College of Engineering- United Arab Emirates University: Building the Future on a Foundation of Excellence

To contribute to the development and expansion of knowledge through quality and innovative research in areas strategic to the nation

The United Arab Emirates University’s The College of Engineering (COE) is differentiated by its wealthy tradition, dedication to heritage and innovation, and a strong ambition to attain excellence in teaching, research, and services. Commencing the journey in 1980, the college has continued to develop and thrived to become one of the region’s few most extensive academic and research-intensive engineering colleges. The College aspires to reach the global level among the well-known and top-ranked Engineering Colleges. It continues to improve its current programs and introduces new ones to meet the market demand such as Aerospace Engineering and new Master programs.

The Engineering Departments

The University itself was set up in 1976 and is accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education and operates as an independent federal entity. The College began in 1980 with only two academic departments i.e. Department of Civil Engineering and the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. Later in 1981, three more departments were added; Department of Architectural Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. And currently, the College offers seven undergraduate programs at the B.Sc. level, namely the B.Sc. in Architectural Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Communications Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Petroleum Engineering. The College also offers a Ph.D. program and eight master programs, six in the main disciplinary areas, and two programs in the interdisciplinary areas of Water Resources and Engineering Management. All these programs have ABET accreditation since 1998 and all courses offered in the College meets the Ministry of Education and international standards.

The state-of-the-art UAEU campus accompanies the above-mentioned robust curriculum. It consists of excellent classrooms, library, dormitories, academic, and office space. Both male and female sides have sports facilities, dining, mosques, meeting spaces, shops, and adequate space for relevant student life activities. The college’s laboratories are managed and supervised by lab engineers and technicians. The responsible Departments assign a faculty supervisor to each lab, who handles the safety rules and preparing any lab material or equipment requirements for proper lab operations. Departments in each College have an annual operating budget for the labs that covers materials, components, and maintenance work.

These new facilities positions serve UAEU as a top-class provider of engineering programs. It has greatly enhanced the teaching, learning, and research environment for students through smart classroom technologies and curriculum material readily available through the Blackboard course hosting portal. The College programs integrate industry-standard engineering software for analysis and design such as LabView, Autocad, HYSYS, Fluent, ABACUS, ANSYS, etc. and through partnerships with industry, students get to use specialized industry packages in their designs and research projects. These tools combined with educational pedagogy emphasizes interactive teaching and learning, project-based learning, communication, and team skills. These methodologies have significantly enhanced the educational experience for UAEU Engineering students.

Built for the Students

The effectiveness of the College of Engineering is in designing and delivering quality academic programs, which has been greatly facilitated by the partnerships forged within the public and private sectors throughout the UAE. Bachelor students conduct their internship training at over 200 firms and organizations throughout the UAE and internationally, and industry representatives regularly provide informative seminars to students. Both representatives from the industry and college alumni supply valuable feedback to the Engineering departments to ensure the curricula is updated to meet the industry’s needs and the requirements of accrediting bodies.

The College’s Alumni speaks for its reputation. Currently, they hold high rank positions in government or private organizations in the country. Moreover, several undergraduates have pursued their graduate studies either in UAE or abroad. And, most of them are holding key positions in academia or in the industry.

About the Department Council

The Department Council and the Department Chairperson manage the academic and administrative affairs of an academic department. The department council develop the plans for the department in the areas of education, scientific research, and community service, consistency with the College Strategic and Action Plans. It also sets the general systems governing all functions of the department and supervises the implementation of the plans of the department. The Department chairperson leads and coordinates all departmental activities and handles the execution of policies and decisions made by the University administration, College, and Departments’ Councils.

Faculty that Facilitate Proficient Learning

The College is very much upfronted when it comes to trained and highly educated educators. Its faculty members are continually developing and improving course content and distribution techniques. Students are encouraged to use and are taught on up-to-date software and even embrace improved teaching technology in the delivery of lessons. Scholars are involved in science field visits and hands-on coaching sessions. Further, the faculty also create their learning pedagogy by engaging in and joining learning courses, training courses, seminars, and meetings.

The College guarantees that class sizes stay low to generate a stronger relationship between the teacher and the learners. Additionally, each student has an Academic Advisor appointed when he/she first enters the program. The advisors help students throughout their college education trip.

COE has a devoted consultative department to help learners with their entry, enrollment, and other academic matters. In addition, the college generates possibilities and promotes learners to take part in research activities. It also promotes the involvement of learners in extra-curricular activities such as sport, contest, meeting, seminar, and other events.

Career Opportunities and Exposure

Students spend a complete semester in industrial practice (i.e. internship) either in the UAE or overseas as a part of their degree obligation. Students are subjected to real-life work experience and methods during the course of instruction. They have the opportunity to connect the understanding obtained in separate lessons with actual engineering duties and issues. Students acquire knowledge operating in a squad, solving problems, and operating under real-life circumstances.

College of Engineering holds a career fair where learners display their initiatives and businesses have the chance to hire graduate students. Furthermore, under the guidance of faculty representatives, learners have the chance to work on study initiatives. Engineering graduates have countless possibilities to work in state or private sector organizations.

Future Lookout

With the assistance of university administration, the Departments at the College of Engineering are continually working on upgrading laboratory facilities and capacities with up-to-date machinery to enrich the department’s education and study. The departments are continually monitoring curriculum and syllabi enhancement through periodic evaluation and accreditation at domestic (CAA) and global (ABET) level. The College is currently involved in the preparation of several fresh master programs in line with the key fields of the nation.

More
articles