The President’s Blog
28/08/2025 2025-09-18 9:37The President’s Blog
The President's Blog
To Teach is to Prompt Reflection
Good teaching isn’t about transferring knowledge from one person to another. It’s about encouraging the learner to pause, to re-examine and sometimes to rethink what they thought they already knew. That kind of education isn’t always easy. It asks students to reconsider what they know, not just to remember it. And that can be uncomfortable. But if we want to prepare young people for a world that is fast-changing, ambiguous and often contradictory, then we have to help them develop the confidence to sit with uncertainty. We have to prompt curiosity, not just deliver conclusions. At Euro University of Bahrain, this is part of our academic culture. Yes, we want our students to succeed in their assessments and careers. But more than that, we want them to ask better questions and to develop the critical judgement to navigate complex realities. That takes time, patience and a very human kind of …
Where Education Meets Markets
This week, something quietly powerful took place in the heart of Bahrain Bay. In a district built around investment, capital and long-term economic vision, education walked through the front door—sat at the table—and began a conversation about access, structure and possibility. Together with Mrs Ameera Alabbasi, Director of Individual Banking at Khaleeji Bank, I had the privilege of signing an MoU that lays the foundation for a new Sharia-compliant educational financing solution for EUB students and their families. Also present at the signing were Mr Salman Aljanahi, our Chief Operating Officer and a son of EUB’s founder, Dr Ahmed AlJanahi, and Ms Dalal Buasalli, Product Development Specialist at Khaleeji Bank. Salman’s leadership was central to making this partnership a reality—from first conversations to final agreement. It reflects the same vision his family has championed from the start: one where education isn’t just a destination, but a bridge to opportunity, contribution …
City Centre Conversations: Supporting Informed Student Decisions.
Last weekend, the wonderful team from Euro University of Bahrain (EUB) spent three days at The City Centre Mall speaking with prospective students and their families. I found it a rewarding experience. Conversations ranged from academic goals to future careers, from financial considerations to campus life. And while everyone’s path is different, one theme kept resurfacing: people want to make a decision they won’t regret. At EUB, we believe that choosing a university is more than selecting a programme. Programmes at different universities can appear similar on paper, but the learning experience, academic expectations and support structures can vary significantly. We encourage students to be curious, to visit campuses and to speak with faculty. These decisions deserve time and attention. What we offer at EUB is distinctive. Students study for globally respected University of London degrees. These programmes are designed and updated each year by experts from leading UK institutions. …
Delivering Strategic Plans: Why Culture, Clarity and Ownership Matter
When I wrote Euro University of Bahrain’s five-year strategic plan, that was the easy part. Knowing what you want to achieve is one thing. Assembling the teams and making it happen is something else entirely. I quickly realised that culture is critical to delivering strategy operationally. Culture should be viewed as your company’s operating system—the platform used to get things done. Companies are the sum of their people and it’s essential everyone understands the big picture, how 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 fit in and how 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 contribute. A plan is not a wishful thought or mere hope. I took inspiration from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, specifically Habit 2: Start with the end in mind. I wrote our strategic plan backwards. I imagined what we could look like in five years. Then I designed KPIs to track progress towards that vision. Next, I worked backwards again, defining the small steps, tasks …
How do you navigate complex and uncertain problems?
In leadership and research, the toughest challenges rarely have straightforward solutions. Often, you don’t have all the data and the connections between actions and results aren’t always obvious. Human behaviour, for example, can be unpredictable. I’ve learned that speed—the steady rhythm of trying, learning and adapting—is essential to making meaningful progress amid uncertainty and complexity. Speed doesn’t mean rushing or cutting corners. It’s about cadence: an iterative rhythm of doing, learning and improving. We start with a minimum viable plan and then act. Good enough, not perfect. We evaluate honestly, discuss openly what worked and what didn’t, and apply those lessons to the next iteration. This approach requires teams who communicate clearly, take genuine agency, and foster transparency. Only with those qualities can continuous improvement become truly embedded in how we work. This matters because many of the challenges we face in education, research or organisational development are complex and …
Professor Andrew Nix is the President and CEO of Euro University of Bahrain. He has published more than 600 international papers and successfully supervised 65+ PhD students. He is well-known for his ground-breaking research contributions that shaped the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth standards. More recently, Professor Andrew’s 5G wireless research is globally recognized for tackling societal challenges related to smart cities, urban transportation and digital healthcare.
