Bayan College, Institutional Quality Audit, Nov 2013
 
Prof. Barbara van Ernst
 
Barbara van Ernst is an Educational Consultant, and was previously Deputy Vice Chancellor (Learning,Teaching) and Pro Vice Chancellor (Community Engagement) at Swinburne University of Technology and prior to that was Head of School, Visual Performing and Media Arts, and Chair, Academic Board, Deakin University. She has had extensive teaching experience in primary and secondary schools in Victoria, Australia and in the tertiary sector. Her areas of teaching include education and the performing arts. She has supervised a number of PhD candidates to successful completion and has examined a number of theses for other universities, mainly in the areas of the arts, education and creative writing. In particular she has had experience in the PhD model based on creative practice and exegesis.   Professor van Ernst has served three terms as a Councillor for the City of Hawthorn, including two years as Mayor. She has served on a number of boards and committees, including the Victorian Qualifications Authority, the Higher Education Advisory Committee in Victoria and the Programs Committee of Open Universities Australia. She is a quality auditor for the Australian Universities Quality Agency, the Singapore Higher Education Accreditation Council, the New Zealand Universities Audit Unit and the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications. She has recently conducted audits in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Bahrain. Within Australia she has been a member or chair of a number of University and Non Self-accrediting Institution audit panels.   In 1994 she was awarded an AM for services to education. 
 
Dr Bilal Khlaf Al Omari
 
Dr. Bilal Al Omari holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics from Bologna University, Italy, in 2003. He obtained his MA degree from Al Bayat University Jordan in 1997 and his BA from the College of Arts at Al-Yarmouk University in 1994.  Dr. Al Omari has taught at various universities in the Middle East and Gulf region.  He taught at Al Margeeb University in Libya from 2003 -2005  as a lecturer, teaching different modules such as; International Business, Principles of  Marketing Practice, Principles of Micro and Macroeconomics, International Finance, and Public Finance.  Dr. Al Omari also worked at Gulf College, Oman, from 2005-2014. He served as a faculty member at the business department, head of the department, and   Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs & Research. He joined Al Biuraimi University College in 2016 to hold the position of Director of Training, Consultancy and Community Services Department and was promoted to Assistant Dean for Academic Support Services in 2018. Dr Al Omari has authored several articles and books and delivered speeches at numerous conferences and meetings in the Middle East and abroad.  He has become the resource speaker of a series of workshops and conferences in Teaching Methods, Managing Practical Classes, Over-Marking, and others. 

 
Prof. David Palfreyman
 

Prof. David Palfreyman teaches in University College at Zayed University, UAE, contributes to faculty and curriculum development for the university, and edits an online journal, Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives http://lthe.zu.ac.ae. He holds a PhD in Language Studies and is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. Before joining Zayed University, he worked with students and educators in Turkey and in the UK, as well as teaching in Italy and Spain. His current research interests include student learning styles, e-learning and the contributions of sociocultural context to university learning. He has published several articles in the field of language and university education, and co-edited two collections, Learner Autonomy Across Cultures and Learning and Teaching Across Cultures in Higher Education, both published by Palgrave Macmillan.


 
Prof. Gerhard Apfelthaler
 
Gerhard Apfelthaler is Dean and Professor at the School of Management at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California. He received his Ph. D. in Social and Economic Sciences from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (WU) in Vienna, Austria after studies in Austria, Taiwan, and the United States. He authored several books in English and German, and he published articles in leading academic journals including Industrial Marketing Management, the Service Industries Journal, the Journal of World Business, the European Journal of International Management, the Journal of Small Business Management, the International Journal of Management Education, the Journal of International Learning, and several others. He is also a co-founder and editor of the European Journal of International Management. He has lectured at universities in a number of countries including Austria, Australia, Austria, Colombia, Iceland, Oman, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States, and is the co-founder of several companies including Oak Therapeutics, Inc., (USA), CURE Pharmaceutical (USA), AT Consult (USA and Austria), and the non-profit organization Start-Up Kids. Before moving to California, he has been the Chair of the Department of International Management at FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences in Graz (Austria). Previously, he served as Commercial Attaché to the Austrian Embassy in Singapore, as Austria’s Deputy Trade Commissioner to the United States (Los Angeles office), as Dean of International Business Studies at FHS Kufstein Tirol, and as coordinator of the international postgraduate program of the Community of European Management Schools (CEMS), among others. 
 
Dr. Rahma Ibrahim Al-Mahrooqi
 

Dr. Rahma Al-Mahrooqi is Deputy VIce-Chancellor for Postgraduate Studies and Research at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU).  She was formerly Assistant Professor working in the English Department of the College of Arts and Social Sciences, SQU.  She has a BA in English Education, an MA in English Curriculum and Teaching Methods and a Ph.D in English and Communications Education.   Her research interests focus on sociolinguistic issues, English Language teaching, reading, literature, communication, intercultural and cross-cultural communication and the influence of culture on reading and communication.