Gulf University for Science and Technology Awarded Fifth Prestigious Accreditation
• Accreditation is the fifth to be attained by the University• Accreditation pertains to GUST’s Mass Communication and Media Department• Only six other programs worldwide have earned the ACA accreditation Kuwait City, 10 October 2016: Gulf University for Science and Technology announced this week that it has just received its fifth international accreditation, this time for its Mass Communication and Media (MCM) Department from the American Communications Association (ACA). The accreditation comes in the form of a conditional accreditation, before a follow-up review next year confirms it as a full five-year accreditation. The ACA is US-based non-profit professional association, committed to enabling the effective use of new and evolving technologies to facilitate communication instruction, research, criticism, and offer a technologically supportive venue for all who study how humans communicate. The GUST MCM Department is the first communication and media department in Kuwait, and one of only seven worldwide to receive an international accreditation of this kind. Professor Donald Bates, GUST President, said, “As a university, our ambition to establish a strong reputation is clear. In 15 short years we have earned four full accreditations, and a ranking that places us as the 73rd university out of 971 in the Arab region, which translates into GUST being the number one private university in Kuwait. Our mission is to go from strength to strength, and continue to provide our students with the best educational experience possible.” This conditional accreditation is a demonstration of the international standards at which the department operates. As a testament to the department’s efforts, it has grown from approximately 380 students in 2013 to over 500 today, and faculty numbers have increased correspondingly. During this time, GUST students have broken a world record for charitable donation collections, volunteered in international aid work trips throughout Asia, won second place worldwide in an anti-extremism campaign judged by Facebook Inc. and the US State Department, conducted three national-level student-faculty collaborative conferences, the most recent of which raised over USD$60,000 for local children’s charities, and have attended numerous national and international events to hone their skills and demonstrate their talents. Dr Fahed Al Sumait, Head of the GUST MCM Department, said, “We are very excited to have earned this accolade. Our faculty and students have been working extremely hard to ensure that we create an atmosphere that fosters learning and creativity while also having fun and contributing to the broader community and society. The accreditation process has helped us enhance our quality standards even further as we strive to be a leading center for media and communication education in Kuwait and the region.” In addition to the new ACA accreditation, GUST also holds accreditations from the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation (CEA) for its English Foundation Program, the College Reading & Learning Association (CRLA) for its Student Success Center, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) for its Computer Science Program, and the AACSB-International accreditation for its College of Business Administration.
