Former US President Bill Clinton invited students from the American University in Dubai (AUD) enrolled in the AUD-Clinton Scholarship Program as well as the Harvard College in Asia Program (HCAP) delegation from Harvard and AUD, escorted by Mr. Elias Bou Saab, Executive Vice President of AUD and Lebanon’s Minister of Education, to meet with him during the reception ceremony of the Global Education and Skills Forum 2014. The meeting was a great opportunity for the students to listen first hand to the world leader and education activist on his views of the current issues discussed during the Forum. President Clinton also stressed the importance of the AUD-Clinton Scholarship, explaining how it started and why he chose AUD.
 
The William Jefferson Clinton Scholarship at AUD seeks to further the goals of the Clinton Presidential Foundation to strengthen the capacity of people in the United States and throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence. In partnership with the American University in Dubai, the program provides American students based in the US the opportunity to expand their educational and cultural horizons by studying in the Arab world.
 
President Clinton is considered a longtime friend of the American University in Dubai, and has visited over 6 times since he gave the graduation speech in 2002. He is a firm believer in Dubai being a model for intercultural harmony and understanding; “Dubai’s model, today more than ever, is an inspiration to many countries in Middle East,” commented the President during his visit to AUD last year.  He has also cited the multi-cultural composition of AUD’s student body consisting of over 100 nationalities, as a microcosm of Dubai’s multi-ethnicity.