His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council, Ruler of Sharjah, and President of the University of Sharjah, praised the great and many achievements at the global, regional and local levels that the University of Sharjah achieved, including its ranking in the first place of the sustainable development goals of the United Nations sustainability program according Times Higher Education World University Rankings at the global level, and its occupation of the (200) rank at the level of the universities of the world for this program. This in addition to its achievement of the second place in engineering and technology at the level of universities operating in the country, according to the evaluation of the international organization itself and also won the first place in physics, astronomy and space science at the UAE level. The University also won the first place and for the third year in a row in sustainability according to the classification GreenMetric for the classification of universities at the global level to advance its position at the level of universities of the world to 294, advancing 104 global ranks last year. This came during His Highness presiding over the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the University of Sharjah.

His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah thanked the members of the University's Board of Trustees for their research contributions and their approval of development plans and projects to serve the development and progress of the University.

For their part, the members of the Board of Trustees extended their sincere thanks to His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah and President of the University of Sharjah, stressing that His Highness's directives and material and moral support for the scientific and academic development projects, plans and aspirations of the University of Sharjah's academic and administrative initiatives as well as its Board of Trustees stand firmly behind these major global achievements and will be behind more of them in the future .

The Board's meeting started with the approval of the minutes of its previous meeting, after which they listened to a report on the latest developments in the University of Sharjah presented by its Chancellor Prof. Hamid M.K. Al Naimiy, beginning with his thanks and appreciation to His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, President of the University of Sharjah for the directives of His Highness that stands behind the University's achievement of its progress and development of its global achievements.

After that, the University Chancellor reviewed his report on the achievements of the University of Sharjah, noting that the five-year strategic plan 2014-2019 witnessed rapid and important developments in all areas of education, learning, technology and scientific research, where every year more achievements and progress were recorded by faculty members, students and University administration.

On the University's new five-year strategic plan (2019 - 2024), the University Chancellor said that it is based on the vision of its President His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, on the national agenda of the United Arab Emirates, and on the achievements and evaluation of the plan 2014-2019. This plan will form the foundations on which the University bases its performance, regionally and globally, especially in the areas of innovation, technology, research and development.

Then the report spoke about the current organizational structure, the updated organizational structure, and also talked about the newly created units, explaining that the Board of Trustees approved the establishment of two units during its forty-seventh meeting, namely the College of Computing and Informatics and the Regional Institute in Physics, Mathematics and Computing, awaiting UNESCO's approval to establish it.

The report also addressed the steps and measures taken by the University in establishing the Sharjah Oasis in Research, Technology and Innovation, referring to the Emiri Decree No. 5 of 2019, which noted the establishment of this Oasis as a free zone authority to work to achieve a set of goals, including: implementing applied scientific research, developing economic knowledge projects, proposing educational and training programs, encouraging investment by companies and bodies, and supporting and encouraging innovation and creative ecosystems. He pointed out that a plot of land has been allocated to construct the Oasis, with an area of one square kilometer, located 20 km from the University of Sharjah on the Khorfakkan Road.

The report emphasized that the University of Sharjah has improved at the level of all the indicators of the international rankings of universities and has managed to progress in a number of these levels, and it has excellent performance from the global perspective (such as diversity in the nationalities of students and faculty members), and has a stable performance in terms of economic income for research. The University is working to increase the number of PhD programs and will continue to improve in the research field in terms of research production and reference citations.

Regarding the academic programs proposed, the report indicated that the University currently offers 114 accredited programs (13 PhDs, 31 Masters, 2 Postgraduate diplomas, 54 Bachelor's degrees, 14 intermediate diplomas), and there are 37 programs in progress (7 PhDs, 20 Masters, 3 Bachelor's degrees, 1 Postgraduate Diploma and 2 Intermediate Diploma). It is expected that these programs will be offered during the years 2020-2021, in addition to eight proposed programs submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval, and all programs and curricula are subject to a periodic review and continuous improvement through a system of institutional effectiveness.

The Board of Trustees approved the set of promotions presented by the academic committee to a number of faculty members at the university, and approved the establishment of the Center for Sustainable Energy and Energy Systems, and the Center for Cyber Security and Data Analysis.

The Council approved seven academic programs: Master of Medical Diagnostic Imaging, Master of Applied Mathematics, Master of Administrative Business Analytics, Master of Artificial Intelligence, Bachelor of Science in E-Commerce, and Bachelor of Arts in Chinese Language in addition to a Bachelor of Science in Audiology, Speech and Language Disorders.

The Board also commissioned the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority to establish a cooling station to serve the University City and a suitable plot of land has been allocated to it on campus.

The appointment of a Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the University starting the beginning of September of this year and the appointment of a Dean for the College of Business Administration was approved and the university students who completed the graduation requirements for the bachelor's and diploma programs numbering (1170) students were approved.

The meeting was attended by: Dr. Obaid bin Ali Al Muhairi, former Chancellor of Technical Colleges in Fujairah; Mr. Mohamed Abdullah, CEO of Sharjah Islamic Bank; Dr. Tariq bin Khadim, Head of the Human Resources Department in the Government of Sharjah; Mr. Ahmed Al Rashid, Lawyer and Legal Advisor; Dr. Rashid Al Lim, Head of the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority; and Dr. Muhadditha Al Hashemi, President of Sharjah Private Education Authority.

The meeting was also attended by a number of international scientific personalities: Prof. Alexander Kulichov, President of the International University of Science and Technology in Moscow; Prof. Jacques Vermont, President of the University of Ottawa, Canada; Prof. Gunter Meyer, Professor at the University of Mainz in Germany; and Prof. Kamal Yusuf Al-Toumi, Professor of Mechanical Engineering Co-Director of the Center for Clean Water and Clean Energy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in America; Prof. Abdullah Hussein Malkawi, Chancellor of Prince Fahd bin Sultan University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Prof. Martin Barstow, Deputy Chancellor of Lancaster University for Academic Affairs, President of the University's Space Research Center and President of the British Royal Astronomical Society; Prof. Muhammad Sayegh, Vice President of the American University of Beirut for Medical Affairs; and Mr. William Matt Easdown, Vice Chancellor for Administrative and Financial Affairs.