Gulf Medical University

History and Affiliations

Gulf Medical University (GMU) is located in the emirate of Ajman, on the western coast of the UAE. GMU was founded in 1998 as Gulf Medical College (GMC) by the Thumbay Group, and offered certified courses in Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and Bachelor of Physiotherapy. The college was opened under Decree Number 1, issued on 28 January 1998, by His Highness Sheikh Humaid Bin Rashid Al-Nuaimi, the ruler of Ajman and Member of the Supreme Council, UAE.

The institution became a University in the year 2008 following a Decree by Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, United Arab Emirates.

Today, the focus of Gulf Medical University has extended into three core areas: Medical Education, Healthcare and Research.

Campus

The Gulf Medical University is located on a vast stretch of land extending up to a 1 Million Sq.ft. and a built area of 1 Million Sq.ft. (being built in phases) that currently houses the main campus and its support facilities. It has within itself laboratories, classrooms and administration buildings, a stand-alone building that houses the library and the modern multimedia centers, a Restaurant and a sports complex with courts for tennis, basketball, volleyball and grounds for cricket and football.

GMU Information & Learning Center

The Information and Learning Centre covers a huge area spread over two floors incorporating a computer laboratory having 80 terminals with 8 multi-media labs, a graduate study centre, 8 small group learning rooms and internet browsing facilities, Medline abstracts for viewing and printing, medical data bases for accessing full-text articles covering 400 journals, and hard copies of journals, text books and monographs covering both areas of basic and clinical sciences are available. Wireless connectivity in the whole campus provides access to both the internet and intranet resources for students and faculty.

Center for Advanced Simulation in Healthcare

The Center for Advanced Simulation in Healthcare (C.A.S.H) is GMU's new multidisciplinary educational facility that provides a safe environment to strengthen the hands-on learning experience. The labs are designed to provide high-tech simulated and virtually created hospital set-up for clinical and communication skills teaching and training for all health care professionals. The center is created with specific areas that can be used for training in communication skills, demonstration and practice of clinical skills on the simulator models.

Some of the simulation set-ups include: Adult ICU, Neonatal ICU, Delivery Suites, Minor Operating Theatre, General Ward, Imaging and Diagnostics, Simulation Control Rooms, etc.

CASH is linked to the GMCHRC hospital management system that provides opportunity to learn written formats in the form of patient charts, data entry and data retrieval for patient management and a digital video/data projection system with video and teleconferencing facilities.

GMU Centre for Advanced BioMedical Research & Innovation

GMU established Centre for Advanced BioMedical Research & Innovation (CABRI), a 25000 sq. ft . state-of-the-art automated interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Centre within Gulf Medical University. Its mission is to enhance interdisciplinary research collaboration within the faculty of the GMU and associated hospitals, pursue a well-defined research strategy, create centres of research excellence, create large clinical cohorts, foster research among faculty and students, enhance the impact factor of publications, generate IPR and thus have an overall impact on the quality of medical education and the outcomes of clinical care. CABRI has funding of AED 20 million.

GMU Centre for Quality Enhancement

The Centre for Quality Enhancement (CQE) focuses on planning and implementation of quality management systems, with an optimal focus on evolving and implementing, procedures and processes needed to implement quality management. The major focus areas of Centre for Quality Enhancement are enhancement of quality dimensions in various domain areas of the university and its attached hospitals and laboratories.

GMU Testing Centre

The state-of-the-art GMU testing center is the latest addition to the new facilities of Gulf Medical University. This new unit is capable of accommodating placement tests, examinations or any other form of testing through a sophisticated technical set-up.

With a capacity of holding up to 88 participants, the centre has all modern facilities. To meet the standards required for international testing regulations, invigilators are supported with adequate number of CCTV cameras in each testing halls. The testing center is also equipped with a high-speed data processing room where post-test analysis of scores could be done or a central valuation room for the examiners to value paper based tests.

The testing centre has been designed to be user-friendly to people with special needs with access through elevators and rooms possessing wide doors, being some of the more visible additions.

GMU Sports Facilities

The University has a series of facilities for indoor and outdoor recreational activities. The facilities, hosted at the Body & Soul Health Club, located on the campus grounds, include:

Thumbay Hospital

GMU’s affiliated teaching hospital, Thumbay Hospitals, are located in Ajman, Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah and Huderabad -India. The first hospital opened in Ajman in October 2002, as the first teaching hospital in the private sector in the UAE. With a history spanning a decade and a half of delivering premium healthcare, the hospital houses a number of general and specialty departments and advanced facilities and treatments. Students of GMU also gain access to student support services, common and study rooms, and a library within the teaching hospital.

College of Medicine

The College of Medicine offers a 5-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme. The programme is approved by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, UAE; is listed in the World Health Organisation’s Avicenna directory; and with the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research. A year’s rotating residential internship follows the successful completion of the programme.

Students undertaking the MBBS programme also have the opportunity to participate in GMU’s Summer Training Programme.

College of Dentistry

GMU’s College of Dentistry offers a 5-year Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) programme. One of the aims of the programme is to encourage students to become active participants in improving oral health care and awareness in the UAE.

College of Pharmacy

The College of Pharmacy offers a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) programme over 4 and a half years, plus 1 year of Advanced Pharmacy Practices Experiences (APPE). b pharm

College of Allied Health Sciences

The College of Allied Health Sciences offers a  3 ¹⁄₂-year Bachelor of Physical Therapy (BPT), followed by a 6-month rotating internship. Students become familiar with health promotion; disease and disability prevention; and develop positive attitudes to the care of individuals and the wider population.

College of Graduate Studies

The College of Graduate Studies offers graduates of accredited medical schools, both in and outside the UAE, 6 postgraduate courses.

Masters Programmes offered by GMU are:

Graduate Programmes offered by GMU are:

Centre for Continuing Education and Community Outreach

GMU’s Centre for Continuing Education and Community Outreach aims to provide physicians and other health professionals with the opportunity of continuing professional development. The centre offers a series of certificate courses over 10-month or short-term study periods.

Online Programmes

GMU also offers online certificate programmes in Health Insurance Accountancy and Medical Tourism Mediator.

Research

GMU launched its own online journal in 2012 and has contributed research articles to a wealth of international medical journals such as: Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention; Journal of Surgery Pakistan (International); International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research; and the International Journal of Medical and Health Sciences.

Student Council Executive Board

Elected representatives from the Student Council form the Student Council Executive Board. This is made up of one elected student from each program who will attend the respective college council meetings called for by the deans of the respective colleges.

The Student Council continues to have a strong bearing on University activities e.g. Annual Ethnic day celebrations etc.

A General Secretary is elected from amongst the Council's Executive Board along with a few Joint Secretaries on an annual basis. The institute hails its elected officials by placing their names on the University boards main entrance hall.

Activities and Associations

GMU publishes a bi-monthly magazine, Health Magazine, launched in 1999.

GMU is active in participating in national and international events. In March 2013, GMU hosted the UAE’s biggest Inter-Collegiate Sports Festival and the National Conference on Contemporary Dimensions of the Pharmacy Profession. In April 2013, GMU hosted the 5th Annual Dental Conference on Excellence in Oral and Dental Health.