On June 1st 2023, Professor Dr. Taimur Sharif joined the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr (UKH) as the new dean of the School of Management and Economics (SoME).
Prof. Taimur has a profound career record of working for a diverse range of universities and institutions worldwide over two decades. Prior to joining UKH, he served as the Head of Business School (2019-23) at Birmingham Newman University (UK), one of the four Catholic universities in England. Earlier, Prof. Taimur was the Director of the Faculty of Business and Management (2017-19) at Muscat University (Oman), a partner of Aston University and Cranfield University from the UK. He was the Dean of the Faculty of Business (2015-17), Chair of the Department of Finance and Accounting (2013-15) and BBA Programme Director (2011-13) at Alhosn University (UAE). Prof. Taimur worked for London South Bank University (UK) as a Senior Lecturer in Economics (2009-11) and assumed additional responsibilities of Director – Foundation programme and Director – MSc Pre-Study programme. He served at Haywards College (UK) as the Head of GCE Economics for about three years. Prior to his settlement in the UK under the Highlight Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) in 2004, Prof. Taimur worked for American International University – Bangladesh (1999-2004) and developed South Asia’s first Agribusiness MBA programme, in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin – Madison (USA). He started his professional career at International Islamic University – Chittagong (Bangladesh) in the year 1996.
Prof. Taimur is a Senior Fellow of the Advance HE (formerly, Higher Education Academy – HEA), UK, and a recognised Chartered Manager (CMgr. FCMI) of the Chartered Institute of Management (CMI), UK and its counterpart in Canada. He earned his doctoral degree from London South Bank University (UK) in International Business and Economics, MSc (Coursework) from Stockholm University (Sweden) in Quantitative Methods in Economics, MA and BA (Hons.) degrees in Economics from Aligarh Muslim University (India). Prof. Taimur also has a PGCE in Further Education from the University of Sussex (UK) and a HE Diploma in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education from Stanford University (USA).
Prof. Taimur is a prolific researcher in finance, economics and management. He has published in renowned professional journals such as Annals of Operations Research, Research in International Business and Finance, Journal of Policy Modelling, International Journal of Finance and Economics, Applied Economics Quarterly, Electronic Commerce Research, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, among others. Prof. Taimur also presented in leading international conferences such as BAM Conference, EMAC Annual Conference, AHRI Annual Conference, and so forth.
Prof. Taimur has extensive quality assurance experience in global universities. Currently, he is an External Examiner for the BSc Business Management programme of the University of East London (UK), and BSc-Islamic Finance dual degree programme of Leeds Beckett University (UK) and MAHSA University (Malaysia). Besides internal programme validation and revalidation experiences, Prof. Taimur worked as an external reviewer of new programmes for a number of universities in the UK. Since 2015, he has served as an examiner of about forty PhD/DBA programmes for universities in Australia and the UK.
UKH SoME is one of the most popular business, finance and economics schools in Kurdistan and Iraq. The school accommodates leading local and international faculty members. SoME offers various degrees in both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in business management, accounting, finance and economics, supply chain management, human resources management and marketing.
“As a servant leader, I like to develop and nurture an innovative team and support system to ensure the design and delivery of a student-centred, research-led and industry-focused curriculum; enhance student engagements as co-creators and enrichment opportunities; offer ‘value for money’ services in the form personalised and experiential learning; above all, develop learners as responsible citizens having environmental, societal and economic considerations”, as Prof. Taimur commented while expressing his excitement of joining the SoME as the Dean.
