Cardiff Metropolitan University recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Applied Science University (ASU) in Bahrain, to develop a foundation programme and undergraduate degrees in Business Studies and Accounting and Finance for approval by the University. Senior staff from ASU, including the incoming President, Professor Ghassan F Aouad, the outgoing President and Managing Director of the Board of Directors, Professor Waheeb Ahmed Al-Khaja, and the Dean of Research and Postgraduate Studies, Professor Hussein Zedan, visited the University recently and met with senior University staff, including the Vice-Chancellor and Pro Vice-Chancellor (International).
Professor Waheeb, President of ASU, endorsed ASU's commitment to the collaboration with Cardiff Met, and said: 'Internationalisation is at the core of ASU strategic objectives. This MoU with Cardiff Met marks an important milestone in the realisation of ASU's Mission. We welcome it and hope it paves the way to a much wider and fruitful collaboration.'
ASU has been licensed by the Bahraini Ministry of Education since July 2004, making it one of the first private universities in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and is striving to become one of the leading universities in the Kingdom of Bahrain and wider Gulf region. ASU aims to support the economic and social development of the Kingdom of Bahrain and currently offers degree programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, including Bachelor degrees in Business Administration, Accounting, Political Science and Management Information Systems, and Master degrees in Human Resources and Accounting and Finance. ASU currently has 2300 students enrolled.
Professor Antony Chapman, Vice-Chancellor, stated that, 'In line with Cardiff Met's Internationalisation Strategy, the University is seeking to develop a small number of high quality transnational education (TNE) partnerships and we are delighted to now be working with ASU.'
The proposed collaboration will be explored further at meetings in Bahrain in the coming months and will hopefully lead to students enrolling onto University programmes in 2015.
Professor Mohamed Loutfi, Pro Vice-Chancellor (International), also commented on the collaboration: 'We hope that the partnership with ASU will flourish, to enable students to study Cardiff Met degrees in Bahrain and to develop staff and student exchanges between Cardiff Met and ASU'.
