Prime Highlights
- Professor Bassam Alameddine has been appointed as the new President of the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK).
- Alameddine prioritizes equipping graduates with skills, knowledge, and a global perspective for a future shaped by technology and human values.
Key Facts
- He succeeds Dr. David Schmidt, under whose leadership AURAK achieved major milestones, including a QS 5 Stars Plus rating in 2023.
- Alameddine previously served as President of Gulf University in Kuwait, where he expanded programs, strengthened research, and raised the university’s global profile.
- His research career has generated $2.5M+ in funding and produced numerous publications.
Background
Professor Bassam Alameddine is appointed as the new President of the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK). His appointment is demonstrative of a new era in this university as it moulds students to face the prospects and threats associated with the Fifth Industrial Revolution.
Professor Alameddine is an experienced academic leader with more than two decades of service at top international universities. He said his priority is to build on AURAK’s strengths and prepare graduates for a future shaped by advanced technology and global collaboration.
The Fifth Industrial Revolution will be the conversion of technology and human values, he said. Our focus at AURAK will be to equip the students with the knowledge, skills, and global perspective to live in this new world and excel in it.
He follows Dr. David Schmidt, under whom AURAK realized a number of landmarks, such as a QS 5 Stars Plus rating in 2023, whereby few universities in the world possess.
Prior to his work at AURAK, Professor Alameddine worked at the Gulf University in Kuwait, where he was also the President of that university, and he had to expand the programs, increase the strength of research, and make the position of the university known on the map of the world.
As a scientist, he made his contribution to the materials sciences and environmental sustainability. He founded the Functional Materials Group, which is engaged in carbon capture, gas separations, and hydrogen storage solutions. His writing has won him more than 2.5 million dollars of research funding and produced numerous scholarly publications.
Professor Alameddine is known to have occupied central positions in various prestigious institutions such as Columbia University, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), and the University of Fribourg. A fluent speaker of English, French, and Arabic, he has an international insight into his new role.
AURAK is one of the UAE’s fastest-growing universities, fully accredited by SACSCOC in the United States and the UK’s QAA. The university said the appointment of Professor Alameddine is part of its aspiration to become a regional leader in education, pursuing research and innovation.
