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Faculty

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE ALLIANCE

Purpose of the Program

Through the Academic Excellence Alliance (AEA) program, KAUST will enlist the support of world-class departments at leading institutions to help develop the University’s curriculum and to nominate the founding faculty in each field of study.

KAUST has entered into five-year agreements with a partner department in each of the disciplines in which the University will initially offer degrees:

  • Chemical Engineering
  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Computational Earth Sciences and Engineering
  • Applied Mathematics and Computer Science
  • Biosciences and Bioengineering

AEA partner institutions will each identify, evaluate, and nominate 10 faculty members for KAUST in 2008 and 2009 using the same high standards as for their own faculty.

Each AEA partner will also be funded to develop research activities that are collaborative between their campus and KAUST. Collaborative research with these departments should grow naturally because faculty hired through the AEA process will have worked as visiting scholars at the AEA institution before moving to KAUST.

Benefits of Alliance Partnerships

The alliance approach to recruiting the initial core of faculty members will help to establish a strong relationship among KAUST, similar departments, and partner institutions.

Development of Faculty

By early 2008, the AEA partners will have specified core curriculum at a high level for prospective students, and will begin identifying the first group of KAUST founding faculty to deliver this curriculum to the entering class in September 2009.

The AEA partner departments —all world-leading in their fields— will function as KAUST’s faculty selection and quality control units until the university’s permanent leadership team, led by President-designate, Professor Choon Fong Shih, is in place and can gradually supplement this process with direct hiring of faculty.

The AEA partner departments may also:

  • Participate in joint thesis advisory committees for doctoral candidates;
  • Provide visiting lecturers, on-campus seminars, and invitations to important international conventions; and
  • Provide distance learning courses that supplement the on-campus KAUST curriculum during the start-up period.