University of Wollongong in Dubai: creating a private university in the public interest Available to Purchase

Professor Rob Whelan was appointed President of the University of Wollongong in Dubai in August 2008. He was previously Dean of Science (2002-2008) and Head of the School of Biological Sciences (1993-2002) at the University of Wollongong in Australia. As Dean, he established an innovative International Science Degree in which students at Universities in Colorado, Dublin and Wollongong work together in the same degree program. He is the author of a research monograph, The Ecology of Fire (Cambridge University Press 1995), has supervised over 20 doctoral students, has published well over 100 scientific papers and attracted A $2.8 million in competitive research grant funding. He was Vice President of the Ecological Society of Australia and editor of its professional journal, Austral Ecology. Since his appointment at UOWD, Professor Whelan has established the University's Faculty structure, stimulated research activity and doctoral programs, and broadened the University beyond business and IT, into Engineering and the Social Sciences.

Dr Daniel Kratochvil heads the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at UOWD. Previously, he served as a Senior Administrator at universities in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Dubai in addition to teaching courses in the fields of philosophy, architecture, history, political science, and sociology. Prior to moving to the Gulf, he worked in New York city at the Council for International Education Exchange as well as projects for the Freedom Forum at Columbia University and the Mellon Foundation. His research interests are in the field of international higher education, with a focus on governance issues and relations between home and satellite campuses. Extending from his doctoral dissertation, he is continued research on federal systems and intergovernmental relations. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Texas in Austin and a Master of Arts, Master of Philosophy, and Doctor of Philosophy from Columbia University in the city of New York.