Mohammed Al-Mualla assumed the responsibilities of the Undersecretary for Academic Affairs of Higher Education at the UAE's Ministry of Education in November 2016. In this role, Dr. Al-Mualla provides leadership, strategic and executive direction for two sectors in higher education affairs: Planning & Development, and Accreditation & Academic Services. This includes the departments of: Scientific Research, Quality Assessment, Scholarships, Graduates and Labor Market, Registration and Counselling, Certificate Equivalency, Licensure and Accreditation, and Professional Licensing.
Dr Al-Mualla holds a PhD degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and an MSc degree in Communication Systems and Signal Processing both from the University of Bristol, U.K. He also holds a BEng degree in Communications Engineering from Etisalat College of Engineering (currently Khalifa University), UAE.
Dr. Al-Mualla has an extensive academic and administrative experience of more than 17 years. He joined Etisalat College of Engineering in 2000 and then played a major role in the establishment of Khalifa University where he assumed several positions including Campus Manager, Interim Provost and the Senior Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies. In his last role he was responsible for providing leadership and strategic direction of research and graduate studies programs, the engagement of the university with industry, intellectual property management, technology transfer and research support services. In prior roles, he was also responsible for academic affairs, student recruitment and admission, student affairs and services, registration services, and academic support services such as libraries and laboratories.
During his career, Dr Al-Mualla has contributed also to teaching and research. He has taught a range of courses such as Signals & Systems, Digital Signal Processing, Audio & Image Processing, and Multimedia. His main research interests are in the area of multimedia processing and coding and multimedia digital rights management. He has published widely in refereed international journals and conferences and is the author of the book” Video Coding for Mobile Communications: Efficiency, Complexity and Error Resilience”, Academic Press. He supervised 10 Master and Doctorate students. He has contributed to curriculum and program development, and participated in, and led, many accreditation activities by both local and international bodies. He has been a member and chair of numerous University committees, boards, and panels. He has also lead the development of many programs, most notably the Ph.D. in Engineering degree which is the first Ph.D. in Engineering degree to be accredited in the UAE.
Dr Al-Mualla is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the ICT Fund, the Board of Trustees of the Abu Dhabi Vocational Education and Training Institute, and the Board of Trustees of the National Qualifications Authority. He is a member of the Senior Management Board of the Emirates Telecom Innovation Center (a partnership between Khalifa University, Etisalat and British Telecom) and chair of the Senior Management Board of the Mubadalah-KU Aerospace Innovation Center. He also served in the past on the Board of Directors of C4 Advanced Solutions and the Board of the Emirates Science Club.
Dr Al-Mualla is a Chartered Engineer (C.Eng.), Member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), and Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Dr. Al-Mualla was the Chairman of the IEEE UAE Section from 2014 to 2016. He also served as the Vice Chairman from 2006 to 2012. He founded the IEEE UAE Signal Processing & Communication Joint Chapter and served as its founding chair from 2004 until 2012.
Dr Al-Mualla has been a member of the steering, organizing and technical program committees of many international conferences, and has served on many editorial and reviewing boards of international journals and conferences.
