The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) has been awarded the prestigious CHEA International Quality Group's CIQG Quality Award at an awards ceremony during the 2020 CHEA International Conference in Washington DC, making it the first higher education institution in the Arab world to receive this award.

The Council of Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) conference was attended by presidents of universities and academic accreditation bodies from around the world, as well as the presidents of this year’s winning universities from California and Mexico. Only three educational institutions are selected worldwide to receive this award annually.

Dr. Abdullatif AlShamsi, HCT President & CEO, received the award from Dr. Judith Etienne, CHEA President, in the presence of Dr. Mohammed Bani Yas, President of the Commission of Academic Accreditation in the UAE, Engineer Abdulla Al Mheiri, HCT Deputy Vice Chancellor for Shared Services, and Dr. Nadeem Khan, HCT Dean of Institutional and Academic Accreditation.

In his address, Dr. AlShamsi thanked CHEA for the award and praised the dedicated efforts of the HCT team with internationalization initiatives. He also reiterated HCT’s commitment and continued keenness to enhance the quality of its UAE National graduates in alignment with the directives of the UAE’s wise leadership.

The International Quality Award focuses on evaluating the performance of seven main themes, including the quality of:

• educational services provided
• student services
• community services
• government services
• governance
• internal audit system, and
• change management.

The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) places great importance on recognizing and reinforcing its achievements internationally, in line with the national agenda for entrepreneurship and excellence in all areas.

The HCT is proud of its accomplishment in winning a Leading Change Award at the Blackboard 2019 Catalyst Awards, which recognized its efforts in actively promote widespread adoption of innovative strategies, aimed at boosting learning outcomes and student success.

In addition, HCT was the first higher education institution in the region to win the ROSPA Golden Award 2019, presented by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, UK for implementation of the best health and safety standards.

With respect to academic associations, HCT has established the Global Applied Education Network (GAEN), which comprises nine international applied education institutions; a first of its kind in the region. GAEN has been complemented by HCT forging strong relations with the Finnish Association of Universities of Applied Sciences, a network of 25 renowned applied education institutions.