Vice President - Academic Affairs

Zohorecruit; Dubai; On-site; AED 600,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

A UAE-based educational institution is seeking a bilingual (Arabic and English) leader for the role of Vice President - Academic Affairs. The candidate will drive academic strategy, program development, accreditation, and quality assurance across all faculties.

Responsibilities include strengthening academic operations, faculty development, industry partnerships, research leadership, and student recruitment and success.

Qualifications

• Extensive senior academic leadership at Dean/VP level.
• Proven ability to design and launch new programs.
• Deep UAE CAA and accreditation experience.
• Strong curriculum design, governance and policy skills.
• Track record in student recruitment and growth.
• Established research portfolio with grants or citations.
• Experience leading large faculty teams and development.
• Solid industry links and academia partnerships.
• Strategic KPI planning and governance experience.
• Exposure to digital transformation of academic services.
• Experience in growing or transforming HEIs preferred.

Skills

Higher Education Leadership

Academic Program Development

Accreditation

Academic Operations

Student Growth

Research Profile

Faculty Leadership

Industry Exposure

Strategic Leadership

Digital Transformation

University Growth

Job description

Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Posted on 09/29/2026

Our client is a renowned educational institution based in the UAE. They are in need of a male bili ngual (Arabic and English) leader to meet the below requirement for the position of Vice President - Academic Affairs.

Job Requirements

• Higher Education Leadership: Extensive senior academic leadership experience, preferably at Dean, Vice President or equivalent level.
• Academic Program Development: Proven experience in designing and launching new academic programs, including undergraduate and postgraduate programs.
• Accreditation: Strong experience with UAE CAA and national/international accreditation, program accreditation, and institutional accreditation.
• Academic Operations: Strong experience in curriculum development, faculty workload/allocation, performance management, academic planning, governance, and institutional policies.
• Student Growth: Demonstrated experience contributing to student recruitment, enrollment growth, retention, student success, and overall institutional growth.
• Research Profile: Strong and established research record, including publications, citations, research leadership, grants, and ideally patents or other research outputs.
• Faculty Leadership: Experience managing and developing large faculty teams, including recruitment, performance management, professional development, and academic quality.
• Industry Exposure: Strong relationships with industry and experience developing industry–academia partnerships, experiential learning, employability initiatives, and external collaborations.
• Strategic Leadership: Demonstrated experience in institutional strategic planning, KPI development, governance, quality enhancement, and driving university-wide initiatives.
• Digital Transformation: Exposure to digital transformation of academic and student services, data-driven decision-making, and academic management systems.
• University Growth: Experience in a growing or transforming higher education institution would be highly valuable, particularly where the candidate has contributed directly to student growth, program expansion, accreditation, and institutional development.

UAE Experience is preferred: Strong preference for candidates with substantial UAE higher education experience and a good understanding of the local regulatory and accreditation environment.