The 10th EdUniversal World Convention, hosted by the American University in Dubai (AUD), concluded yesterday. The convention was inaugurated by HE Dr. Mohammed Al-Mualla, Secretary General, Ministry of Education - Higher Education Affairs . While it is an outstanding achievement for AUD to be chosen to host an international event of such large-scale, the feat would not have been possible without the immense support of the Dubai Business Events and City Operations Office.
 
Close to 190 participants including Deans of Business schools from 85 different institutions around the globe, attended the convention.
 
Four business schools in the  UAE have been awarded a distinction of excellence: namely, the American University in Dubai, the UAE University, the University of Sharjah and the University of Dubai. The Colleges of Business Administration at Zayed University and Ajman University received “good” standing.
 
Based in France, Eduniversal is a global leading organization with 20 years of experience in higher education marketing, institutional strategic development, and student orientation. Eduniversal help students from around the world with the tools to find the best education opportunities.
 
In his speech, H.E. Dr. Mohammed Al-Mualla cited: “Education is one of the most important aspects of the UAE Vision, the National Agenda 2021 and the vision for the next hundred years. He stressed that higher education plays an important role in achieving this vision through the Higher Education Strategy launched last September. It is based on four main areas; quality, harmonization with the labor market, innovation, and competence. He stressed the importance of the conference to discuss the education of business administration and its development in the universities of the world.”
 
At the opening session, Mr. Martial Guiette, CEO and Founder of EdUniversal, praised the warm hospitality of AUD and stressed the importance of this Convention in examining the level of higher education.
 
Dr. Imad Hoballah, Provost at AUD, mentioned: "With the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there are major changes that we have to deal with, and there is no doubt that the needs of the market are changing too. Education is just an illusion when it simply means broadcasting information. It is not very important for a person to learn the facts. So it does not need a college, because facts can be learned from books. The value of education is not to learn many facts, but to train the mind to think creatively and solve problems that cannot be learned from books."
 
In the first panel session, attended by Dr. Nima Azouri Vice President of the University of Kaslik Research. Dr. Sherif Kamel, Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration at the American University in Cairo, and Dr. Mohammed Abu Ali, Dean of the College of Business Administration at AUD; results of research on business education in the Middle East and North Africa were presented and discussed.
 
Among other cities, previous conventions have been hosted in Perth, Paris, Shanghai, and Istanbul.