Al Buraimi University College, Institutional Standards Reassessment I, Jun 2021
 
Prof. Jan Thomas
 
Professor Jan Thomas has been Vice-Chancellor of Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University in Aotearoa New Zealand since 2017. Prior to this Professor Thomas served as Vice-Chancellor and President at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. She has held various senior executive positions at Murdoch University and the University of Notre Dame Australia. She has a PhD in Veterinary Science from Murdoch University and has taught, researched and published in Veterinary Pathology. 

Globally, Professor Thomas holds various senior positions, including: External Reviewer and Quality Auditor for the Oman Authority for Academic Accreditation and Quality Assurance for Education; Chair of the Quality Assurance Council Hong Kong; Member of the University Grants Committee Hong Kong; and Convenor of the Bachelor Veterinary Medicine Task Force for University Grants Committee Hong Kong.

She recently completed a term as Chair of Universities New Zealand, and in late 2022 became the Association for Tertiary Education Management Aotearoa New Zealand Patron. 

Professor Thomas believes strongly in building a university that is Te Tiriti-led. As part of her personal commitment to achieving that ambition, she has been learning te reo Māori since arriving in Aotearoa New Zealand, completing te reo Māori to level 5 at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. She’s currently studying towards a Bachelor of Arts in Māori Knowledge.

 
Dr. Kiran Gopakumar Rajalekshmi
 
Dr. Kiran G.R. holds a PhD in Information Systems from the London School of Economics & Political Science, UK. He did his MPhil in Applied Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi and his B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering, from College of Engineering, Trivandrum (CET), University of Kerala. He brings around 25 years of vast experience from his key roles at national and international levels in areas relating to higher education management, teaching, research, strategic policy development, quality assurance, social computing, governance reforms, e-governance, and ICT for development. He is currently the Dean of Middle East College (MEC), which is one of the largest Higher Education Institutions in the Sultanate of Oman. Dr. Kiran has been part of the governance bodies of MEC and has been a key member in the development of two five-year strategic plans. In the last 14 years, he has taken the lead in driving the strategic objectives of the college and spearheading institutional efforts on driving student employability and internationalisation. He was instrumental in developing the Quality Management System (QMS) of Middle East College that cuts across all academic and administrative operations of the college. Under his leadership, the QMS has been audited and certified as being in adherence to ISO 9001:2015. He is an External Reviewer with the Oman Authority of Academic Accreditation (OAAA) and with the Bahrain’s Education & Training Quality Authority (BQA). Dr. Kiran was responsible to lead the college in its Institutional Standards Assessment by the OAAA in the year 2019. MEC is now OAAA accredited.
 
Dr. Wafa Abdulrahman Al Mansoori
 
Dr Wafa Abdulrahman Al Mansoori currently occupies the post of Director of Institutional Research and Assessment at the American University of Bahrain, where she is responsible for developing and leading the implementation of institutional research and assessment program to support the university’s mission and strategic initiatives. She received her BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bahrain, her MSc degree in Microelectronic Systems and Communications from the University of Liverpool, UK, and her PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University, USA. In 2007, Dr Almansoori joined Bahrain’s Education Reform Project where she has assisted in the development of the Higher Education Quality Review System and participated in the pilot implementation of the System.  From 2008 to 2020 she occupied different positions at Bahrain’s Education & Training Quality Authority. These included the Director of the Directorate of Higher Education Reviews, Director of the Directorate of Vocational Reviews, Chair of the Academic Committee. Prior to that, she was a faculty member of the Electrical & Electronics Engineering Department at the University of Bahrain. Dr. Almansoori was appointed as a member of the Council for Regulating the Practice of Engineering Professions from 2013 to 2016 and as the Vice Chairman of the Council from 2016-2019. She is a member of the Bahrain Society of Engineers. Dr Al Mansoori is the recipient of the “Anita Borg Change Agent Award” in 2007.