According to Vision 2030 and the instructions of the President of Umm Al-Qura University (UQU), the College of Business Administration launched a joint educational project with Texas A & M University. The College was admired by Texas A & M University on Wednesday 1^st Rabi’I 1438H during a joint lecture between the American university and the students of Business Administration.

Dr. Angela Dorocco praised the distinguished level of the College’s students, members of staff, the educational content of their curricula, as well as the facilities provided by the College for its students. Such facilities were evident during the joint educational project which Texas A & M University had previously launched with other American and international universities. However, this project with the College of Business Administration was the most distinguished with regards to students, teaching and support by the College’s leadership. This was evident as the project’s teamwork succeeded to organize such a fruitful educational project.

It is worth mentioning that the teamwork of the business Administration College was led by Dr. Sultan bin Ayed Al-Buqami, the Dean, followed up by Prof.  Ahmed Al-Qarni, the Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs, and membered by both Dr. Yosri Nabil, the Supervisor of the College’s Center of Active Learning and Interactive Education, and Mr. Sultan Saber Al-Harbi, the lecturer in the college who is currently at scholarship in Texas A & M University.  During the project, advanced teaching methods, such as cell phone, social media and electronic learning, as well as developed international cooperation were benefitted from.

Remarkably, the project witnessed the participation of a number of the College’s female students under the supervision of Dr. Suzan Wazan, Vice-Dean for Female Section. The project was also supervised by Dr. Ali Al-Qasem, Head of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality, Dr. Salwa Al-Mahmady, Dean of University Studies at the Ree’ Dhakhir Headquarters, Dr. Naima Yarkindy, Vice-Dean for Admission and Registration, and Dr. Hatem Natto, Vice Dean of e-Learning and Distance Education for Media and Educational Technologies Center Affairs. Moreover, the project was followed up by Mr. Abdullah Al-Zahrani, the lecturer at the Department of Tourism and Hospitality who is responsible for the project’s international technical communication, Mr. Sultan Al-Ansari at the College’s Technical Support Unit, Ms. Najat, the communication engineer at the College’s Female Section, Mr. Ahmed bin Afif, the communication engineer at the College’s Media Center, in addition to Ms. Fatima Al-Zahrani from the College of Business Administration.     

The lecture started with extension of deep thanks to Dr. Angela Dorocco from Dr. Yosri Nabil who stressed the welcome and support of the College leaderships to such lecture. On the other hand, Ms. Samaher Al-Judaiby, the lecturer at the Business Administration College, welcomed Dr. Dorocco and expressed the gratitude of the female students and the pleasure of College and its affiliates with such a pioneer educational project. Then, Dr. Dorocco praised the distinguished level of the College’s students and Dr. Yosri Nabil, the subject lecturer.

She was astonished at the support given by the College and UQU to the project.  She also appreciated the efforts exerted by Mr. Sultan Al-Harbi with the American students in the project. She noted that such joint educational project had previously been launched with other American and international universities; however, this project with the College of Business Administration was the most distinguished.   

Dr. Yosri Nabil opened the lecture that was based on three topics. The first topic discussed how to build the international reputation of touristic places and tourism companies, and how tourism companies in Texas succeeded in overcoming the stereotyped image of the city as an industrial, oil-related and desert place to become the top tourism revenue city in America. The second topic revolved around the ability of the American tourism companies to compete with the internationally giant tourism companies.

The third topic was about tips for success in the domain of business administration at tourism companies. Afterwards, Dr. Dorocco started the lecture and discussed secrets of success and how Texas’ journey of success in tourism had extended for more than sixty years. She advised students to start building samples of successful, sustainable and developed tourism businesses. Finally, Dr. Yosri Nabil concluded the lecture by the connection of its contents to his explanation of Fombrun’s Reputation Building Sample and its applications on tourism companies.

The lecture involved interactive questions by male and female students. Dr. Dorocco praised the high level of the questions and scientific understanding of the Saudi students. At the end of the lecture, all attendees extended thanks to the leaderships at UQU, the College of Business Administration, as well as Dr. Dorocco.