Visiting Scholar Stories

visiting scholar stories

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  Matthew MacLean

  Visiting Scholar

  Matthew MacLean is a PhD candidate in the joint program in history and Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at New York University (NYU). His dissertation research is on the spatial transformation of the Trucial States and United Arab Emirates in the second half of the twentieth century, with a focus on Ras Al Khaimah. Matthew was a Fulbright student in the UAE from 2006 to 2007 at Zayed University in Dubai and a Humanities Research Fellow at NYU Abu Dhabi from 2014 to 2015. Prior to entering graduate school, he taught history at the high school level in Brooklyn, New York for eight years.

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  Sarath Ganji

  Fulbright Scholar, 2015

  Sarath Ganji is a Fulbright Scholar working with the Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research. His research focuses on medical tourism and high-skilled labor migration in Ras Al Khaimah and Dubai. Prior to the Foundation, he worked on Gulf economic and security policy with the U.S. Department of State and on health policy and intellectual property rights with the Woodrow Wilson Center. Sarath received his master's degree from the Harvard Kennedy School and bachelor's from Georgetown University and has completed graduate coursework in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. 

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  Lee Rensimer

  Doctoral Scholar, 2015

  Lee Rensimer is a doctoral researcher of educational policy studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a visiting scholar at the Al Qasimi Foundation. His research focuses on international branch campuses, strategic partnerships, and innovative policymaking in the United Arab Emirates’ higher education sector. As a part of his doctoral dissertation, his work is currently exploring the internationalization strategies of various institutions in Ras Al Khaimah to understand how policies adapt in new contexts and through a diverse set of actors.

  In the past, Lee has worked on various projects related to quality assurance, accreditation, and academic technology with higher education institutions in the Gulf and Central Asia. He is also a CELTA-certified English instructor and has taught in a number of classroom settings around the world. 

  Lee holds a master’s degree in international development from the University of Manchester and a bachelor’s in anthropology from Pennsylvania State University.

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  Woohyang Sim

  Visiting Doctoral Scholar

  Woohyang Sim is a PhD candidate at WASEDA University in Japan. Her field of study is higher education and sociology of education, with a particular focus on the GCC countries. 

  Ms. Sim has been strongly interested in Arab societies since undergraduate school. Her graduation thesis focused on the Arab identity of a young generation that studies abroad. Her master’s thesis explored educational credentialism in Saudi Arabian society. During her doctoral studies, she was able to clarify the relationship between education and status attainment in Saudi Arabia through surveys of Saudi youth. Currently, she is expanding her research target to other GCC countries in order to investigate the factors that influence young people’s educational aspirations and career plans and what function higher education plays in those societies. 

  During her time with the Al Qasimi Foundation, Woohynag hopes to expand her knowledge of education policy, particularly higher education policies in the UAE. She is also eager to explore the culture of Ras Al Khaimah and the rest of the emirates.

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  Dr. Jane Knight

  Faculty Scholar, 2014

  Dr. Knight focuses her research on the international dimension of higher education at the institutional, national, regional, and international levels. She is the author of numerous publications on internationalization concepts and strategies, quality assurance, institutional management, trade, education hubs, and crossborder education. Her most recent books include International Education Hubs (2014) and Internationalization of African Higher Education: Hubs (2014) and Internationalization of African Higher Education: Towards Achieving the MDGS (co-editor). She is the co-founder of the African Network for the Internationalization of Education and sits on the advisory boards of several international organizations, universities, and journals. In 2010 the University of Exeter awarded her an Honorary LLD, in 2011 she was the recipient of the Outstanding Researcher Award from the European Association for Institutional Research, and in 2013 she was awarded the Gilbert Medal from Universitas 21 for her contribution to higher education.  

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