The emergence of generative AI (GenAI) has forced educators across the world to rethink curricula, policies and principles both in and out of the classroom. “Generative AI brings many opportunities, but also a lot of challenges — especially in terms of academic integrity,” said Sherif Kamel ’88, ’90, ’13, dean of AUC’s School of Business.
As the new semester kicks off, Kamel has pondered how AI will affect teaching and learning, how it will support and challenge research, and how it will change the daily operations of business schools.
“This is a unique moment for business schools to lead the way in rethinking business and management education and explore what is needed to succeed in a fast, changing, innovative, constantly disruptive and interconnected global environment,” he writes in the most recent edition of the NileView.
He forecasts change across the board — from course assessment to faculty recruitment and retention.
“GenAI plug-ins could help create testing material and analyze student performance, identifying strengths and weaknesses and suggesting ways to improve,” he said. “This would support and optimize learning outcomes and motivate students.”
Kamel also noted that AI skills will soon become a “must” across disciplines, including teaching. “Moving forward, universities and higher education institutions, including business schools, will opt to recruit and retain faculty who can embrace technologies such as GenAI and have the knowledge and experience to use them in their teaching methods and research approaches,” he said.
Teaching faculty, students and staff how to effectively and responsibly use the tools of tomorrow is of utmost importance, according to Kamel. “A lot of work needs to be done that relates to security, privacy and academic integrity,” he said. “Like every other emerging innovative technology, there are ethical and unethical ways to use AI, and the business leaders of tomorrow need to learn this as students today.”
Looking back, Kamel points out that the AI revolution has been a long time coming. “This has been gradually happening throughout the last 80 years,” he explained. “Many simple tasks we used to do are now done faster and more efficiently by technology.”
Kamel stresses that machines will not replace humans — at least not in the foreseeable future. However, he does believe that the time we spend on certain activities, as well as the nature of work, will absolutely change.
"I've always said that humans and human capital are society's most important assets,” he said. “People will keep on doing what they do best, which is the thought process, judgment, vision and strategy, versus machines, which will help with data projections and advanced analysis — and this can help us make better decisions.”
With OpenAI’s latest text-generating model GPT-4 released only last March, Kamel believes that we are just beginning to scratch the surface of AI’s potential, placing importance upon upskilling and reskilling to stay current and competitive in “a more advanced, accelerated, technology-driven environment,” he said. “Degrees will still be important, but they must be complemented with lifelong learning through certification, professional development and training, lifelong learning is no longer an option.”
Innovation for Business Schools
Kamel has been appointed vice chair and chair-elect of the board of directors of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the oldest global accrediting body for business schools with the largest network of schools, educators, learners and businesses worldwide.
In his new role, Kamel will lend his years of expertise in advocating for innovation, engagement and impact in business education. He will also serve as the board’s chair for the 2024-2025 academic year, and is now chairing the board’s Innovation Committee.
AUC’s School of Business joined AACSB in 2001 and was first accredited by the association in 2006. “Since then, we’ve been active members — not just of the network as an accredited school, but many of our staff and faculty are active in brainstorming strategy discussions, projects as well as regional and global conferences,” said Kamel.
Striving to keep business and management education current amid an ever-changing landscape is one of AACSB’s cornerstones, Kamel explained, highlighting digital transformation and AI as two major trends at the forefront of discussion. “Additionally, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues have become an integral part of the curriculum and activities organized and offered by business schools,” he added.
Business schools should practice what they preach and always strive to innovate and adapt to developments taking place in different global businesses, industries and markets to remain relevant and impactful and shape the future leaders of tomorrow who can make a positive difference to society.
A warm welcome to all our new faculty! With research interests from international policy to visual storytelling, we are thrilled to have incoming faculty this fall who are experts in a range of disciplines. Read more about the wide array of knowledge they bring to AUC, and enjoy hearing a few fun facts – they may surprise you!
Find out a fun fact about each of our new faculty members for Fall 2023 who are experts in a range of disciplines spanning different academic schools.
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
"I think it's important for professors and students to have a good rapport. So, I try to keep it very cheerful and as fun as possible."
Research Interests: I work on the political economy of the Middle East, with a focus on global North-South relations. I look at some of the ways in which international finance and Western aid, in particular, influenced domestic political economies, as well as the consequences of that money on things like inequality and the perpetuation of poverty traps.
Assistant Professor
Department of Construction Engineering
"I think I have the balance between being a hard worker and a social butterfly. I love participating in both worlds."
Research Interests: My master's work was in structural engineering, consisting of finite element modeling and the use of experimental and numerical modeling to map complex structural elements. For my PhD, I shifted to city-scale modeling, focusing on using data-driven approaches and machine learning techniques to enhance the resilience of our cities in the face of climate-induced disasters.
Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
"One day, I hope that when I come to work, the car will drive itself. I wouldn't have to drive everywhere I go."
Research Interests: I work mainly in two areas: First, in cybersecurity, focusing mainly on privacy awareness. Privacy is an important element of cybersecurity globally, and there is a growing understanding of the challenges in this area. My second focal point is autonomous vehicles, which is something we're continuously working toward.
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology, Egyptology and Anthropology
"Everyone loves to eat and to talk about food. It's something that we all share."
Research Interests: I look at what people ate and how they prepared food during different time periods. I love studying and researching the history of food in Egypt. Whenever I tell anyone I study food, they are very interested in what ancient Egyptians ate, but there's so much more to discover about Egyptian food history!
Interim Dean
School of Continuing Education
"I want to reach more and more people, both in Egypt and beyond."
Research Interests: I'm joining the School of Continuing Education at a very important time, as it is celebrating its 100th year in 2024. Therefore, one of my main goals is to capitalize on the legacy, history and the reputation of SCE to expand its programs. I want to bring SCE’s services to the community and foster the ability to reach more and more people, both in Egypt and beyond.
Assistant Professor
Department of Public Policy and Administration
"I am looking forward to exploring all the ancient spaces of beautiful Egypt."
Research Interests: I work on climate change and energy issues, and I study how international institutions and interests interact with policy processes at the national level. I am primarily interested in the influence of international actors and interests on domestic policies and policy debates.
Associate Professor of Practice
Department of Arts
"Usually when I enter my class, I want to break the ice as fast as possible."
Research Interests: I'm really interested in visual archives. I have already begun building an archive here of pictures taken on the streets of Cairo. I also have a project with students and alumni from my previous university, where we focus on building archives and communicating them again in a different way via workshops.
Associate Professor
Department of Applied Linguistics
“Welcome aboard! I hope you have a stress-free course."
Research Interests: My research area includes a range of subjects within linguistics. For example, I work with sociolinguistics and discourse analysis. Sometimes, I work with cognitive linguistics, which is primarily related to how we learn language as kids and adults.
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
“My lifelong dream was to become an astronaut because I was interested in space and math and so on. Then I realized that I'm actually interested in exploration, so I ended up becoming a researcher and professor.”
Research Interests:
My research is about character computing, which is an extension of effective computing. This aims to merge psychology and computer science in order to model human behavior based on different situations and build adaptive applications. I am also interested in privacy and security, as well as utilizing machine learning and ethical AI so that people can be more aware while dealing with data.
Psychology and computer science are seemingly different fields. However, I'm very interested in combining different disciplines because in the end, computer science is a tool that can be applied in any domain. My interest during and after my PhD was to see how you can actually understand human behavior more by building computer simulations and adjusting the computer algorithms in order to understand people as individuals and treat all of them distinctly.
Professor
Department of Sociology, Egyptology and Anthropology
"It's always an adventure to work on an excavation."
Research Interests: I do archaeological research in Dayr al Barsha, which is a cemetery site from the Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom located in Minya governorate. I also study the history of Egyptology and how the discipline has evolved over the last 200 years, with a focus on how it developed in Belgium particularly.
During excavations, you're there with a big team of people from all nationalities and specialties who contribute to the knowledge of the site. We always find incredible things, sometimes very unexpected things. We once found the meter stick of an American archaeologist who was working at the site in 1915. He just left it behind. We also found an intact tomb several years ago, with a coffin, mummy and two models preserved as if they were made yesterday. It’s always an adventure to work on an excavation.
Associate Professor of Practice
Department of the Arts
“Each project is a journey, like pulling a thread. You keep pulling it until you reach something, but not the end. There’s never an end.”
Research Interests: I have been a practicing artist for around 20 years. I'm a visual artist in an expanded sense; I'm not really tied to one medium. I create mixed media installations, and I perform. I also create films, both experimental documentaries and docufiction. I keep myself entertained. Right now, I’m working on my first feature-length film. It's a docufiction that’s going to take me a couple more years to finish.
My work is often inspired by the mundane and daily life, drawing inspiration from things that I experience on a daily basis. I try to push them further and investigate their significance in a larger sociopolitical sense. I don't really think of a particular project as a special project. Each project is a journey, like pulling a thread. You keep pulling it until you reach something, but not the end. There’s never an end.
