Wyatt R. (Rory) Hume, provost and executive vice president for academic and health affairs for the University of California system, has been hired as provost of United Arab Emirates University, the system has announced.

Mr. Hume, a native of Australia, stepped in as the system’s chief operating officer following the resignation last year of the president, Robert C. Dynes. He oversaw several challenging initiatives, including a 10-percent budget cut for the office of the president.

Richard C. Blum, chairman of the university’s Board of Regents, told the San Francisco Chronicle in June that Mr. Hume had not sought the job of president. Mr. Hume said he agreed with the board’s desire to look outside the system, a plan that resulted in the hiring of Mark G. Yudof from the University of Texas system.

The move by United Arab Emirates University, the Persian Gulf nation’s premier research institution, follows a recent report that foreign universities are increasingly looking to elite American universities when hiring top administrators. —Paul Fain