Uncategorized

Drawing a better future for the Arabian-Gulf Security

The 1^st International Arabian-Gulf Security Conference was organized and hosted successfully by the American University in the Emirates (AUE) over two days Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 November 2021.  The Conference was held under the Patronage of and in the presence of His Excellency Lieutenant-General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Deputy Chairman of Dubai Police and General Security in Dubai.  The Conference was headed by the honorary Chair Major General Dr. Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi; chaired by Professor Muthanna Abdul Razzaq, President and CEO of the AUE.

Participants hailed the conference’s need, topics, timing and reasoning for such an organization. The Conference brought together, academics, researchers, practitioners and experts at the local and international levels to discuss the current status and future relations of Arabian Gulf Security. The conference was organized at an important moment in light of regional challenges yet also opportunities to convene and discuss the importance on peace and resolution of pending or ongoing conflicts.

As a highlight to the  Conference, His Excellency Lieutenant-General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Deputy Chairman of Dubai Police and General Security in Dubai, stated that “the AUE’s interest in organising an annual security conference and promoting the security culture in society is one of the strategies that people should pay attention to because it is extremely important.”

When a society’s security is stable, individuals are able to live better lives, which emphasizes the need of instilling a security culture in society. We observe what has happened and continues to happen in nations where security and security culture are lacking,” he added.

Professor  Muthanna Abdul Razzaq, President and CEO of the AUE, stated during the Conference that “the Arab Gulf, Arab countries, through which also the Gulf Cooperation Council constitute a particularly crucial region in all respects and circumstances, in addition to its worldwide and not just regional significance. From this standpoint, we took the initiative to hold this Conference in order to explore the region’s security challenges from a variety of perspectives that will help up comprehend yet also propose issues for consideration.”

By Reem Raed

20th April, 2021 – A student in AUE was interviewed to share his experience with online learning in the campus of AUE during the pandemic. Omar Ahli, a soon to be graduate has faced challenges with the shift of learning but explains the support he has received from his professors that made it possible to overcome.

“The greatest challenge for me during online lectures was my focus, I couldn’t focus through the beginning of the new shift of learning and it was hard to stay motivated most of the time.” He states it has been tough to adjust to the new change and explains further that the reason behind his sudden decrease of motivation has been set due to numerous reasons that in his opinion are common between him and the rest of the students.

“But, I have found ways that help me personally to stay focused during my lectures and making it a more enjoyable experience for me. I believe online learning can be effective as long as we help ourselves with being less distracted and finding ways that suit our needs during our lectures” He states during his interview that the experience is crucial for us students in order to feel motivated enough to get by with the tasks set.

Omar comments that through the conflicts he has faced with the learning, he states that his professors were supportive enough through the journey and the campus provided a wide range of access of all the needed materials for his studies. “It’s not the same experience as learning in class but my professors have tried their best to make it as effective and as enjoyable. I appreciate their efforts as they appreciate mine.”

By Reem Raed

4TH April, 2021 – A webinar took place in in March 16th as an opportunity to thoroughly describe the meaning of “forgiveness and happiness.”

Dr. Wael Ali, an assistant Professor and Director of counseling and disability is one of the speakers in the webinar that described the essentials of understanding forgiveness and happiness.

Dr. Wael states that elements found in forgiveness and happiness are crucially important to digest and understand in order to fulfill the goal of happiness within ourselves.

He continues to further explain the necessities of forgiveness as he believes that the webinar was highly informative as it ensures ultimate understanding for seeking happiness and being fully aware of the potentials of forgiveness.

Furthermore, Dr. Wael states that the webinar was highly encouraged by students. He further explains that approximately 90% of students in AUE are fully aware by the meaning of forgiveness and happiness as they show true understanding of the full concept.

Dr. Wael also believes there will be more webinars in the future as he sees students interest intrigued during the webinar.

By Reem Raed

28th April, 2021 – “Everything is horrible.” Student in AUE describes the genocide happening in China as her capstone project. Fazilat Abdulkhamidova majoring in IR has taken it upon herself to research and identify the genocide to shed light and help in any way.

“Many people are unaware of the Uyghurs situation and that’s why I chose this topic to show the world the violation of human rights that is happening currently to the Muslim minorities.” Fazilat continues to explain her concerns of the group that are continuously going through “Horrible punishments” as she stated. Moreover, it is believed the reasoning behind the punishments that are happening to the minority in China is due to their chosen faith.

When asked about the element that drew her attention to the situation and what made her write this topic. She stated “We share the same ethnicity; to me we are considered to be one and most importantly is their struggles that must come to an end. We all must be aware of the horrible punishments the group is going through.” She continues to explain her intended goal of the project. It’s to share important information due to the lack of information given in the news concerning the ongoing genocide.

“The punishments that go through the concentration camps are horrible. The violation that happens to the Uyghur women is terrible. The torture range from violating their rights to forcefully aborting their child, everything is horrible.” She stated.

Fazilat continues to comment that the existing situation isn’t addressed enough and believes that the punishments will continue to happen due to lack of acknowledgment the public has concerning the mass killings.

By Shamma Saeed

CMMC (College of media and mass communication) at the American University in the Emirates is changing and upgrading their curriculum.

The mission of CMMC is to impart quality education, best and most recent knowledge, skills and give perspective necessary for future careers in respective fields and prepare the students to combat the challenges of practical life.

CMMC aims to prepare its students for advanced study in mass communications- related disciplines like radio and TV, integrated marketing communication, public relations and international relation.

CMMC will now onwards raise its standard by providing formidable array of courses and extracurricular activities to freshen up the young minds.

In short CMMC will make sure to never compromise on quality and focus on each detail.

By Zainab Asamrai May 1, 202. 5:00 pm.



This coming start of the fall semester at American University in the Emirates brings with it the annual club fair wherein the more than fifteen students clubs at the university gather to display their achievements and merits as well as recruit new members.



In a long-held tradition since the beginning of the well-renowned institute, the fall semester brings with it the accredited club fair with clubs such as Model United Nations, Marketing club, Happiness club as well as the University Newspaper association will be presented in order to advertise their various points of unique offerings in terms of experience, education and overall knowledge that will be gained by joining. “It is the most exciting event of the fall semester!” proclaimed one student and many others seem to have the same view as the sentiments seem to be mimicked through the exciting rush of adrenaline that is slowly taking over the campus in preparation for the heavily anticipated event.



Visit aue.ae to gather more information on the event itself and perhaps have an early chance to browse through the numerous merits of the various clubs in order to make your selection for the societies you plan on joining to find your own group of like-minded individuals!

By Fatma Aljassim April 30, 2021. 7:38 pm.

It has been just about a year since the fear of Covid-19 spread like wildfire in the form of a lethal pandemic. Not only has this led to serious physiological symptoms it has also ostensibly taken a toll on the mental health of quite a few, especially students. Here are a few tips to help our readers in order to cope with the mounting anxiety being experienced through this unusually tough time.

Experts suggest that breathing exercises as an immediate response to an onslaught of overwhelming anxiety are the best course of action. If your academic situation is leading to an unbearably overwhelming sense of anxiety that you can’t seem to concentrate on your workload, the first and foremost action you should take is to breathe in steadily and simultaneously breathe out. Counting each breath with an intermittence of five-second between each until you feel yourself relaxing as slow breathing is one of the most reliable ways to reduce stress as it signals to your brain to decompress your body.

After the immediate response, a few precautions can be taken to limit the chances of landing in that situation again. The first way through which anxiety can be prevented is by keeping an organized study schedule, this will help you keep track of your progress and allow you to relax. Another thing to keep in mind is to connect with others, even if you can’t interact with fellow students face to face maintain a healthy sense of conversation with them and discuss any troubles that may be pressing with your close ones. Finally, remember to detox! Take some time off of studying even social media and just unwind by investing some time to work on yourself.

It is vital that students follow through with these exercises to maintain a healthy and safe educational career during the pandemic so that they can come out of this situation stronger and better than ever before.

By Omar Almudharraib April 29, 2021. 1:00 pm.

On the Wednesday of 17th March 2021, a monumental event on the prevalent subject of procrastination within students was hosted by the American University in the Emirates. The event aimed to teach students how to overcome the persistence of procrastination and took place over zoom, all this done in an effort to help students better organize themselves.

The event titled “I’ll Do It Tomorrow” was held with well-renowned speakers, Mrs. Isha Basheer and Dr Wael Ali, both accomplished entities in the case of discussing the psychological and physiological impacts as well as activities needed to prevent procrastination. The predominant ideology behind the event was to allow students to gather their thoughts, focus better and accomplish the goals they have set out. “I believe I gained a lot of information in terms of how to better conduct myself in order to complete my tasks in a timely manner,” proclaimed a student attending the virtual event and several others echoed similar sentiments. To say the least, the event itself was a rousing success due to the helpful tips and tricks provided by the two accomplished speaker who delved deep into the finicky matter at hand in order to successfully maneuver it to provide the students with the most help possible in this especially tricky time due to the pandemic.

Highlights of the event can be found on aue.ae so that those who missed
out on the smashing event may have the opportunity to encompass some of the valuable information presented here.

By Fatma Aljassim April 30, 2021. 10:00 pm.

On the 20th February of 2021, the ministry of education published the well-received magazine, innovation@UAE’s second edition for the public to view and enjoy. The magazine will delve into the noteworthy research achievement as well as the researchers themselves from UAE’s accredited higher education institutes much like before, giving the readers a look into the new advancements being made in UAE.

Due to the magazine’s rousing unveiling, the ministry of education has issued a second release to cover the exponentially rapid growth of the innovation sector in the United Arab Emirates. Innovation@UAE has aimed once again to cover subjects such as technology, science and art that are innovative and promise advancements within the community.

“This addition promises to encompass even more detailed research on all of the unique and novel ideas or notions that are being presented within the UAE,” stated Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Cabinet Member and Minister of Education. With this exciting proclamation,

The ministry of education has been urging young readers to pick up a copy of the magazine so that they are well informed and educated on the astounding happenings in their country.

For a copy of your own visit aue.ae so that you too are part of the exclusive club of the curious and intellectual youth that is eager to be up to date about the innovation sector here in the UAE.

By: Malak Sherif

MEPRA (Middle East Public Relations Associations) pitch challenge is a unique competition that is held in the middle east to be the voice of public relations professions. It helps gather students and faculty members from many different backgrounds to create an interactive virtual event that consists of workshops that enhances their knowledge on communications as well as to further their professional skills in general.

This competition was held on Saturday 17th April and continued to 18th April 2021 the next day as it is a two-day timeline competition. It holds teams that are of 5 members or less. In this competition students are asked to respond to an interaction set by the Emirates Literature Foundation and take part in the live pitch as AUE was part of it for the first time. The whole process was under the supervision of the dean of CMMC Ms. Dahlia Mahmoud.

Furthermore, an interview was conducted with the students who were able to join from AUE to get more details as to how they felt about this competition. Ayesha Ali who is a 19yo Graphic Designer currently enrolled proceeded to mention that it was a great opportunity for her as a designer to gain such an experience at such a young age especially that it was her first time to design a campaign that too for Emirates Fly. When asked about the time to prepare for such a competition she said, “Actually 48 hours before but since it already began, we had only 6 hrs to do everything for the campaign.” In which she also added that it was a challenge to do so but she likes challenges especially if it is in a field that she is interested in.

Her other teammate Maryam Abdulkareem who is also a 20yo graphic designer said, “it was a very exciting experience that I have never been through that helped me improve the way I think while doing a project or participating in other competitions.” Both Maryam and her teammate stated that their greatest achievement was that they could cooperate well as a team while supporting, motivating, and performing the work together. Overall, they both said that it was a great experience in which they would also like Ms. Dahlia for giving them this opportunity. Although they did not win, they were still so proud of how much they could achieve as a group in such a short period of time.

For future consideration, the registration process goes as follows, if you are not from aue then you could visit the link https://www.mepra.org/events/studentpitchchallenge/ to see more details and register, but if you are already a media student at AUE then you are automatically added to a MS Teams group where you can contact MS. Dahlia the Dean of CMMC in which she will add your name to the list of contestants when and if there are future competitions coming up.