The College of Engineering has entered into a cooperative “2+2” agreement that will bring undergraduate electrical engineering students from Ajman University of Science & Technology in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to study at Temple.

Under the recently signed agreement, students will complete their first two years at Ajman University of Science and Technology, then seamlessly transfer to Temple for their final two years, receiving credit for the courses taken at Ajman. Students will graduate from Temple with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.

According to Associate Dean and Director of Graduate Studies George Baran, the new agreement is part of the College of Engineering’s initiative to expand its recruiting from the Middle East.

“In recent years, Temple has become more and more interested in establishing a strong international presence,” said Baran. “The Middle East is an area where the college has had strong ties in the past, and recently the opportunity presented itself to reinvigorate those ties.”

Baran, College of Engineering Dean Keya Sadeghipour, and Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor Fatehy Al-Turky visited the UAE about a year ago to explore ways of developing programs in that region. After visiting several institutions and consultation with academic and business leadership as well as with the U.S. Department of State, they began to evaluate the many offers and possibilities for exchange, certificate, and continuing educational programs. The evaluation process culminated in a decision to move ahead with the partnership with Ajman.

Founded in 1988, Ajman University of Science and Technology is a private university that “aims to produce competent and skilled graduates who can be of immediate benefit to society, contributing to its development and well-being.” Its academic programs include the sciences, engineering, business, the health professions, education and law.

Baran said this agreement is similar to ones the college already has with Philadelphia Community College, Delaware County Community College and Lehigh Carbon Community College. All the courses Temple will accept have been assessed by the college and by the provost’s office, and were found to be of top quality.

The college hopes to begin recruiting students in the United Arab Emirates to the program for the spring or fall semesters of 2010. If the program is successful and attracts significant numbers of transfer students, the college anticipates expanding the program into other areas of engineering, as well as to the graduate level. For their part, leaders at Ajman hope to see the university's programs eventually accredited by U.S. accreditation agencies such as ABET, and a partnership with Temple’s College of Engineering could aid that process.

“A very attractive aspect of this program is that it does not involve any infrastructure costs for Temple,” said Baran. "When we plant the Temple flag overseas and develop programs with high-quality institutions such as Ajman University of Science and Technology, we enlarge the Temple presence with potential benefits to other Temple schools and colleges. This agreement could be a precursor to more ambitious and wider-ranging cooperation.”