His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council, Ruler of Sharjah, and President of the University of Sharjah welcomes new faculty members to the University. This through a speech delivered on his behalf by His Excellency Prof. Hamid M.K. Al Naimiy, Chancellor of the University of Sharjah, during the opening of the Second Annual Conference of the University of Sharjah Strategic Plan. His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah wished new faculty members success in their work, which contributes to enhancing the University's progress and strengthening its position in the top ranks among peer universities at the local, regional and even global levels.

His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah also extended his sincere thanks and appreciation to all members of the Board of Trustees, and the faculty, staff and technical staff of the University of Sharjah for their efforts in the fields of education and scientific research that they provided and excelled in during the past academic year. Also for the exceptional and honorable efforts in which they excelled in the deepest and broadest meanings of creativity in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic by following the most accurate precautionary measures necessary in facing this danger, especially in implementing the systems of distance learning and work.

The University of Sharjah's strategy was drawn up to realize the vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council, Ruler of Sharjah, and President of the University of Sharjah. This year, the strategy conference also addressed the challenges that the University faced during the past year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which required many radical changes in various sectors within the University.

His Excellency Prof. Hamid M.K. Al Naimiy, Chancellor of the University of Sharjah, started the conference by welcoming the attendees and addressed the vision of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah in establishing the University of Sharjah as a national developmental project that works to develop the educational system by offering high-quality teaching and learning, integrating scientific research with innovation to serve the community, treating the student as the center of the educational process, and working to provide the community with distinguished graduates who are able to serve their societies and contribute effectively to the national development.

His Excellency then addressed the elements of the University's strategic plan over the next four years, which is based on benefiting from the opportunities created by the experience of dealing with the global COVID-19 pandemic during the past period that posed new challenges. Then the University Chancellor touched on the relevancy of the University's strategic plan with the UAE's national agenda, which focuses on artificial intelligence and its applications, advanced skills, space science and technology, healthcare, and innovation and entrepreneurship. He also discussed the development of the University on many levels since its inception until the present time, and talked about the establishment of the College of Computing and Informatics and its role in integrating many disciplines at the University to offer a set of multidisciplinary programs that are in line with the requirements of labor market.

The Chancellor also addressed the role of the University of Sharjah in confronting COVID-19 and its transformation into a smart educational system since the beginning of the pandemic. The University Chancellor presented its future plan to deal with the current situation through the strategic plan elements that focus on the student and advancing the ranking of the University, supporting the University family, scientific research and increasing its quality, innovation, supporting industry and society, and focusing on education and learning. He also stressed the need to attract Emirati cadres and qualify them in sciences and research to join the University.

Prof. Maamar Bettayeb, Vice Chancellor of the University for Research and Graduate Studies, addressed the topic of scientific research and presented several statistics reports on scientific research published in the scientific database "Scopus". He also shared the ranking of the University of Sharjah among the best universities in the field of publishing scientific research as well as the patents obtained by the University.

Prof. Qutayba Hamid Al Heialy, Vice Chancellor for Medical Colleges and Health Sciences and Dean of College of Medicine, gave an introductory briefing on the challenges presented by COVID-19 at the local and international level, and how the virus spreads, then touched upon the precautionary measures taken by the University in the health aspects of controlling the virus and preventing its spread.

For his part, Prof. Sherif Sedky, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, spoke about the importance of adopting a student-centered environment and community service through the sustainable model of the University of Sharjah, while stressing the necessary link between education and scientific research through scholarships and research funding.

Prof. Esam El-Din Agamy, Dean of the Deanship of Quality Assurance, Institutional Effectiveness and Accreditation, discussed the advancement of accredited academic programs that the University, all of which are locally accredited and most of them are internationally accredited.