Commissioners

Dr. Sameera Almulla is a renowned academic and professional leader, recognized for her impactful contributions to higher education, research, and institutional quality assurance. Her illustrious career is underpinned by a robust academic foundation and significant achievements in research and professional practice.

Dr. Almulla holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Khalifa University, specializing in "Digital Forensics of Cloud Computing." She also earned an M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a focus on Information Security and Digital Forensics, and a B.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her academic journey reflects a consistent commitment to advancing knowledge in the fields of cybersecurity, cloud forensics, and digital innovation.

Her scholarly work has garnered extensive recognition, and numerous awards, including the Sheikh Rashid Scientific Excellence Award and the Microsoft Azure for Research Award. She has published widely on topics such as cloud forensics, cybersecurity threats, and IoT security in esteemed journals and conferences.

As a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Dubai, Dr. Almulla led groundbreaking initiatives, including establishing a Cyber Threat Intelligence Center, automating data analytics, and developing machine learning models for threat prediction. Her leadership in these projects has significantly contributed to advancing cybersecurity and digital resilience.

Dr. Almulla currently serves as the Director of the Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA) at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. In this role, she oversees accreditation processes, ensures institutional compliance with international standards, and drives initiatives to enhance educational quality across the UAE. Her efforts are pivotal in aligning higher education frameworks with the nation’s strategic goals.

Previously, as the Director of the Certificate Equivalency Department and Acting Director of the Academic Planning Department, she spearheaded policies to combat diploma fraud, classified licensed universities, and enhanced higher education quality assurance processes. She has also been instrumental in setting policies for international qualification recognition, reflecting her expertise in global education systems.

Dr. Sameera Almulla's dual expertise in academia and professional leadership positions her as a key figure in the UAE’s higher education and research landscape. Her commitment to innovation, quality, and strategic development continues to inspire advancements in both academic and professional spheres, fostering a future-ready education system.

Commissioner Nazmy received his BSc and MSc in Structural Engineering from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, and received his MA and PhD in Structures and Mechanics from Princeton University, USA. He was the Founding Dean of the College of Engineering at Abu Dhabi University (ADU) for 12 years, and served as the Interim Provost at the same University for more than two years besides his position as Dean of Engineering. Prior to joining ADU, Dr. Nazmy served on the Faculty of the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) for 9 years where he was the Chair of Civil Engineering Department for 6 years and Director of the General Education Program for one year. He also served on the Faculty of Polytechnic Institute of New York University, USA for 6 years, and the University of Maine, USA, for 5 years. Dr. Nazmy played a leading role in the UAEU and ADU in seeking national and international accreditation of academic programs and institutions from the CAA, ABET, RIBA, WASC, and SACS.

Dr. Nazmy's primary area of research is the seismic behavior and seismic retrofit of bridge structures, especially long-span suspension, cable-stayed, and arch bridges. He has over 70 published technical papers on bridge dynamics and earthquake engineering, in addition to two edited books. He is a member of Sigma Xi, the US Scientific Research Society, the US Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, and the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE. He is also a founding member of the Structural Engineering Institute of the ASCE and past chair of the ASCE committee on performance of bridges.

Commissioner Qandil received his BSc Degree in Pharmacy from Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), Jordan and his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Design form Purdue University, USA. Before joining the Commission, Prof. Qandil was an Associate Professor of Medicinal and Organic Chemistry in the Faculty of Pharmacy at Jordan University of Science and Technology, and a Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the College of Pharmacy at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Riyadh, KSA. He has published work in several areas including Medicinal Chemistry, Drug Design, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmaceutical Education. During the past 14 years he chaired the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy was the Assistant Dean of Pharmacy (JUST) and the founding chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (KSAU-HS).

Additionally, Prof. Qandil chaired the Quality Unit and the Curriculum, Student Assessment and Accreditation Committees in both Colleges and also served as an Accreditation Academic Advisor to the Vice President, Development and Quality Management at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, KSA.

Commissioner Basil Soufi holds a BEng. Degree in Electronic Engineering from Southampton University, UK and an MSc and PhD Degrees in Human-Computer Interaction from Loughborough University, UK. Prior to joining the CAA, Commissioner Soufi held senior leadership positions in both government and higher education. Most recently he was head of institutional effectiveness at IAT where he directed strategic planning processes and maintained multiple national and international accreditation and quality assurance systems. Previously, he served as the founding chair of Information Systems at Abu Dhabi University and Associate Professor and program coordinator for the Master of Project Management program, Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University. Prior to this, he worked for the UK Government as program manager where he led the re-engineering of business processes to improve management information and customer service. He started his academic career at Loughborough University, UK.

Commissioner Soufi is knowledgeable in both programmatic and institutional accreditation standards and processes having worked over the past 20 years on various aspects of ABET, SACS, AdvancED/Cognia and AACSB accreditation as well as being instrumental in obtaining and maintaining MOE CAA accreditation of academic programs and institutional licensure for the institutions he served.

Commissioner Soufi’s research work on User Experience Design and HCI has been published in reputable international conferences and journals including IADIS e-Society, HCI International, Design Studies, and Communication of the ACM. He had served as editor and reviewer for e-commerce and design computing journals. Commissioner Soufi holds professional certifications in ISO9001:2015 QMS Auditing; Project Management; Blended Learning and Instruction.

Commissioner Basem Barqawi obtained a BSc in Business Administration from Philadelphia university in Jordan, a MSc in Management Information Systems from Amman Arab University in Jordan, and a PhD in Quality Management from Salford University in UK. During 20 years in academia, Dr. Barqawi taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and has designed many Business Programs in addition to supervising many MSc and Doctoral students.

Dr. Barqawi served in different academic positions and chaired Steering Committees in many Universities in the field of Licensure and Accreditation, National Qualifications Framework, Strategic Planning, University Ranking, Risk Management, Quality Assurance, Academic Development, and Institutional Performance during the last 15 years. Dr. Barqawi served as Editorial and Advisory Board in two Journals and has more than 25 articles in conferences and journals in the field of quality assurance in higher education. Dr. Barqawi is acetified of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Model, ISO 9001 (Management), and ISO 21001 (Education).

Commissioner Perumal obtained her BSc, BPharm and a Research Masters in Pharmaceutics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, a MA (LTHE) (Learning and Teaching in Higher Education) from London Metropolitan University and a PhD in vaccine development from Imperial College, London. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK since 2015.

She has extensive experience with progressive appointments in industry, research and academia at various universities in South Africa, United Kingdom and in the UAE. The former posts culminated in translational research with product commercialization and international clinical trials. Her academic experience included teaching, research, research supervision, quality assurance and international external examiner appointments. Before joining the CAA, Dr Perumal served in previous appointments in the UAE as Head of Pharmacy, Chair in Institutional Quality Assurance, Chair in Institutional Research, College Chair of Research Ethics, Program Accreditation Lead for local and international applications, appointed memberships to Institutional Licensing committee, to the Academic Personnel committee and served as Director and co-supervisor to local and international PhD research studies. She has received various accolades and grants throughout her career. Her research interests have led to many peer reviewed publications and conference abstracts in virology, molecular biology, Pharmaceutics, public health and in pedagogy in collaboration with international partners. She serves as a reviewer for several pharmaceutical and biomedical journals, and funding bodies as well as on the editorial Boards of the two journals.

Commissioner Ben-Abdallah received her PhD and MSE in Computer and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania (USA), and BSc in Computer Science with double major in Mathematics from the University of Minnesota (USA).

Before joining the Commission, Prof. Ben-Abdallah was a researcher at the University of Waterloo (Canada), Professor of Computer Science at the University of Sfax (Tunisia) and King Abdul Aziz University (KSA), and Dean of Faculty Affairs and Executive Dean of the CIS & Applied Media Faculty at the Higher Colleges of Technology (UAE). She has published work in software design quality, reuse techniques in software and business process modeling, with applications in developing information and decision support systems, and web/cloud-based applications.

An advocate for education quality, Prof. Ben-Abdallah is well-versed in the latest trends, developments, and standards in computer science education. Her expertise in ABET, CIPS, LMD, and CAA accreditations has been instrumental in ensuring that computer science programs at various institutions in Tunisia, KSA, and UAE meet the highest quality standards.

Commissioner Griffiths obtained a BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Polytechnic of Wales and a PhD from the University of Wales. In 1978, he joined the South Wales Electricity Board as an engineering apprentice. In 1984, he was appointed to an engineering post at the London headquarters of the Central Electricity Generating Board, working in electricity transmission system design. In 1990, he joined Cardiff University as a lecturer, researching high voltage engineering and specialising in grounding of electricity systems. There, he became professor in 2015. While at Cardiff, he was an investigator for 53 externally funded research projects worth $20M, supervised 30 PhD students and published over 200 research papers.

Commissioner Griffiths continues his association with Cardiff as an honorary visiting professor. Between 2015 and 2020, he was a professor at the Petroleum Institute (Khalifa University), Abu Dhabi where he was involved in developing a new PhD program in electrical engineering and helping to establish a new high-voltage laboratory. Over many years, he served on technical committees of the British Standards Institution and the International Electrotechnical Commission, also contributing to working groups of international electricity industry bodies, ‘CIGRE’ and ‘CIRED’. In addition to teaching and research, he has held various university department administrative positions with responsibilities for program administration, admissions and accreditation. He joined the CAA in February 2023.

Commissioner Al-Sadi holds a BSc degree in Computer Science from Tennessee State University, a MSc. in Computer Science from Jackson State University; USA, and a PhD in Computer Science from Glasgow University; UK. Prof. Al-Sadi served in different academic administrative positions in various universities. He served as a member of many Quality Assurance and Accreditation Committees at the university, Jordanian Ministry of Higher Education, Jordanian Higher Education Accreditation Council, and regional levels. He was a dean member of the Colleges of Computing and Information Society / Association of Arab universities. Dr. Al-Sadi is a foundation certified by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) and served as a consultant and reviewer to many universities in the Arab world.

Dr. Al-Sadi has published more than 70 publications in several areas including e-learning, educational quality assurance, e-technology, parallel & distributed computing, and interconnection networks.

Commissioner Beedham has worked in Higher Education for over twenty-five years at universities around the world. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham (UK) for prize-winning interdisciplinary research which blended literary linguistics, history, and critical theory. He received his M.A. from the University of Toronto (Canada), during which time he was awarded the Rabbi Isserman Award for International/Interracial Relations, and his B.A. from Simon Fraser University (Canada). Since then he has developed extensive experience in international aspects of education, student experience, and strategic change.

He has held a number of leaderships positions in Higher Education. Prior to his appointment as Commissioner he led a large division spanning from Law to Accounting and Finance to Event Management at Anglia Ruskin University London. Previously, he has held the position of Director of Academic Affairs at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and Deputy Head of the School of Humanities at Coventry University. While at Coventry, he was also the Executive Deputy Director of the Confucius Institute working to bolster relations between Coventry and China through international exchange.

He has published books and articles and given numerous talks, plenaries, and guest lectures in a wide range of areas including literary studies, philosophy, pedagogy, and international relations.

 

Commissioner Mohsen holds BS & MS degrees in civil engineering from State University of New York at Buffalo, MS degree in mechanical engineering from University of Detroit, and PhD degree in mechanical engineering from Wayne State University. He has extensive academic experience through positions held with the American International University in Kuwait, the American University of Ras Al Khaimah in UAE, the Hashemite University and Applied Science University in Jordan. These included vice president for academic affairs, founding dean of engineering, dean of graduate studies and research, vice dean, and department chair and, most recently prior to joining the CAA, as President of the American International University in Kuwait. Throughout, he was able to establish a strong international network and collaborative programs such as dual degree programs, 3+2 programs, joint degree programs, and full academic institutional partnerships.

As part of a long history of involvement in institutional and programmatic accreditation systems. He was a key player in preparation and achieving accreditations at several institutions in the Middle East. In particular, the Commission of Academic Accreditation (CAA) of UAE, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), Private Universities Council of Kuwait (PUC), and Jordan Higher Education Accreditation Commission.

In addition to managing research enterprise at university level, which include driving strategic planning, provide guidance across academic and research programs, and fostering new and interdisciplinary research initiatives and collaborations. He was on the top of his research and scholarship activates, he managed and coordinated several research projects that are funded by regional and international agencies such as European Commission, Middle Desalination Research Center, NATO science for peace program, UAE Space Agency and ICT Funds. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief for Jordan Journal of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Sustainable Water and Environmental System and he is an associate editor for several international Journals. He received the National Research Leader Award, Elsevier Scopus and the Best Researcher Award, Hashemite University, in 2009 and 2007, respectively.

 

Commissioner Mufeed Issa Batarseh Mufeed Batarseh, a professor of environmental chemistry and sustainability, pursued his studies in Germany at Braunschweig University of Technology, Institute of Environmental and Sustainable Chemistry, which focuses on sustainable development in environmental and engineering chemistry. He obtained a BSc in Chemistry with a minor in Computer Science from Kuwait University and Yarmouk University in Jordan, an MSc in Environmental Sciences and Management from the University of Jordan.

Commissioner Batarseh has dedicated +20 years to leading higher education, research, and teaching at several institutions. He served as the Director of the Prince Faisal Center for Dead Sea, Environmental, and Energy Research and Professor at Mutah University in Jordan. He then joined the Institute of Applied Technology in 2013 and co-founded the General Education Department at Abu Dhabi Polytechnic. During his tenure, he led several departments, including the Academic Support Department, the Petroleum and Chemical Engineering Technology Program, and served as the acting manager of the Student Services Department.

Commissioner Batarseh has a significant record of research and scholarly activities, including numerous publications, securing research funding, leading committees, and serving as a reviewer and editor for various peer-reviewed journals. He has developed an interdisciplinary research network consisting of national, regional, and international partners and pool of experts. Professor Batarseh has published extensively, with an h-index of 20 on Google Scholar and 15 on Scopus, reflecting his impactful contributions to the field of environmental science and chemistry. He continued to mentor MSc and PhD students, fostering the next generation of scientists and researchers. Also, he has been a key figure in various international projects, including those funded by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, Brussels and Canada), United State Agency for International Development (USAID, USA & Jordan), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD, Germany), Scientific Research Fund SRF (Jordan), Canadian Research Development Center (IDRC), the Arab Atomic Energy (AAE and others. He got the laboratories accreditation certificate ISO 17025. Professor Batarseh was engaged in research projects in close collaboration with the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD). His research interests focus on sustainable water management, environmental chemistry, and the fate of persistent emerging organic pollutants.

Recently, Professor Batarseh undertook a role as a commissioner and expert at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. In this capacity, he contributes as a commissioner for higher education at the Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA) and an expert in policy development and quality assurance for technical and vocational education and training (TVET).

 

Commissioner Rowland-Jones returned to the Commission in January 2024. Previously he had chaired the 2019 revision of the UAE Higher Education National Standards for Licensure and Accreditation. The new Standards were approved and successfully implemented by the UAE Ministry for Education and introduced a risk-based approach to licensure and accreditation, and the publication of publicly available information on institutions.

Commissioner Rowland-Jones assisted the development of the transition by HEI's to e-Learning through the Covid-19 pandemic and worked with colleagues to align AACSB and CAA Standards for dual Accreditation. He has represented the CAA on external committees and other bodies. Internationally, he was a member of the UK QAA International Quality Review Committee presenting in international workshops and writing for QAA country reports. He was invited by the UAE MoE to deliver workshops to the Uzbekistan Government on Higher Education Standards development.

He is a Council member on the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ) and an assessor at the OAAA in Oman. He provides advice on matters related to institutional effectiveness and program management and improvement whilst also assisting UK Universities within the MENA region. Academically Commissioner Rowland-Jones achieved his MSc at the University of Glamorgan, and his PhD from the University of Wales. He is the former Chief Examiner for the Chartered Quality Institute and an affiliate of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness developed by Professor Michael Porter. Commissioner Rowland-Jones has published his research internationally and has won several best paper awards.

Commissioner Khalifa has nearly 20 years of academic and professional experience spanning international top ranked universities and business schools. Previously she was Acting Dean, as well as Vice Dean and Professor of Accounting at the College of Business and Economics (CBE) at United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). She was also the founding Director of the Emirates Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (EILOA), setting in process major changes in learning outcomes practices for the country, region and internationally. A key strength of hers lies in the strategic alignment of organisational structures and processes.

She holds a PhD from the University of Manchester. Before her professorship at UAEU, she held positions at Manchester Business School, the London School of Economics, and Warwick Business School, UK. She has extensive experience in three key areas; higher education, governance and auditing, and leading strategic change.

Commissioner Khalifa is an internationally renowned expert in auditing and governance and has published research on a broad range of public and private sector governance issues, including the governance of academia, the UAE and UK audit profession, the governance of development NGOs through audit, new technologies and risk in financial audit, corporate governance research methodologies, the governance of local government, university governance and international accreditation schemes, and sociology of professions and gender. Her expertise in university governance practices, in particular, is evidenced by her ties with the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the oldest international business school accreditation agency. She is the first female Arabic speaker to become a workshop trainer and business school mentor for AACSB. She is one of nine Steering Committee Members of the AACSB Women Administrators in Management Education group. Her scholarly work has appeared in leading accounting journals, including Accounting Organizations and Society (rated A* by ABDC list), Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal (A*), Critical Perspectives on Accounting (A), the European Accounting Review (A*), and Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management (A), and has been funded by leading research funding agencies, such as the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and various British professional accountancy bodies. Total grants amount to over $500,000. She is frequently asked to speak on questions of higher education, governance, auditing, gender-responsive budgeting, futures studies and, in particular, the futures of higher education and university governance in the context of economic development and the knowledge economy more broadly.

Commissioner Rodney “Rod” Simmons brings an interdisciplinary academic background with past faculty assignments in the USA, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the UAE. He completed his B.S. in Environmental Health Science and a M.S. in Chemistry (Environmental) at California State University, Northridge. Seeking better weather than is offered in Southern California, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts where he completed a S.M. in Industrial Hygiene at Harvard School of Public Health. He then moved to College Station, Texas where he completed his doctoral studies in industrial engineering at Texas A&M University. His first full-time faculty appointment was at University of Cincinnati, with major responsibility for the graduate program specialization in system and occupational safety engineering. In 1997, he moved to Urbana, IL where he had responsibility for professional credentialling examinations at the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. In August 2001, he returned to full-time teaching as Associate Professor and Safety Program Director at Illinois State University. In August 2008, he moved across the Pacific to accept simultaneous assignments as Visiting Associate Professor of Safety Engineering at Tunghai University (Taichung, Taiwan, 2008-2009 academic year) and Visiting Professor of Safety Engineering at the Hong Kong Poly Technic University, Sept 2008 to Jan 2010, and Visiting Professor of Industrial Management at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (2010-2011). He continued westward to take an assignment as Associate Professor (2010-2020) at The Petroleum Institute (which merged into Khalifa University in 2017), where he had major responsibility for a Master of Engineering program in Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) Engineering. His cumulative funded research activity exceeds US$10Million.

With a longstanding interest and experience in HSE professional credentialing and licensure, he has assisted major corporations with creating a corporate culture of HSE through Management and Design. He’s authored two books, including System Safety and Risk Management, as well as many conference proceedings and numerous technical articles and presentations. Dr. Simmons is the only academic in the world to be certified by examination in five aspects of professional safety practice by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. He is an elected Fellow and Past-President of the International System Safety Society. His consulting clients have included General Electric Medical Systems, Procter & Gamble, China Airlines, Caterpillar, Boeing Aircraft Company, Kuwait Oil Company, and ADNOC.

Commissioner Scholl received her BA with a double major in History and Philosophy, and MA and PhD in Philosophy from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Scholl most recently worked in UAEU where she has served as Associate Professor of Philosophy, Chair of Philosophy Department, digital education projects and as administrator for Innovative Programming. She has worked in several countries and worked within a number of differing regional and national accreditation systems.

Dr. Scholl’s research and teaching portfolio includes modern philosophy, applied ethics, philosophy of education, business ethics and ethics in corporate governance. Her main work in recent years centers upon the intersection between evolving educational administrative systems to better support innovative educational programming.

Commissioner Abdel-Magid received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, and a B.Sc. (Honors) from Cairo University, Egypt, all in Electrical Engineering.

Prof Abdel-Magid has held professorial positions at the King Fahd University of Petroleum   Minerals, The Petroleum Institute, and Khalifa University of Science and Technology. He has held various administrative positions such as the founding Dean of Engineering at the Petroleum Institute, the Dean of Graduate School at the Petroleum Institute, and prior to joining the CAA, the Interim Dean of Graduate Studies at Khalifa University of Science and Technology. While at the Petroleum Institute, Dr. Abdel-Magid was responsible for coordinating the CAA and ABET accreditation process for all BSc programs, and the CAA accreditation for nine MSc and MEng programs along with the Initial Accreditation of five PhD programs.

He has published extensively in Adaptive and Robust Control, Power System Control and Optimization, Applications of AI Techniques in Power Systems, and Power System Control with FACTS devices. He has participated in numerous funded research projects including a "Feasibility Study for Interconnection of Arabian Gulf States Electrical Power Systems" and a "Feasibility Study for Interconnection of Mashreq Arab Countries Electrical Power systems".