American University of Bahrain Provost, Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, talks about the benefits students in the region can enjoy through the university’s stateside partnership.
American University of Bahrain Provost, Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, talks about the benefits students in the region can enjoy through the university’s stateside partnership.
The American University of Bahrain (AUBH) has formed a partnership with California State University, Northridge (CSUN), which is sure to not enhance the higher education sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain, but also create a pathway to the US for its students.
CSUN is part of the 23-campus California State University system, which is the largest in the United States with nearly 500,000 students and more than 50,000 faculty and staff. “We are proud to be pursuing an academic partnership with CSUN (subject to final approval from the HEC) which is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and a number of field-specific accreditors,” says American University of Bahrain, Provost, Dr. Jeff Zabudsky.
“This pioneering partnership in the making aims to connect students based in the Middle East and North Africa to the largest university system in the United States, effectively paving a seamless pathway to the U.S. for those aspiring to access a more flexible international experience,” he adds.
Located in Los Angeles, CSUN is one of the largest universities in the United States enrolling nearly 40,000 full- and part-time students in Fall 2020. Accredited by WASC, CSUN employs more than 2,000 faculty members teaching courses across 69 disciplines, master’s degrees in 69 fields and three doctorates. CSUN is widely recognised for impacting the lives of students and preparing them for leadership roles.
“Through the academic partnership with CSUN, AUBH students would gain access to a robust curriculum focused on forefront preparation for academic success, as well as for careers in the regional and global marketplace, opportunities to study abroad, and a pathway to finish their studies in California,” explains Dr. Jeff, adding that CSUN has many discipline- and field-specific accreditations.
AUBH would collaborate with CSUN to align its high-quality curricula and create opportunities for students to experience a broad range of new programs and international experiences, including attending summer programs in California, and receiving a CSUN degree through completing one, two, or three years of coursework enrolled at CSUN, and vice versa at AUBH, for CSUN Students who wish to study in Bahrain. “Moreover, as academic partners we would develop opportunities for visiting professorships, industry collaborations, and internship opportunities between Bahrain and the United States,” he says
This partnership would also provide students with a lucrative option to travel when they are ready for an international experience. “Effectively, we are working on providing students with a wide array of opportunities to travel abroad when they are ready to do so, whether it means starting a year, two, or three at AUBH and then transferring to CSUN, making the experience more accessible financially and from a global readiness point of view, as some parents are hesitant to send their children abroad as soon as they graduate from high school,” he says.
This international partnership with CSUN would give students access to the University’s nine colleges: the Mike Curb College of Art, Media, and Communication; David Nazarian College of Business and Economics; Michael D. Eisner College of Education; College of Engineering and Computer Science; College of Health and Human Development; College of Humanities; College of Science and Mathematics; College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; and the Tseng College for Graduate, International and Midcareer Education.
“Crafting this distinctive partnership would not only represent an impressive milestone for the Kingdom in its continued efforts to elevate the quality of education in Bahrain, but it would also present a plethora of new opportunities for students based throughout the region and beyond to experience a world-class higher education, starting right here in the Kingdom,” says Dr. Jeff.
“It would also open new avenues of collaboration between the industry here and in the U.S., creating new opportunities of exchange of a commercial, cultural, and artistic nature. The sky is the limit!” he concludes.
For more information about AUBH, please visit aubh.edu.bh. For more information about CSUN, visit www.csun.edu.
