Program Overview

Program Overview

The Defence and Security program at Rabdan Academy is designed to prepare the next generation of Armed Forces officers to be competent, knowledgeable, professional, and resilient leaders capable of defending and protecting the UAE and its national interests.

Mission

The mission of the program is to provide students with a world-class education in defence and security, focusing on military leadership, critical thinking, ethics, and joint warfighting.

Description

The program includes highly specialized, multidisciplinary courses in military leadership, critical thinking, ethics, and joint warfighting. Students learn team leadership, professional ethics, joint operations, and resilience of national security through a combination of lectures, discussions, simulation exercises, and applied real-world scenarios.

Educational Objectives

The program aims to achieve the following educational objectives:

• Have relevant technological skills, knowledge, and abilities for employment as a manager in the SSDEC sector.
• Work, lead, and communicate effectively in a team to achieve common goals.
• Apply standard, ethical practices, procedures, and technologies to collect information, identify threats, assess risk, and implement effective interagency solutions to build national resilience capacities.
• Enhance cognition and critical thinking with advanced perception, memory, reasoning, decision-making, and language skills.
• Expand knowledge and capabilities through continuing education, certification, or other lifelong learning opportunities.
• Fulfil civic duties and responsibilities through local, national, or global service.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing the program, students will be able to:

• Explain key events and strategic theories that contributed to the historical evolution of military theory and practice.
• Apply principles of effective, lawful, and ethical military leadership to case studies and scenarios relevant to contemporary military conflicts.
• Evaluate major doctrinal and technological innovations that have influenced the force structure, doctrine, and tactics of modern military forces.
• Assess a broad range of military, non-traditional, and national security challenges that affect the UAE's national interests.
• Critique complex defence and security issues in written, verbal, and audio-visual mediums.

Program Structure

The program consists of 120 credits, divided into:

• General Education: 36 credits
• Core: 69 credits
• Elective: 15 credits

General Education

The general education courses include:

• ARA100: Arabic Studies (3 credits)
• EMS100: Emirates Studies (3 credits)
• ENG210: English 2 (3 credits)
• ENG310: English 3 (3 credits)
• HUM100: Ethical Studies (3 credits)
• ISL100: Islamic Studies (3 credits)
• MGT100: Management Fundamentals (3 credits)
• MTH110: Calculus 1 (3 credits)
• PHY100: Physics 1 (3 credits)
• SEC290: Fundamentals of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (3 credits)

Core Courses

The core courses include:

• DAS100: UAE Defence and Security (3 credits)
• DAS110: Counterterrorism and Security (3 credits)
• DAS200: Non-Traditional Security (3 credits)
• DAS300: Regional Security (3 credits)
• DAS400: Information Operations (3 credits)
• MIL100: Military Strategy and Theory (3 credits)
• MIL110: Leadership Theory (3 credits)
• MIL120: Military History (3 credits)
• MIL130: Human Factors for Defence and Security (3 credits)
• MIL200: Decision Science (3 credits)
• MIL210: Modern Warfare (3 credits)
• MIL220: Law of Armed Conflict (3 credits)
• MIL230: Military Geographic Information Systems (3 credits)
• MIL240: Military Weapons Systems (3 credits)
• MIL250: Military Meteorology (3 credits)
• MIL300: UAE Armed Forces (3 credits)
• MIL310: Operations Research (3 credits)
• MIL320: Electronic Warfare (3 credits)
• MIL400: Military Innovation (3 credits)
• MIL410: Wargaming and Simulation (3 credits)
• MIL420: Civil-Military Coordination (3 credits)
• SEC303: Introduction to Research Methods (3 credits)
• SEC305: 4th Generation Warfare (3 credits)
• SEC404: Understanding Strategic Threats (3 credits)
• SEC490: Project in SSDEC Management (3 credits)

Elective Courses

The elective courses include:

• DAS210: Intelligence and Security (3 credits)
• DAS220: Intelligence Analysis (3 credits)
• MIL140: Geopolitics (3 credits)
• MIL150: Humanitarian Operations (3 credits)
• MIL260: Urban Warfare (3 credits)
• MIL270: Special Operations (3 credits)
• MIL330: Defence Economics (3 credits)
• MIL340: Command Psychology (3 credits)
• MIL430: Capability Development (3 credits)
• PAS310: Policing and Security (3 credits)
• PAS320: Investigations and Security (3 credits)

Study Plan

The ideal full-time study plan is as follows:

• Semester 1: 5 courses, 15 credits
• Summer Session: 3 courses, 9 credits
• Semester 2: 5 courses, 15 credits
• Semester 3: 5 courses, 15 credits
• Summer Session: 4 courses, 12 credits
• Semester 4: 5 courses, 15 credits
• Semester 5: 5 courses, 15 credits
• Summer Session: 4 courses, 12 credits
• Semester 6: 5 courses, 15 credits

Entry Requirements

Students must meet Rabdan Academy's general admissions requirements.

Faculty Members

The program is led by a team of experienced faculty members, including:

• Dr. Warren Chin, Program Chair, Defence & Security
• Dr. Nino Kemoklidze, Associate Professor
• Dr. Francis Gaudreault, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Mark Frost, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Iyas AlHamdan, Assistant Professor
• Dr. JiJen Hwang, Associate Professor
• Dr. Olivier Remy Lewis, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Mohammad Almajali, Associate Professor
• Dr. Hadi Jaber, Associate Professor
• Prof. Ian Van Der Waag, Professor
• Dr. Nils Norlander, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Manabrata Guha, Associate Professor
• Dr. Tamir Bar-On, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Abdelgadir Abuelgasim, Associate Professor
• Dr. Waheed Ullah, Associate Professor
• Dr. Frederick Andrew Laker, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Pascal Carlucci, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Francesco Cangiano, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Francesco Milan, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Kuang Chang Pien, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Claudia Baisini, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Stephen Quick, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Hiroyasu Akutsu, Professor
• Dr. Jacob Thomas-Llewellyn, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Balazs Szanto, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Mohamed Alaaeldin Tawfik, Assistant Professor
• Dr. Ashley Andrew Rossiter, Associate Professor
• Dr. Brian David Flores, Assistant Professor