Forum, we are committed to developing and empowering women leaders of today and tomorrow. The Forum provides a platform for learning, dialogue, mentoring, networking, and leadership development, reflecting our belief that diverse and inclusive leadership is essential to building stronger organizations and societies.
Research is another important pillar of our college. Our faculty's scholarly contributions continue to strengthen the College's research profile, recognized among the world's most influential researchers through inclusion in the Stanford/Elsevier list of the world's top 2% scientists. Through our graduate programs, we aim to foster a culture of research excellence among our faculty and students that encourages impactful scholarship addressing contemporary business, economic, social, and sustainability challenges.
Our achievements are the result of the collective efforts of our faculty, staff, management, students, alumni, industry partners, and the wider community. I am grateful to everyone who has contributed to the College's journey and who continues to invest in its future. As Dean, I look forward to working collaboratively with all our stakeholders to build on what we have achieved and to take the College of Business further, while focusing on our interconnected priorities of student success, teaching innovation, research impact, professional relevance, industry and community engagement, and responsible leadership development.
I invite you to join us in this journey of learning, leadership, innovation, and impact.
Dr. Iffat Sabir
Dean, College of Business
Al Ain University