Profile
Dr. Rachid Bendriss joined Weill-Cornell Medicine-Qatar as Lecturer of English as a Second Language in 2010 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016. In 2013, he was appointed Assistant Dean for Student Recruitment, Outreach, and Foundation Programs. In this role, he provided transformational leadership, creating an innovative outreach vision to attract local student talent to medicine through creative pathway programs and engaged relationship-building. In 2021, Dr. Bendriss was promoted to Associate Dean for Foundation, Student Outreach, and Educational Development to advance educational collaborations with the community.
Under his visionary leadership, Dr. Bendriss transformed the Foundation Program into an accredited experiential education program and pioneered innovative outreach programs that yielded a record number of highly motivated Qatari enrolled students. Dr. Bendriss’ international education expertise in program development, education marketing, and outreach strategy led to the establishment of successful capacity-building programs and university readiness solutions as well as strengthened educational collaborations with community stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, local educational institutions, and international university partners.
Dr. Bendriss graduated from the University of Central Florida (UCF) with an MA in TESOL and a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership. Prior to joining WCM-Q, he was a faculty member at Valencia College and UCF, where he also served as Assistant Director of the Center for Multilingual Multicultural Studies and the International Services Center, leading comprehensive internationalization initiatives. Furthermore, Dr. Bendriss served as Faculty Development Specialist at the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning where he established programs to internationalize the university’s curricula.
Dr. Bendriss chairs and serves on multiple institutional, national, and international multidisciplinary boards and committees. He served on the international board of academic editors of the PLOS ONE Journal, the review board of the Institute for Learning in Higher Education, and the editorial board of the World Conference on Qualitative Research. Dr. Bendriss’ research interests focus on higher education enhancement, internationalization of higher education, experiential learning, and educational leadership. He is a member of the International Leadership Association and the American Educational Research Association.
Dr. Rachid Bendriss is an international education expert who received the prestigious U.S. State Department Fulbright Award of International Education, the distinguished Florida Association of International Education Award, and several WCM-Q’s Excellence in Teaching Awards.
Selected Publications
- Saliba, R., & Bendriss, R. (2019). Experiential learning in premedical education: Enhancing students’ experience through e-learning. In R. Evans & C. Nygaard (Eds.), E-Learning 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 in Higher Education. UK: Libri Publishing.
- Bendriss, R., et al. (2017). Collaboration as a vehicle to curriculum innovation. In A. Hørsted, P. Bartholomew, J. Branch, & C. Nygaard (Eds.), New innovations in teaching and learning in higher education. UK: Libri Publishing.
- Bendriss, G., & Bendriss, R. (2015). Raising awareness among health educators and educational institutions of the need to overcome the language barrier among non-native English-speaking students of health sciences in Qatar: A needs analysis and solutions. Journal of Local and Global Health Science, 2015(1). https://doi.org/10.5339/jlghs.2015.1
- Bendriss, R., Saliba, R., Birch, S. (2015). Faculty and librarians' partnership: Designing a new framework to develop information fluent future doctors. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41(6), 821-838. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2015.09.003
- Bendriss, R. (2013). Second language reading, writing, and blogging: An integrated approach to promote academic competence. In Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications, 1573-1579. Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
- Bendriss, R. (2012). Sources of influence affecting adult Arab EAP students' critical thinking. Arab World English Journal, 3(3), 35-45.
- Bendriss, R., & Golkowska, K. (2011). Early reading habits and their impact on the reading literacy of Qatari undergraduate students. Arab World English Journal, 2(4), 37-57.
- Albritton, F.P. Jr., Bendriss, R., & Hahs-Vaughn, D.L. (2006). Presentation software and visual imagery: The influence of language and culture on interpretation of abstract symbols. The Journal of Language for International Business, 17(2), 42.