The Lebanese American University was crowned Leadership and Management of the Year at the inaugural Times Higher Education (THE) Awards MENA in Abu Dhabi earlier today.
With a 19-year history in the UK and Ireland, and widely known as the ‘Oscars of higher education’, THE is delighted to now bring these awards to a new region, celebrating outstanding work across a wide range of university functions – covering academia, leadership and management, and the professional services. Crucially, these awards tell the inspirational stories that rankings cannot capture.
Of nearly 270 entries in this first year, from 13 countries or territories, our judges narrowed down an inspirational set of submissions into 75 finalists and, ultimately, 10 worthy winners.
The full list of this year’s winners is:
- Leadership and Management Team of the Year: Lebanese American University, Lebanon
- International Strategy of the Year: Abu Dhabi University, United Arab Emirates
(Highly commended: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia) - Outstanding Contribution to Environmental Leadership: University of Balamand, Lebanon
- Outstanding Contribution to Regional Development: Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Jordan
- Outstanding Support for Students: Gulf Medical University, United Arab Emirates
- Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences: American University in Cairo, Egypt
(Highly commended: Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar) - Research Project of the Year: STEM: New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Student Recruitment Campaign of the Year: Qatar University, Qatar
- Teaching and Learning Strategy of the Year: American University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Technological or Digital Innovation of the Year: Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain
A clear commitment to promoting gender equality – not just inside the institution but across wider society – convinced the judges to award the Lebanese American University the prestigious title of Leadership and Management Team of the Year.
Shining through the project was an impressive “sense of a university clear not just about its responsibility to its staff and students but also about its role in the wider world, with a commitment to making real social impact beyond its campus,” the judges said.
Phil Baty, THE’s Chief global affairs officer said:
“This year represents a landmark moment for THE: our first Awards focused exclusively on this vibrant, rapidly evolving and ambitious part of the world. But this is just the beginning. We hope that by giving these inaugural award winners their own space to shine, we will help not only to celebrate and showcase the good practice developed in the region, but also to help to spread it to neighbouring areas and beyond.
"We very much expect these awards to provide the case studies to inspire action in others and to help further supercharge one of the most exciting and innovate regions in global higher education.”.
Hundreds of finalists from all corners of the MENA region gathered in Abu Dhabi for the ceremony, closing the second day of Times Higher Education MENA Universities Summit.
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