RAK Medical & Health Sciences University has been established in the year 2006 by RAK Human Development Foundation under the Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr al Qasimi, the then Crown Prince and the present Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah and the Supreme Council Member, United Arab Emirates. The Entrepreneurial Leaders Al Ghurair Investments and ETA ASCON Star Group were partners in this noble venture in the initial stages. Now, RAKMHSU is fully owned and managed by the Government of Ras Al Khaimah and it has four constituent Colleges: RAK College of Medical Sciences, RAK College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, RAK College of Nursing and RAK College of Dental Sciences.

The aim of His Highness Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah and Supreme Council Member, United Arab Emirates was not just to build schools or colleges, but to lay a foundation for an educational infrastructure, which will serve as a platform for global institutions to provide world class training to the students across the region. His message is clear “We need to encourage excellence in our schools now more than ever”. The Vision of His Highness is to make this University, a leading Medical and Health Sciences University in the Gulf Region. Accordingly, RAKMHSU has been maintaining an absolute honesty and transparency in its functioning, in addition to relentless journey towards excellence.

RAKMHSU, with the kind support from His Highness and the guidance from both the Ministry of Higher Education Affairs through the Commission for Academic Accreditation and the Ministry of Health and Prevention, has progressed very well. Now the Renewal of Accreditation has been granted by the Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA) for the Undergraduate programs in Medical, Dental, Pharmacy and Nursing and Graduate programs in Nursing and Pharmacy.

RAKMHSU is very proud to have all the facilities for a quality Health Science Programs. RAK College of Dental Sciences has its own State of Art building with all the ultra-modern dental facilities. With the addition of two more blocks viz., Academic Block (for Pharmacy & Nursing) and the multispecialty Sports Complex., RAKMHSU can boast of all the facilities required for a quality Health Science Education.

RAKMHSU, since its inception, has not only tried to have all the required documentation related to all aspects of the University functioning, but also taken earnest care to implement them in the true spirit, incorporating as many best practices as possible. The Core values viz., transparency, honesty and integrity were given utmost importance in every aspect of functioning in addition to the issue based approach. This is very much true with reference to the IRO Feedback, Examination System, appointment of faculty and their emoluments and other functional aspects of the University. Now, the implementation of the University Management System has streamlined and simplified the whole University functioning with much less scope for the human error in addition to making the administration paperless.

Yet another proud moment for RAKMHSU is the approval by the New York State Education Board for the long term Clinical Clerkship for our students in New York. RAKMHSU is the first University in UAE and the second in the entire Middle East to get this approval.

RAKMHSU is really fortunate to have had a very close working relationship and guidance from several experts who were part of the team constituted by the Commission for Academic Accreditation to assess the facilities and processes in different programs. Based on their recommendations, and the continuous feedback from the students as well as the faculty, RAKMHSU has been able to move from strength to strength.

In fact, some of the changes that have been incorporated in RAKMHSU have been unique and first in UAE, like, the introduction of Clinical Decision Making course, the incorporation of active learning methods (TBL, PBL, CBL, SDL, etc.), the modification of some of the General Education Courses, defining the learning outcomes, moving towards problem solving MCQs rather than recall type, streamlining the assessment procedures and clinical rotations. All these changes were incorporated after thorough discussion in the different committees involving the Faculty, Chairpersons, Deans, the University Administrators and the Students too.

From the humble beginning with 22 students, RAKMHSU has grown remarkably well, now having about 1220 students from 45 different Nationalities. Similarly, RAKMHSU is proud to have 110 Teaching Faculty, 120 Non-teaching Staff and 125 Adjunct Faculty hailing from 32 different countries. RAKMHSU has become a role model of synergy and cooperation among students and faculty of different nationalities and religions, pursuing with commitment their respective professional careers. The continued significant contribution from the committed faculty has helped RAKMHSU immensely in improving the academic standards. More importantly, they have created a Mini World in RAKMHSU, which is a model for peaceful synergistic professional coexistence.

In addition to strengthening the individual colleges, care has also been taken to streamline the functioning of Finance, IRO, Student Affairs and other Offices, in addition to the establishment of Centre for Education Development and Research (CEDAR), which fulfills the need of Faculty Development Programs. The communication between the University, faculty and the students were improved significantly by taking prompt and specific action with reference to the IRO feedback and sharing the action taken with them through different meetings and the quarterly publication “INSIGHTS”.

One important area where RAKMHSU have to go a long way is in Research. Actually, quite a number of CME activities were held and our faculty presented research articles in different conferences and published few research papers in reputed Journals. Until now, faculty were able to publish around 352 research articles in various National and International Journals. Of course, in the coming three years, RAKMHSU aims to concentrate more on research to encourage and enable the faculty not only to get the funds for research but also to publish more and more research articles in reputed journals.  Accordingly, the required equipment which will facilitate the research has been procured.

Another area where RAKMHSU has moved forward is, in International Collaboration with other reputed Universities to strengthen both the clinical teaching and research. In the process, RAKMHSU is establishing Memorandum of Understandings with both National and International Institutions, hospitals and training centers, expanding the facilities for Electives and Clinical Training in other areas as well.

One of the happiest moments for all of us was the First Convocation in the year 2011, which saw 19 Medical and 48 Nursing students receiving their degrees from the hands of His Highness. The 9th Convocation Ceremony was held on 26th September and 3rd October, 2019 and 334 of our students from Medical, Dental, Pharmacy, Nursing and RN-BSN Bridge programs (96 from Medical, 71 from Dental; 68 from Pharmacy (62 - B Pharm; 2 - MS Clinical Pharmacy - 1 Pharmaceutical Chemistry - 3 Pharmaceutics) and 99 from Nursing (19 - BSN, 65 - RN-BSN, 15 - MSN) Graduated.

RAKMHSU is extremely grateful to His Highness Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr al Qasimi, Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah and Supreme Council Member, Ministry of Education and Higher Education Affairs, Commission for Academic Accreditation, Ministry of Health and Prevention, RAKMHSU Board Members, Advisory Board members, RAKMHSU family and all our well-wishers, who continue to extend their helping hand with timely suggestions and guidance.

We hope and pray that RAKMHSU continues to strive hard to be a Unique and most reputed University and favored destination for the students and for educational professionals in this region.

Dr. Ismail Ibrahim Ali Matalka
President
RAK Medical and Health Sciences University