Chancellor's Message

American University of Sharjah aims to excel as the premier university for men and women in the Gulf region, offering both professional and liberal arts education delivered in English at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. AUS emphasizes world-class teaching, scholarship, research and the lifelong engagement of its students and alumni to contribute to society at large. His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, UAE Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, founded AUS in 1997 and has since served as its President and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. It is his vision and wisdom and the oversight provided by a world-class Board of Trustees that have helped make AUS the university of choice in the region for students and faculty from across the globe.

I am honored to have been selected as the fourth Chancellor to serve AUS. I came to Sharjah with my family, having served as the President of the World Maritime University (WMU) for five years, and before that from an academic career in teaching and research in ocean sciences at University of South Carolina, Texas A&M University in the USA, and visiting appointments at Universidad Federal Fluminense (Brazil), University of Sydney (Australia), and Stockholm's and Göteborg's universities (Sweden). I gained administrative experience as the Director of the Marine Science Program at the University of South Carolina, as the Dean of the College of Geosciences at Texas A&M University, and most recently as President of the WMU (a UN post-graduate maritime university) in my native Sweden.

AUS aims to excel in teaching, research and scholarship. The university provides the best education possible to its students. It is my commitment to ensure that all educational programs achieve excellence and that the university's educational offerings and research are challenging, relevant, stimulating and attractive to students, and will provide the opportunity for cross-disciplinary experiences. The accreditation of the degree programs by agencies in both the UAE and in the United States serves as a guarantee of the quality of the academic programs.

In addition to its academic offerings, the university provides a campus life that is rich with extracurricular activities, clubs and sports to help build a social network that aims to involve all students. It also serves to attract alumni to return to campus often, to support the next generation of students and to contribute in making AUS the best university in the region and beyond.

The heart and soul of any university are its faculty. More than 370 faculty members from more than 45 countries teach and mentor students, and engage in scholarship and research as a means of staying current in their academic disciplines and building the regional and global academic reputation of AUS. The student-faculty ratio is and shall remain 15-to-1 or better, as can be expected of a quality private not-for-profit university. It is with the engagement of the faculty that the current academic degrees will be expanded from undergraduate and master's degrees to include doctoral programs in the not too distant future. My administration and I will work closely with the Board of Trustees and the faculty to enrich the academic offerings to include new academic specialties, research opportunities and doctoral programs with the aim to achieve excellence across the university and thus increase the reputation of AUS.

I hope you will enjoy our comprehensive website and I look forward to welcoming you to American University of Sharjah.

Björn Kjerfve Chancellor