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Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa Edition

The first postgraduate dentistry educational institution in the United Arab Emirates By Dental Tribune Middle East & Africa D ubai, UAE: Welcome Doctor Donald Ferguson, please share with us a little bit about your or- igin and your responsibilities in the Middle-East? I am an American citizen and matriculat- ed to Dubai from Boston University (BU) in the USA as Chair and Program Director in Orthodontics. Prior to BU, I was Asso- ciate Dean for Dentistry and Executive Di- rector, Center for Advanced Dental Educa- tion, Saint Louis University, Missouri. My responsibilities in Dubai are as Founding Dean, European University College, a post- graduate dentistry educational initiative created by Dr. Elhami Nicolas. What influenced your decision to pursue a career in educating? I am inspired by the pursuit of excellence and the discovery processes represented by the academic university setting. I enjoy working with bright students with ambi- tions to create a better world. What do you consider an important re- gion specific factor that contributes to the health of the dentistry scene in the Mid- dle East? Current attention is on the United Arab Emirates and specifically on Dubai. There is so much that is NOT known about the dental health and well being of the peo- ple of this country and the city compared to the availability of parallel information in Europe or the USA. To gather this informa- tion, European University College has sur- veyed over 80,000 Dubai school-aged stu- dents to answer fundamental questions about prevalence of decayed, missing and filled teeth, status of oral hygiene and prev- alence of malocclusion. EUC is academ- ic institution responsible for guiding stu- dents in research and this large data base is utilized for several on-going Master degree theses. Summary information from these data should help formulate dental policy and manpower decisions by local and fed- eral healthcare authorities. What have you learned from your current position as an educator that you would impart onto other practicing dentists? Under the leadership of HRH Sheikh Mo- hammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister and Vice President of the Unit- ed Arab Emirates, and Ruler of Dubai, this city is a very exciting place with tremen- dous opportunities for excellent and ambi- tious dental professionals. Could you tell us about the European Uni- versity College? Nicolas & Asp Postgraduate Institute was initially licensed in 2006 and was the first of its kind in UAE and the geographic re- gion by offering a 3-year Master degree training in Orthodontics. European Uni- versity College (EUC), as it is known to- day, has grown exponentially and evolved dramatically in the past six years and offers 3-year Master degree programs includes Pediatric Dentistry, and Endodontics, a 2-year Diploma program in Advanced Ed- ucation in General Dentistry, and a 1-year Diploma program in Oral Implantology; a new Associate Degree for Dental Assisting will soon be offered. Initial accreditation documents for a Master degree in Restor- ative & Prosthodontics program have been submitted to the Commission for Academ- ic Accreditation (CAA) of the UAE Minis- try of Higher Education of Scientific Re- search (MOHESR). EUC has grown to 126 individuals including 28 faculty members (10 full-time and 18 part-time), 51 support staff, and 47 students representing 22 dif- ferent nationalities. Besides the 16,000+ sq ft main educational facility operating at the Ibn Sina building (#27) in Dubai Healthcare City, EUC maintains 2 classrooms in Abu Dhabi, operates a day-surgery clinic in Ju- meirah-1 as well as a “Smile” mobile den- tal van. To date, 52 dentists have graduat- ed from EUC. How is it unique and how does it differ from others? Besides being the first postgraduate den- tistry educational institution in the United Arab Emirates and the first to offer “West- ern” training in the Middle East, Europe- an University College is unique with teach- ing faculty having graduated from (creden- tialed) Europe or the United States of Amer- ica. The founding program in Orthodontics is offered in collaboration with Malm Uni- versity and the curriculum in Oral Implan- tology is inspired by Gothenburg Universi- ty, both in Sweden. The specialty certificate in Orthodontics is recognized by the Swed- ish Board of Health & Welfare and gradu- ates from EUC can practice in Sweden after satisfying Swedish residency requirements and demonstrating dental school equiva- lency training. What can participants expect from the cur- riculum? Students enrolled at European University College can expect from the curriculum an education that is no different from the cur- riculum offered in Malm , Sweden. EUC takes great pride in the excellence repre- sented in its curricula and the high quali- ty of its teaching faculty and support staff. Participants can expect a highly structured and scheduled learning environment with outstanding, cutting edge facilities and equipment and ample patient flow. What are the plans of the university? What are your plans for growth? It is expected that European University College will evolve into European Univer- sity with the addition of at least two more colleges. It is expected that EUC will con- tinue to increase its educational offerings in not only postgraduate dentistry but also other health care related disciplines. It is expected that EUC will grow its facilities as well as expand the number of students, teaching faculty and support staff. How are you planning on improving the Dentistry scene in the University? EUC maintains the highest standards of ed- ucation and patient care consistent with the standards found in the United States and Europe and constantly strives to improve. Our vision includes being the best local- ly, regionally and internationally. To that end, we continuously benchmark our pro- grams and educational outcomes with stan- dard setting programs and outcome found in Europe and the United States. “Being- the-best” is in-grained into the fabric of our Institutional soul… it is a daily part of our culture as a University College. What would you say makes your school most unique in relation to other schools in this field? As stated previously, EUC is unique from the start being the first of its kind in the UAE and region, and we aspire to be an in- ternational leader in high quality educa- tion, research and community service. In comparison to other postgraduate dental institutions, EUC is in class by itself. One other institution has attempted to match EUC but did not succeed; yet another in- stitution is newly forming and will be test- ed over time. How is the school adapting to the chang- ing professional market? EUC has experienced the economic down- turn no different from everyone else, but as Dubai rebounds and grows, so will Euro- pean University College. Dubai is a finan- cial hub for the Middle East and attracts streams of expatriates including dental professionals. Dentists new to UAE along with dentists graduated from UAE dental schools seek the best in postgraduate den- tal education, research and community ser- vice, and EUC will continue to offer the fin- est available in the market place. What have you learned about the Den- tal scene in the Middle-East region, the changes you have seen and your insight on changes to come? As UAE moves to emerging country sta- tus, greater focus will be placed on educa- tional excellence and best practices in every sector of human endeavor including post- graduate dental education.EUC strives to remain ahead-of-the-curve and should be a beacon of hope and inspiration for those seeking excellence in dentistry and best practices. How is the rising interest in the Dental ed- ucation in the region affecting the scene? Interest in high quality dental education continues to increase in the region, and EUC remains flexible and agile in response to the changing postgraduate dental educa- tion market. As in any medical related field, the indus- try of dentistry is always changing. Espe- cially considering a trend that the world is seeing now with an emphasis on the in- tegration of CAD/CAM dentistry being pushed farther than it has before in the way that a lot of professionals and clin- ics are constantly changing the way they completely perform. How has this affected the curriculum, or the way you teach your students? What are you doing to keep up with these changes? European University College is proud to offer the latest and best in technology and equipment utilized in its educational pro- grams. A cone-beam computerized to- mography (CT) machine serves as a great source of research for improvements in di- agnosis and treatment planning and is used as needed for orthognathic surgery plan- ning as well as oral implant placement. Ap- plication of latest technologies is studied through Master degree research has affect- ed patient care quality as well as manage- ment and storage of patient records. Cur- rent EUC clinics are strongly electronic and nearly paperless in pursuit of best prac- tice efficiency. EUC curricula are evidence- based and updated routinely to make the latest scholarly literature available to stu- dents. The recent opening of AL Maktoum Medical Library at Dubai Healthcare City has made access to electronic literature eas- ier and updating curricula faster. These technological advances simply quicken the pace of making the changes necessary to re- main excellent. Donald J. Ferguson, DMD, MSD Professor & Dean European University College (formerly Nicolas & Asp University Col- lege) Dubai Healthcare City, UAE Ibn Sina Building, Block D, 3rd Floor, Office 302 PO Box 53382, Dubai, UAE email: fergusonloud@gmail.com mobile: +971 50 149 2375 tele: +971 4 362 4788 fax: +971 4 362 4793 Contact Information ”I am inspired by the pursuit of excellence and the discovery processes represented by the academic university setting“ ”It is expected that European University College will evolve into European University with the addition of at least two more colleges“ 27DENTAL ACADEMIA TRIBUNEDENTAL TRIBUNE Middle East & Africa Edition | Jan-Feb 2013

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