Michigan State University Dubai appoints Chief Operating Officer to manage regional growth and development

Dr Bhayani is a higher education professional with 13 years' extensive international experience in the sector within the Gulf region, where he has worked to develop undergraduate and graduate programs, research and outreach activity. He will assume overall responsibility for the management functions of MSU Dubai, as it continues to grow in reach and scale.

Dr. Bhayani has a special interest and expertise in 'Transforming Higher Education Institutions'.

"MSU Dubai offers one of the most exciting challenges in higher education in the Middle East - delivering top quality US standard education and an authentic US campus experience to students in Dubai. After only one year of operation in Dubai, we have already built a strong reputation and attracted high caliber students, and our programs continue to develop with new faculty arriving from our US campus. Applications to the university rose by more than 40% for our second student enrollment with many of our students coming from within the region and beyond, and so managing rapid growth is one of our main challenges,"

says Dr Bhayani.

Dr. Bhayani most recently headed and developed various departments at the Oman's College of Banking and Financial Studies, including Professional Studies, Undergraduate, Executive Education, and Management Development especially the University of Bradford's Degree Programme. He was also responsible for establishing the marketing department at the College.

Commenting on the COO appointment, Dr Brendan Mullan, Executive Director at Michigan State University Dubai comments, "MSU Dubai is delighted to welcome Dr Bhayani to the university at a very exciting stage of our development, as we grow quickly through our launch phase. He brings valuable higher education and regional experience to our team in Dubai and will manage the process of our transformation into one of the leading providers of US education in the Middle East."

Michigan State University Provost, Mr Kim A. Wilcox adds, "Dr. Bhayani's extensive Middle East experience and his expertise in university operations management will enable him to lead the MSU Dubai operations team toward fulfilling our vision to build a world-class university-level teaching, research, and community engagement presence in Dubai."