Nine education programmes denied accreditation

University of Dubai loses six of them but the Federal regulator emphasises that a denial need not reflect poorly on the institution as ‘something can go wrong for lots of reasons’.

"It's always a learning process," Thamer Saeed Salman of the Ajman University of Science and Technology says about accreditation. Paulo Vecina / The National

The Government has denied accreditation to nine programmes at four universities. Education officials say this is necessary to maintain standards and to ensure courses match students' needs. They emphasised that a rejection does not mean an institution is weak.

One of the nine programmes affected, at New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) was already operational but was closed following a review by the Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA), part of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. The others were denied permission to launch. The affected programmes are: Ÿ Ajman University of Science and Technology's bachelor's in information studies.

Ÿ Al Hosn University's master's in software engineering. Ÿ The NYIT master's in business administration. Ÿ Six professional certificates at the University of Dubai including accounting, marketing and human resources management. The review process has taken around three or four months for each institution. Universities wishing to launch a course are initially visited by an international team of three to six experts from the CAA. The programme is then discussed with administration and faculty. If permission to launch is granted, the programme will be reviewed towards the end of its first cohort. The CAA will discuss the programme with students before they graduate, evaluate course materials, examination question-and-answer papers and assess the syllabus.

For courses in which students are already enrolled, such as the MBA programme at NYIT, the CAA compels a "teach out", whereby the universities guarantee that the students can complete their studies in one way or another, minimising the disruption to their education. Ian Cumbus, the commissioner of the CAA, said: "This may be done at the same institution, at another of the university's campuses or at another institution altogether."

At NYIT, the remaining 12 students will finish their MBAs by the end of this year at the Abu Dhabi campus while the institution amends its programme. Timothy Keating, the campus dean at the university, said the US model of the MBA was not what the CAA wanted for the local market. "We've gone back to the drawing board and are revising the MBA entirely at the whole university, not only here in the UAE."

Since the MBA was denied accreditation, Prof Keating said it has been revised "to meet the needs of the global economy, to take into account things like Islamic banking." Around 450 students have gone through the MBA programme at NYIT since it began in 2005 and Mr Keating says enquiries keep arriving daily. Prof Cumbus said denial of accreditation is not necessarily a negative reflection on the institution.

"Ajman, for example, is an institution we're all very proud of," he said. "Their provision and quality is very good now. We go in there a lot and they're developing very well. "Occasionally something can go wrong for lots of reasons, like running out of resources and funding or not getting enough students enrolled on the programme." Thamer Saeed Salman, vice president, administrative and financial affairs, at Ajman University of Science and Technology, said the accreditation system is welcomed. Ajman is the oldest private university in the country, founded in 1988, even before the establishment of the Ministry of Higher Education, when he says there was "a vacuum of legislation".

The information studies programme is now being adapted, following recommendations from the CAA. "When something bounces back, we do meet all the recommendations," he said. "We never give up on a programme. We've gone through this before. Sometimes it relates to faculty resources to be provided, sometimes it's institutional recommendations. "The CAA are more impartial when they assess our programmes. We are more emotional as we work hard on them for two or three years. It's always a learning process."

Six courses were denied accreditation from the University of Dubai, which Prof Cumbus says were simply were "not an appropriate level". Dr Ananth Rao, the professor and acting chief academic officer at the university, said: "These six professional programs were submitted to the CAA in 2008, but they advised that it would be worthwhile to start a master's in business administration instead of these professional programmes as the market would be more receptive to an MBA."