About
Prof. Ahmed Ghonim
- Prof. Ghonim is a results-driven higher education leader with over 23 years of experience advancing excellence in the higher education sector. During his services as a university president and CEO, Prof. Ghonim has led medium-size and large universities and higher education institutions; bringing excellence, leadership, oversight, and supervision to all areas of the university, setting a vision and executing the mission and strategic directions effectively and efficiently and empowering the HEI to be innovative and pioneer in an international competitiveness system. He is always seeking new opportunities utilizing his wide-range expertise to achieve his main goal of empowering excellence in higher education.
Highlights:
- Full professor with 23 years of academic and industrial experience.
- 12 years of experience in leadership positions.
- 7 years as CEO and university president.
- Led more than 25 strategic Projects; 20 Local & international accreditation and QA projects in 3 different universes, 3 global Rankings in 2 universities, and 6 strategy development projects in 4 Universities.
- Set 28 mutual benefits agreements with 10 embassies and 8 international universities in US & UK, as well as 10 Local & international associations.
- Led the development and accreditation of +50 academic programs in 3 different universities.
- Expert Researcher; published 14 peer-reviewed papers in international journals, published 1 Book, and has 1 IP (Intellectual property) and 1 IP under process.
- Award winner, 5 awards from the UAE government.
- Transformational leader led a team of 3 VPs, 5 Deans and 5 Executive directors, 200+ staff, and 3000+ students in 2 different universities.
- Organized 3 international higher education conferences, was selected as a Keynote speaker in 4 international conferences, and guest speaker in 15 seminars, workshops, and webinars.
- Certified research expert reviewer, PMI agile certified practitioner, PMI risk management certificate, Dubai quality award for new applicants’ certificate, and attended 100 courses specialized in higher education to improve QA, strategy, and leadership competencies.
- Head of the global ranking unit, achieved 5 starts QS ranking in 2 different categories in 2022,
- Member of rewards & incentives committee, member of performance appraisal committee, and nominated as a Government Excellence Expert & Ambassador, as well as, Co-chair and Agent of Digital Transformation in the UAE Prime Minister Office.
- Consultant for many international projects; Information Technology Consultant in (UNDP), Managing Director at Egyptian IT (S.A.E) – Egypt, Ranking and Internationalization Expert at Airllanga University – Indonesia, and Digital Transformation Consultant at top Universities – KSA, UAE and Middle East.
Excellence Journey
- During his Journey as an Academic Leader at different universities, Prof. Ghonim was responsible for bringing excellence, leadership, oversight, and supervision to all areas of the university to be able execute its Mission and Strategic directions in an effective and efficient manner and be innovative and pioneer in an international competitiveness system. His leadership style by default is a collaborative, motivating and inspiring style yet it’s innovative and transformational, and he usually aims to advance the core principles of the university’s mission, vision and strategic priorities, providing leadership and opportunity in this area for all staff; setting a high standard of performance for both self and staff, nurturing and supporting their achievement while modeling behavior supportive of institutional values and goals; Ensuring effective communication between the President’s Office and the university community.
Leadership Philosophy
- The main driver of Prof. Ghonim leadership philosophy is the Higher Education Excellence that would indeed begin and end with developing a positive and inspiring culture which inspires students, staff, and community members to be part and stakeholders of the university system, rather than working individually. As an Academic Leader, He used to build relationships with all stakeholders, discover and strengthen the capabilities of staff and university community members, build leadership capacity by empowering students and educators to embrace an innovative mindset and bring together academic and administrative employees across the university with a shared commitment to educational innovation and ensuring sustainability. He usually excreted my best efforts to be the leader who explicitly communicates with all stakeholders and passionately implements the key excellence principles and fundamentals for creating a positive learning environment .
