Honoris United Universities Announces Academic Council

Academic Council will focus on providing Honoris students with access to 21st century workplace skills
London – May 20th 2019

The Honoris Academic Council will lead the deployment of Honoris’ unique collaborative intelligence model through the co-ownership and sharing of skills and resources across member institutions within the network. The council will also direct a diverse range of programmes including international exchanges, collaborative projects as well as learning environments, physical and digital, enabling Honoris faculty and students to benefit from the sharing of ideas, real-world expertise, and multi-cultural immersion.

Commenting, CEO of Honoris United Universities, Mr. Luis Lopez, said: “The Honoris Academic Council will drive our focus on enabling students to be agile, mobile and highly competitive professionals, with superior 21st century workplace skills. The Council’s work is an important investment in the development of world-class human capital that has the potential to transform Africa by equipping students with soft skills and digital capabilities – as well as real-world competencies – that will allow them to thrive in the ever-changing global economy.”

Members of the Honoris Academic Council include five representatives with exemplary backgrounds and extensive academic experience:

  • Dr. Wafa Troudi Cherif: With a doctorate in the genetics of cancer, Dr. Cherif is the Dean of the Health Science School at Université Centrale in Tunisia, the largest in the Maghreb region and home to the world-class Honoris Medical Simulation Centre
  • Professor Zaheer Hamid: Professor Hamid is the Academic Director at MANCOSA, the leading private distance learning institution in South Africa and a trusted provider of accessible, affordable and accredited programs designed for working professionals in Africa. Professor Hamid has a special interest in teacher training and educational research as well as the internationalization of higher education
  • Dr. Amine Bensaid: Dr. Bensaid is the President of Université Mundiapolis in Casablanca, Morocco, one of the Kingdom’s first private multidisciplinary universities known for the high employability rate of its alumni. Dr. Bensaid is also the President of the Moroccan-American Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange, which encourages and facilitates academic exchange between Morocco and the US
  • Dr. Kais Mabrouk: Dr. Mabrouk is the Executive Director of International Development at Université Centrale, a private multidisciplinary university ranked as #1 in Tunisia by Unirank. With a PhD in Electronics and Telecommunication, Dr. Mabrouk has a special interest in higher education, scientific research, enterprise studies and business development
  • Dr. Karim Alami: Dr. Alami is the Deputy General Manager of Ecole Marocaine des Sciences de l’Ingénieur (EMSI), the largest engineering school in Morocco. EMSI is renowned for its innovation and research work and in the last three years has received almost 60 international prizes and awards. This includes most recently, the 47th Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions and the 22nd Edition of the International Exhibition of Inventions and Technological Innovations in Moscow

The Academic Council’s mandates include the development of cutting-edge learning infrastructures and building on existing ‘Honoris Spaces’ such as the Honoris Medical Simulation Center in Tunisia, the SmartiLab at EMSI in Morocco, the iLeadLab at REGENT Business School and the future iTeachLAB at MANCOSA in South Africa. The Council will also look for opportunities to further develop and expand faculties across the Honoris network, as well as ensure existing faculties are employing the latest pedagogical approaches and learning technologies.