American University of Sharjah (AUS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Abu Dhabi-based International Community School late last week. The MoU aims to enable future partnership and to provide a framework of cooperation between the two educational institutions.

The partnership is part of the Sharakah program, a strategic initiative by the Office of Enrollment Management at AUS to promote sustainable partnerships with selected schools from across the United Arab Emirates.
Present at the signing ceremony were Dr. Peter Heath, Chancellor of AUS; Dr. Thomas Hochstettler, Provost; AUS deans and other senior officials from AUS and International Community School.

The agreement was signed by Ali Shuhaimy, Vice Chancellor of Enrollment Management at AUS and Mohamed Al Shamma, Managing Director of International Community School.

Welcoming Mohamed Al Shamma and representatives of International Community School, Dr. Peter Heath, said: "The goal of this agreement is to have close coordination between our institutions. We look forward to this partnership, and we believe that we can co-operate in areas of mutual benefit. We also want to look into how we can better articulate our programs to meet the needs of students."

Ali Shuhaimy said: "This agreement is a strategic initiative that enables us to construct a framework helping students to have an easy transition from school to university. "I am happy that we can strengthen the bonds of our relationship and I look forward to working together with you."

Mohamed Al Shamma said: "We are delighted that the International Community School is teaming up with one of the largest educational institutions in the region to promote quality of education." He added: "This MoU is very timely. Today, world class quality and global benchmarking among institutes of higher learning has become a necessity, and we are honored that AUS has chosen us to seal the links between our two institutions at this level."

The agreement will include AUS offering workshops to teachers and students of International Community School; patronage of selected research, cultural, social and sporting activities and events organized by the school; partial scholarships to distinguished students selected from lists provided by the school; and university preparation courses as well as SAT and TOEFL preparation courses to students from the partner school, as needed.