The Mohamed Bin Zayed University for Humanities announced the appointment of its Supreme Academic Council chaired by His Excellency Sheikh Abdallah bin Bayyah, Chairman of the Emirates Council for Legal Fatwa and Chairman of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies.

The Council Includes:

  • Prof. Muhammad Othman El-Khosht, President of Cairo University, Egypt.
  • Prof. Amany Lubis, President of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Indonesia.
  • Dr. Mohamed Khalil, former Minister of Religious Affairs, Tunisia.
  • Dr. Radwan El-Sayed, visiting professor at Harvard University and formerly the University of Chicago; Professor of Islamic Studies at the Lebanese University, Lebanon.
  • Dr. Ismail Kutubkhana, former Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, Professor of Sociology at King Abdulaziz University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
  • Dr. Eric Geoffroy, Head of the Department of Arab Studies at the University of Strasbourg, France.
  • Dr. Aref Nayed, Senior Advisor for the Interfaith Conversation Program at the University of Cambridge, College of Theology, United Kingdom. Professor emeritus at the Pontifical Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies in Rome. General Director of Kalam Research & Media.
  • Prof. John Waterbury, president emeritus of the American University of Beirut, professor emeritus at NYUAD.

 

The Supreme Academic Council plays an advisory role in establishing this university as a global center of scholarship and focuses on the following:

  • Affirming the academic and civilizational role of the university as a world-class center of scholarship in the field of Islamic studies and the humanities.
  • Developing the university's policies and strategic plans to enable it to implement its projects and respond to changes and challenges on the academic, scientific and practical planes.
  • Strengthening and documenting the cultural and practical relations between the university and distinguished academic and scientific institutions locally and internationally and identifying the ideal means for this.
  • Identifying and strengthening links between the university and civil society to foster relationships of mutual benefit.
  • Creating new academic specializations and programs within the scope of fields included in the University’s charter.
  • Developing and updating academic programs and curricula to be in line with the spirit of the present age and respond effectively to contemporary challenges whilst conforming to the requirements of the labor market.
  • Advancing and updating academic regulations and policies in accordance with international best practice.
  • Cultivating novel academic, scientific, and practical fields of investigation.
  • Amplifying and improving the work of the university and its overall performance.