His Excellency the President of Umm Al-Qura University, Prof. Abdullah Bafail, at his office today on Sunday, received ‘The Leaders Builder of the Year 2020 Award’, from the representative of the American Leadership Management International (LMI) Company in the GCC countries, Dr. Mazen Balila. This took place in the presence of the Assistant of the Vice President for Development and Community Service, Prof. Khalid Barqawi, and the Dean of the Deanship of Development and Quality, Dr. Saeed Kabrah.

His Excellency won the award after training 80 male and female leaders of the university academics in order to develop their leadership and management skills. This was achieved through developing personal, leadership and professional skills through the training program entitled, "Integrated Leader". In this program, trainees take intensive courses for a period of one year, divided into 4 levels, including: personal productivity, personal leadership, motivational leadership, and strategic leadership.

His Excellency stressed the importance of training and developing the leadership skills of the academic staff at the university. He emphasized the program’s role in developing the administrative and research system as well as the community service and investment activities. Moreover, he stressed that the program provides university leaders with many skills that enable them to perform their duties effectively and efficiently.

His Excellency also honored the UQU Vice President, Prof. Farid Al-Ghamdi, the UQU Vice President for Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research, Prof. Abdul-Wahhab Al-Resini, the Supervisor of the UQU Vice Presidency for Educational Affairs, Dr. Ahmad Babalghaith, the Assistant of the Vice President for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Dr. Ayman Johargy, the Assistant of the Vice President for Academic Development and Community Service, Prof. Khalid Barqawi, and UQU Vice President for Female Student Affairs, Dr. Sarah Al-Khouli, on the occasion of their graduation from the four-level "Integrated Leader" program.

On his part, Prof. Khalid Barqawi praised the UQU President’s interest in intensifying the training and development programs for all UQU staff, and his follow-up of the training program for making leaders within the university's strategic plan for training. He indicated that all the packages of the training programs were designed according to the requirements and challenges that the leader may encounter in university education institutions.

Moreover, Dr. Saeed Kabrah stated that the Integrated Leader Program comes within a package of specific programs that the Deanship of University Development and Quality is implementing, in partnership with local and international bodies to qualify the university's leadership and staff. He added that these programs aim to enhance the status of the university and its outputs through developing leadership skills and the trainees' deep knowledge of their own abilities.

It is noteworthy that the Deanship of University Development and Quality has developed another program called "Effective Leader", which targets 100 vice deans from academic colleges, support deanships, and institutes. The deanship also provided a number of training courses in various subjects during the past year, which benefited 1000 members of the university's academic staff.

Leadership Management International succeeded in qualifying and training more than 20 business and educational organizations worldwide. LMI aims to develop leadership by discovering and developing the potential of individuals, and pursuing the factors that lead to increasing the employees' desire to improve their performance and raise their level of skills and abilities.