The Sheikha Nama Majid Al Qassimi Endowed Chair in Education Across Disciplines at AUS

The Sheikha Nama Majid Al Qassimi Endowed Chair in Education Across Disciplines was established at AUS by the heirs of late Sheikh Saoud Bin Khalid Bin Khalid Al Qassimi in March 2022 to carry forward the legacy of the UAE’s first female teacher, Sheikha Nama Majid Al Qassimi. It aims to promote interdisciplinary education, whereby students learn across various academic areas to help create knowledge from different sources and perspectives.

At the launch ceremony for the chair, Sheikh Saud Majid Al Qasimi, Sheikha Nama’s grandson, expressed his “hope [that] this chair would serve the broader UAE community and region, reflecting the importance of education and also as a reminder of the role that women played and continue to play in education in the UAE.”

At the same event, Dr. Nidhal Guessoum, the inaugural holder of this endowed chair, expressed his honor and delight at carrying forward the legacy of this remarkable woman, mother, educator and role model as well as this broad, interdisciplinary education philosophy. He vowed to do his utmost to promote and spread the vision and goals of this endowed chair.

Vision Statement of the Chair

The Sheikha Nama Majid Al Qassimi Endowed Chair in Education Across Disciplines at AUS seeks to develop education and knowledge in an interdisciplinary, broad-based approach, bridging the sciences and the humanities, for a cross-cultured generation and a globalized era.

Mission Statement of the Chair

The Sheikha Nama Majid Al Qassimi Endowed Chair in Education Across Disciplines at AUS provides a wide and active platform for students, alumni, educators, scholars and opinion makers to share and create broad knowledge that helps develop a generation that is fully comfortable with science, technology, history, arts and culture in all their manifestations. Through a variety of synergistic and complementary activities and initiatives that bring together education specialists, students and broader-culture commentators, the chair is committed to producing outcomes that have multiple and diverse impacts across various fields and media.

Scope and Proposed Activities

• Organize a guest lecture series featuring renowned education experts from the west and the Arab-Muslim world
• Reach out to faculty across CAS to create at least one new broad-education course
• Set up a mentoring system to guide students in this broad-education philosophy
• Invite applications for visiting scholars or visiting graduate students to pursue ideas and activities at AUS within the mission of the chair
• Organize a yearly international one-day symposium on education across disciplines, one year addressing higher education and one year focusing on secondary and/or primary school education
• Organize student competitions with awards for best research and/or presentation on a topic related to the endowed chair’s mission
• Organize trips with students to various educational institutions for discussion and research, within the UAE, the region and beyond
• Set up contacts and meetings with Ministry of Education and/or Sharjah School Zone officials to discuss partnering activities and collaborations
• Publish newspaper articles and YouTube videos to spread the “education across disciplines” philosophy of this endowed chair