KIC held its first Academic Assembly for the running academic year to recap recent achievements and outline the direction for the upcoming period.
Dr Assem Al-Hajj, KIC President, welcomed new and current faculty members from Abu Dhabi and Al Ain campuses, foreshadowing the assembly topics, pertaining to milestones and particularities of Fall 20/21 semester.
Dr Nabil El Kadhi, KIC VP of Academic Affairs, started with the recap of the milestones that were achieved during 19/20 academic year.
One of the most prominent achievements is attributed to KIC’s conditional relicensure approval, which culminated 14 months of intensive teamwork. As noted by Dr Al-Hajj, going through the preparation for the relicensure application has been a challenging but a rewarding experience for KIC. The relicensure process has helped in improving the quality of the provisions and services at the college. Substantial improvements have took place since then, and the team is almost ready to submit pending documentation.
KIC’s successful digital transformation is yet another significant milestone that was highlighted during the assembly. As the global COVID-19 pandemic facilitated the digitizing trend, KIC was agile enough to effectively regroup and continue offering its services, ensuring that its students won’t face any academic setbacks, by introducing Blackboard. Beyond the academic scope, the college also developed KIC Smart Platform, the purpose of which was to digitize the extracurriculars. The success of these activities was manifested with high rates of attendance, engagement, and participation. Internally, KIC also introduced ERP systems to streamline its processes and modernize the overall infrastructure. As Dr El Kadhi noted, this would not have been possible without the extensive contribution of KIC IT Services department.
The college’s Health and Medical Sciences (HMS) department also contributed to KIC’s list of achievements. The department trained over 200 health professionals, solidifying its expertise and confidence in the healthcare sector. KIC HMS portfolio is expected to get bigger during the current academic year, following the success of the established programs and the dynamics of the healthcare sector.
Despite the groundbreaking achievements, considerable challenges loom ahead. KIC has geared its infrastructure to answer the demands of the foreseeable future. Based on the success of Distance Learning experience, KIC has now adopted the Blended Learning format for Fall 20/21 semester, following the guidance of the authorities. To fully realize that, KIC faculty members have been trained in the usage of digital tools, aiming to deliver interactive and engaging lectures.
The faculty members also recapped rules and regulations and academic advisory guidelines, which are mandatory to achieve full compliance with the new structure. They were also instructed on utilizing the full potential of the Blackboard suite, to ensure that all services, or e-services for that matter, are “under one roof”. ERP systems, which were introduced as a part of a digital transformation effort, will be adopted on a wider scale to further streamline a broader set of operations, to consolidate the output on a college level.
Consolidation of internal processes, as Dr El Kadhi mentioned, will be the overarching theme of KIC for the current academic year. Consolidation reinforces agility. If history is any indication, being agile in a turbulent environment is synonymous with being successful, in meeting and exceeding expectations of KIC stakeholders.
Welcome to a new chapter at KIC.