Dr Tayeb A Kamali is the Vice Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) – the United Arab
Emirates’ largest higher education institution with 17 campuses throughout the UAE catering for 20,000 male and female students.
For over two decades Dr Kamali has spearheaded education, training, research and applied technology programmes in the UAE and Middle East regions. This has been achieved by establishing and leveraging relationships with global leaders in academia, business and government. He has helped create a ground-breaking, world class eLearning institution at HCT through the strategic implementation of technology in education
with initiatives such as integrated wireless campus infrastructures, online and paperless learning and knowledge management programmes.
As a result HCT is a cutting-edge learning institution that provides UAE students with technological skills and the ability to innovate in an increasingly competitive global market. Dr Kamali has played a significant role in the introduction of numerous international conferences, focused on leadership, education, innovation and entrepreneurship, such as Education without Borders, Festival of Thinkers and the HCT Global Entrepreneurship 2010.
Dr Kamali was appointed Chair of the UAE Federal Mobile Learning Initiative involving HCT, Zayed University and UAE University,
which saw 14,000 mobile learning devices distributed to Foundations Programme students at those institutions as the first phase of a
framework to enhance students’ learning capabilities. The second phase involved all first-year HCT Bachelor of Applied Science students
receiving these devices.
HCT continues its leadership in the field of technology integration with the creation of over 150,000 e-Textbooks for its students.
Dr Kamali is the founding Group Chief Executive of the Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT), the commercial, research and training arm of HCT, which was formed in 1996 and which is an institutional member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Growth Companies. He is also Chairman of the CERT Thales Institute; the Emirates Driving Company; CERT Info Track Telematics and the Vice Chairman of the Institute of Applied Technology’s Governing Council.
He is a founding Board Member of the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP); a member of the World Economic Forum’s Regional Agenda Council on the Middle East & North Africa; a 2012 Rolex Awards for Young Laureates Jury member, and a member of the Cleveland Clinic International Advisory Board. He was a moderator at the Arab Business Leaders’ Forum and the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in 2012. In February 2013 he was a guest speaker at the UNESCO International Symposium on Mobile Learning in Paris. He also spoke at the Going Global 2013 Education Conference and participated in the New York University’s Global Colloquium of University Presidents. In September 2013 he was a panelist at the Annual Summit of The Stern Stewart Institute in Germany.
Dr Kamali is a board member of a number of corporate entities and institutions including Tanmia (The National Human Resource Development and Employment Authority); ICT Fund (Telecom Regulatory Authority); the Future Centre for Special Needs, Dubai and the Higher Education Sports Federation.
Dr Kamali holds a Doctorate in Engineering from George Washington University, USA and an honorary Doctorate in Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada. He also holds a number of qualifications from the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, USA, being an MBA (Concentration in Aviation), a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Aircraft Engineering.
He has received many education and leadership awards throughout his career including France’s highest award for education, the Ordres des Palmes Académiques in 2006 and the Human Resource Leadership Award from the World Human Resource Development Congress in 2006 and 2009.