Executive Summary
The administration of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport holds a strong belief in the progress that can be achieved through the interaction between the scientific authorities inside the Academy and the trust that it has in the capabilities and skills of its employees. The preparation of the plan for the Academy’s Strategic Plan (2021-2026) has begun, and is considered a continuation of the efforts exerted in the previous academic Strategic Plan (2016-2021). In light of the continuous evaluation of the results and achievements of the previous plan, the vision and mission of the Academy and its governing values have been amended to reflect the new reality that the Academy exists in. Based on this view, it has been agreed upon to formulate the new vision as follows: “The Academy is a smart educational establishment providing a positive effect upon the knowledge community through research, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.”
Based upon this, the mission of the Academy has been formulated to integrate with the previous vision as follows:
•To achieve sustained development in society by introducing distinguished graduates capable of making the desired changes through the provision of training and educational programs of international standards and high intellectual capital. These programs are provided by the highest qualified personnel and by centers of excellence in scientific research, training and consultancies through applying the highest standards of quality and governance.
The goal of social responsibility reflects the faith of the Academy’s management in the vitality and inevitability of the interaction with the local, regional and international society through bearing its social responsibility towards all the parties affected by the activities of the Academy and those who affect it. This strategic goal is concerned with developing the intellectual capital of the Academy and achieving the sustained development for all of its clients and partners in success. This social responsibility represents an integral part of the vision and mission of the Academy in addition to reflecting its governing values.
The Academy’s management carries out this responsibility into the form of economic, social and environmental practices that are adopted in many fields, including education, training, research, and social contributions. Therefore, the Academy seeks to become an effective member in supporting society and in the making of the desired social and economic developments in the Arab world. Thus, the Academy is committed to integrating the components of economic, social and human development as reflected in the different processes and activities of the Academy.
Fourth Strategic Goal
Social Responsibility
Fulfilling the social responsibility of the Arab Academy through integrating and interacting with the community to achieve a positive impact
The Arab Academy believes in the vital and inevitable interaction with the local, regional and international community via carrying out its societal responsibilities towards all parties affected by the Arab Academy’s activities and affecting them. This strategic axis is concerned with the Arab Academy’s human resources, sustainable development and all its clients and partners in success. Social responsibility is an integral part of the Arab Academy’s vision and mission and it reflects its guiding values at the same time.
The Arab Academy carries out its social responsibility in the light of economic, social and environmental practices that are adopted in several fields such as education, training, research, consultancy, and community contributions. Accordingly, the Arab Academy strives to be an active member in supporting the society and achieving the intended social, economic and human development in the Arab Academy’s distinct processes and activities.
The fourth strategic objective “Fulfilling social responsibility” is achieved through integration and interaction with the community to achieve a positive impact on one of the main pillars to increase the Arab Academy’s competitiveness employing soft power and its indirect impact on all groups and spectrums of the society. The Arab Academy asserts that fulfilling social responsibility is also related to many factors. Among the most important factors are the following sub-strategic objectives:
Social Responsibility Strategies
1.Achieving leadership in the fields of social responsibility. This sub-strategic objective is achieved through the following:
▪Carrying out all the work and activities of the Arab Academy with a distinguished level of social responsibility and ethical commitment together with a high level of dignity, professional practice and excellence.
▪Providing opportunities for community participation in the activities of the Arab Academy as a basic general activity that is relevant to all the departments, entities and branches of the Arab Academy.
▪Providing entities that are in charge of community participation development in the Arab Academy with necessary organizational resources to carry out all the community activities with a high level of efficiency and effectiveness.
▪Extending the work of the Arab Academy’s social responsibility to include sharing and accessing services internally to (students, workers and staff members) and externally to (graduates, post graduate studies candidates, retired workers, the surrounding community, the institutions of the headquarters and Arab and regional institutions).
▪Developing necessary criteria to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of social responsibility activities of the Arab Academy and to what extent the strategic objectives that are associated with this strategic objective have been achieved.
▪Identifying human competencies that are capable and willing to activate community contributions including their training and rehabilitation in a way that helps in achieving the goal.
▪Expanding the great use of study programs for community service and ongoing education through flexible programs that allow part-time study or providing on-line or distance learning programs.
▪Raising awareness of the importance of community service for different groups of society through seminars, workshops, campaigns and initiatives.
▪Providing support to the community around the Arab Academy’s premises and conducting case studies to find out all the required needs and priorities of support to be provided.
▪Setting the general framework to the manual of “rules and procedures for dealing with special needs students” which includes identifying responsibility, providing means, assistance, logistical means, and how to deal with them and including procedures in case of applying distance education and training.
2.Strengthening the identity and sense of belonging to the Arab Academy by focusing on the welfare of staff members and students, conducting a code of family relations, mutual respect and achieving safety. This sub-strategic goal is achieved through:
▪Raising the awareness of students, staff members and workers of the importance of citizenship behaviour and societal participation.
▪Facilitating the job of making use of the Arab Academy’s financial facilities for all students, staff members, workers and other related groups outside the Arab Academy.
▪Strengthening the relationships and connections between undergraduate students, graduates, postgraduate students and ALUMNI. Creating and developing databases for them.
▪Providing health care to human resources (staff members and workers) and stakeholders and providing health services to their families.
▪Creating and developing databases for retired employees, improving the way of communication between them and providing services to them through a specialized unit or department.
3.Strengthening relations with different strata of people in the society, who are interested in the activities conducted by the Arab Academy. This sub-strategic goal is achieved through:
▪Increasing the number of joint projects between the Arab Academy, the governmental institutions, public institutions, labour institutions and society in general.
▪Supporting the way of communication with media continuously and providing it with appropriate material about the positive contributions achieved by the Arab Academy in the areas of social responsibility through different means of media.
▪Facilitating the use of the Arab Academy's facilities for societal activities and events that serve the Arab Academy's goals in the field of community service and communicating with it.
▪Strengthening mutual interaction between the Arab Academy and the society including the exchange of experiences and knowledge that benefits both parties and contributes directly to societal development.
▪Achieving effective and sustainable communication with businessmen and industry to provide more training opportunities and jobs for students and graduates.
▪Organizing events in partnership with private sector institutions and civil society, and seeking to provide sponsors for the Arab Academy's activities and initiatives for community service.
▪Doing a linkage with industry through companies, institutions and businessmen to find out the real requirements of the labour market.
▪Offering free courses for the Arab Academy’s students to benefit from, and to benefit from what other universities offer and entities specialized in international training around the world. This is what the Computer Services Centre has done during the Covid-19 period until now, by guiding and notifying everyone about taking advantage of these free offers.
4.Developing the role of training and academic consultations to fulfil the social responsibility. This sub-strategic goal is achieved through:
▪Training students, workers and staff members to qualify and keep pace with the technological development in the field of specialization.
▪Providing community services through general training for different groups of society in order to raise the skills of each of them in their field.
▪Setting a general framework for distance training (website training - electronic catalogue – choosing from registration the suitable electronic platforms- and transferring financial and administrative procedures, starting with issuing certificates online).
▪Providing qualified professional training for distinguished jobs in the local and regional community by applying modern technologies and using the latest training methods.
▪Providing consultations, research and feasibility studies for development projects to serve the community and develop the economy and sort out industry problems.
▪Providing consulting services at the local, regional and international level, promoting the Arab Academy’s role as an Arabic institution of great experience (preparing marketing brochures and informational flyers).
▪Participating in local, regional and international forums and events, and present success stories of the Arab Academy’s projects related to training and consultancy.
▪Providing training for students in local, regional and international institutions, companies and universities as a part of the graduation requirements.
▪Supporting students and graduates to start executing their personal projects by developing the required skills through specialized entities of the Academy such as the Entrepreneurship Centre and Career Development Centre.
5.Supporting achieving sustainable development goals with its economic, social and environmental dimensions, both internally and externally. This sub-strategic objective is achieved through:
▪Aligning the Arab Academy’s strategy with the United Nations’ sustainable development goals of 2030.
▪Developing the Arab Academy's vital role in the activities of the Arab League, seeking to start local, regional and international partnerships in the areas of sustainable development.
▪Executing environmental and social awareness programs and participating in development projects internally and externally to achieve sustainable development goals for the surrounding community groups.
▪Developing the Arab Academy's headquarters to be green and sustainable by applying standards and disciplines that are related (such as water and energy conservation, shifting to clean renewable energy and sorting waste for recycling).
▪Participating in development projects, research, studies and making events in the field of sustainable development.
6.The contribution of staff members through their colleges, institutes or units of a special nature to the following:
▪Supporting local industry by sorting out its own issues and providing consulting and training services.
▪Providing technical advice to sort out local problems, especially those related to the public such as urban planning, traffic planning, waste collection and recycling system, beautification and civilized coordination, etc.
▪Providing training courses in the fields of computers and information and in foreign languages for marginalized social groups for free or (for a minimal cost).
▪Participating in the electronic transformation of educational programs for schools and making them available on the Academy's portal through students’ projects and academic research.
▪Participating with institutions that support start-ups and microenterprises in training the beneficiaries on the simple principles of management, costing, marketing, etc.
▪Encouraging citizens in the surrounding area to participate in education, awareness and community programs offered by the university.
▪Students’ contribution through their unions and organizations within the framework of their social and cultural activities codified in their study program, as follows (including but not limited to):
⮚Contributing to provide social and charity services such as hospitals, orphanages and charities.
⮚Proposing new ideas to microenterprises to social groups in need and contributing to their establishment and follow-up.
⮚Contributing to awareness campaigns related to local life problems such as collecting garbage and abiding by traffic rules, etc. Knowing that this student activity must take place within the framework of planned projects that are part of the educational process and are prone to evaluation by staff members in terms of its effectiveness and continuity.
Strategy Actions:
