About Us

E. Eng. Hussain Ibrahim Al Hammadi, the Minister of Education, is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Applied Technology (IAT) in the United Arab Emirates since its inception in 2005. H.E. the Minister Al Hammadi began his career with the UAE Armed Forces in 1984 and began pursuit of his post-secondary education in the United States soon thereafter. In 1989 he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. Upon returning to the UAE, he began a distinguished career in helping lead the country’s development of technology and aerospace capabilities. This leadership culminated with his appointment in 2006 as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Advanced Investments (EAI). Headquarters in the nation’s capital, Abu Dhabi, EAI leverage national and international assets to expand the UAE’s aerospace infrastructure development through the formation of joint ventures with key technology industry partners. As his career developed, H.E. Al Hammadi became increasingly convinced that education, and specifically high-quality career-based technical education, was a key component of the country’s economic development strategy. He then used his emerging national reputation and leadership status to help persuade the government of Abu Dhabi to embark on several ambitious world-class educational initiatives, including development of distinctive technology-based educational institutions.
For example, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (www.adec.ac.ae) was established in 2005 to coordinate these initiatives, and soon thereafter in 2005 the Institute of Applied Technology was created. In early 2007 a third institution was established, Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research – KUSTAR (www.kustar.ac.ae). There is at least one human common denominator among these three initiatives – H.E. Al Hammadi was appointed by royal decree to serve on all three Boards of Trustees, and he has chaired the IAT Board since its inception. It would not be an overstatement so say that H.E. Al Hammadi is the “father” of Career Technical Education (CTE) in the UAE, and he continues to lead this effort with extraordinary vision and energy today. His prototypical accomplishment is his central role in the creation, development and impressive success of the Institute of Applied Technology. IAT has developed under his leadership into an internationally distinctive system of secondary CTE-based schools and post-secondary academies in applied technologies such as aviation, nursing and logistics. With his urging, in February of 2010 the five IAT secondary schools accomplished the AdvancED/SACS full accreditation for five years. He insisted on pursuing AdvancED/SACS accreditation for one simple reason – it represented the highest standards and therefore the most significant recognition. IAT exemplifies H.E. Al Hammadi’s vision of academically rigorous, career-integrated education to develop the UAE’s next generation of technology leaders