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[mankhool]

I'm sorry but I just don't see it. What I do see at the UAEU is a bunch of fake PhDs and faculty that are not even PhDs, all of whom demand to be addressed as "Doctor", which I find hilarious! Also, the management structure of the institution is a joke - there isn't any - everyone is too afraid for their jobs to think for themselves. As a faculty member I am repeatedly told to do things immediately instead of being given even a few minutes of warning. I have Arab colleagues who spend their teaching time shooting the breeze with the class for the entire semester and then pass them all. The buildings are crumbling. The state of teaching technology is abysmal. All of this is in stark contrast to the HCT, where I have also taught and to which I shall return this fall.

[untenured]

Yikes, that's harsh.

No university can go from obscurity to top-100 global status in five years.  Even with infinite funding, it takes longer than that for a brand to take hold.  It just can't happen.

Untenured

[hopefulbutuntenured]

That sounds like my idea of academic hell, mankhool. I had no idea that UAEU was in such dire straits, but it's useful to hear it through the grapevine if only to warn one's own friends against applying for job postings.

[nomadescientist]

Brief updates:

1- UAE University ranking has improved from top 500 to position 374 in the QS World University Ranking 2009. That's more than 100 positions up within one year. Needs to climb 274 positions within the next 4 years to reach the desired target. 

2- Finally the university has officially opened a search for a Dean of the College of Science: http://chronicle.com/jobs/0000612172-01 This is expected to have a positive effect on the college in contrast to its currently "stationary" state.   

NS

[nomadescientist]

I'm sorry but I just don't see it. What I do see at the UAEU is a bunch of fake PhDs and faculty that are not even PhDs, all of whom demand to be addressed as "Doctor", which I find hilarious! Also, the management structure of the institution is a joke - there isn't any - everyone is too afraid for their jobs to think for themselves. As a faculty member I am repeatedly told to do things immediately instead of being given even a few minutes of warning. I have Arab colleagues who spend their teaching time shooting the breeze with the class for the entire semester and then pass them all. The buildings are crumbling. The state of teaching technology is abysmal. All of this is in stark contrast to the HCT, where I have also taught and to which I shall return this fall.

I think you are mostly talking about the UGRU* part of the university, which is full of expacts (most without PhDs)  teaching "English" and other "very basic" courses, and getting much higher salaries than full faculty members at other colleges. The good news is that this "high school extention" (UGRU) within the university is going to be closed down soon in line with the current research direction of the university. As for the "fake" PhDs, anybody is invited to browse through faculty members and academic administrators profiles, and you will be surprised on how many of them are coming from the Ivy league and top universities in the world, including Harvard and Cambridge. 

* University General Requirements Unit

[untenured]

Brief updates:

1- UAE University ranking has improved from top 500 to position 374 in the QS World University Ranking 2009. That's more than 100 positions up within one year. Needs to climb 274 positions within the next 4 years to reach the desired target. 

Perhaps true, but ranking levels get harder as a university proceeds higher.  Moving from 500 to 400 is much easier than moving from 200 to 100.

Purchasing an entire top-100 university's faculty and moving it to the UAE might do the trick, assuming that is even possible with infinite funding.  Sorry, I don't think it will happen.

Untenured

[daniel_von_flanagan]

Purchasing an entire top-100 university's faculty and moving it to the UAE might do the trick

Unlikely.

BTW, my own university is top-100 (by some metrics, though not the strange QS-THES mess), but would apparently like to be #374 or lower.  Maybe you can make a trade. - DvF