Modern College of Business and Science, Institutional Standards Assessment, Sep 2016
 
Dr Basma Al Baharna
 

Dr. Al-Baharna is Senior Director at the Directorate of Higher Education Higher Education Reviews (DHR) at the National Authority for Qualifications & Quality Assurance of Education & Training (NAQQAET) in the Kingdom of Bahrain. She joined the Authority in November 2009 and has since participated as Review Director and Panel Member in several institutional and programme quality reviews of higher education institutions in Bahrain. Dr. Al-Baharna is currently chairing the QQA Strategic Planning Committee and is a member of the QQA Academic Committee, QQA Excellence Committee and QQA/HEC (Higher Education Council) Steering Committee. She is also actively involved in the capacity-building activities in quality assurance related issues conducted by DHR.    Prior to joining QQA, Dr. Al-Baharna was the Director of the Biotechnology Programme at Arabian Gulf University (AGU) in Bahrain.  She first joined AGU as a lecturer in 1991; in 1998, she obtained her Ph.D. in Bioscience and Technology from the Institute of Graduate Studies and Research at the University of Alexandria.  She was promoted to Assistant Professor of Biotechnology in 1999 and consequently appointed as the Biotechnology Programme Director in 2002.  During her affiliation with AGU, that spanned 18 years, Dr. Al-Baharna was actively involved in the University’s various activities as a member of the ‘President’s Consultancy Committee’, the ‘AGU Publications and Branding Committee’, as well as Academic Committees of the Biotechnology, Environmental Management and Laboratory Medicine Programmes.    The current professional interests of Dr. Al-Baharna include Quality Assurance, Higher Education, Strategic Planning, Organizational Change and Knowledge Management.

 
Dr. Lejla Vrazalic
 
Dr. Lejla Vrazalic is a higher education consultant based at the Dubai Knowledge Park since 2014, and works exclusively with regulatory and accreditation agencies in Oman, the UAE and Bahrain as a QA assessor. ). Dr Vrazalic has more than twenty years of experience in the higher education sector, having held various positions and taught in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the UAE. She was the Campus Programme Co-ordinator for Business and IT programmes at Middlesex University in Dubai from 2008 to 2014. Prior to this, she held the position of Chair of the College of Business at the University of Wollongong in Dubai (UAE).  In 2006, Dr Vrazalic was awarded a Citation for educational leadership by the former Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education in Australia. Dr Vrazalic has also been responsible for establishing an integrated university-wide program for educational development of students and teachers. She has chaired and presented at a number of educational conferences and workshops in the areas of teaching and learning. In 2004, Dr Vrazalic was awarded the Australian Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Business Community Partnerships. The same year, Dr. Vrazalic was recognised with the overall Vice Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning at the University of Wollongong in Australia In addition to her roles in quality assurance and educational leadership, Dr. Vrazalic was a Research Chair for two years, and an international assessor for the Australian Research Council (ARC). 
 
Dr. Michael J. Hillyard
 
Michael Hillyard is a consultant specializing in higher education quality assurance.  He has performed work on behalf of universities, accrediting organizations, and governments.    Dr Hillyard has served as President of the University of St. Augustine, a health sciences institution that annually produces the U.S.’s largest classes of physical and occupational therapists.  He was also Provost and Executive Vice President of the American Public University System, where he oversaw academic policy and operations for the American Public University`s, American Military University`s and American Community College`s 15,000 students and 160 degrees and programs.  Earlier in his career, he served as Dean of the American Military University.    Dr Hillyard`s professional service has included being a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia`s Career College Advisory Board and a certified accreditation evaluator and member of the Research and Educational Standards Committee for the Distance Education and Training Council.  He has also provided expertise on behalf of Hong Kong’s accreditation council, Saudi Arabia’s accreditation commission, Jamaica’s university council, Barbados’s accreditation council, and Egypt’s accreditation authority.  Hillyard has served as a board member for the U.S. Government’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation, Waldorf College, Catholic Distance University, Henley-Putnam University, and Columbia Southern University.    Dr Hillyard’s education includes the BSc in Business Administration from Miami University (Ohio), MA in Military Studies from American Military University, and Doctor of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. 
 
Dr. Said Kashoob
 
Dr. Said Masoud Kashoob holds the position of Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs at AL Musanna College of Technology. Prior to joining AL Musanna, Dr. Said was the head of quality assurance at Salalah College of Technology where he had previously served as the head of the educational technology centre. Dr. said`s research work has been published in the proceedings of several prestigious conferences and journals. He is a recipient of the Fulbright foreign scholarship program and of the Ministry of Higher Education scholarship program. Dr. Said holds a PhD in computer engineering from Texas A&M University, a Masters in computer science from the Royal Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor in computer engineering, from Iowa State University.
 
Dr Saleh Salim Al Busaidi
 
Dr Saleh Salim Al-Busaidi is an Associate Professor of English as a Foreign Language at the College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Sultanate of Oman. He received his BA in TEFL at Sultan Qaboos University in 1995, his MA in TEFL at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom in 1997, and his PhD in curriculum studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA in 2003. He served as the Director of the Language Centre at SQU  from 2010 to 2016. He has also chaired and taken part in many committees and project teams inside and outside SQU. Dr Al-Busaidi has also served on several audit panels. He has participated in the development of the General Foundation Programme (GFP) standards project supervised by the Oman Academic Accreditation Authority back in 2007. Dr Al-Busaidi has also participated in many national and international conferences and symposia. He has published many journal articles and book chapters on a range of topics. His main research interests are: learner autonomy, material development, study/academic skills, academic readiness and language acquisition.