From this vision (Achieving leadership in higher education, and to contribute to making the State the best in innovation internationally by 2021), his Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education And Scientific Research, chaired the strategic retreat which brought together leaders and managers and staff of the Ministry, with the aim of preparing the strategic plan for the years 2017-2021, on Wednesday 9/9/2015.
The retreat was initiated by a minute of silence to mourn the martyrs of the nation who gave their lives for the national duty and in defense of the truth, justice and victory of the oppressed, calling on God to encompass them with his grace them with mercy and house them in paradise, it was followed by the Minister’s speech in which he thanked the staff for their effort in making the previous strategic plan a success, His Excellency stressed on converting weaknesses and challenges into strengths and opportunities by benefiting from past experiences, calling on all to use mental stimulation to reach high vision and goals made possible and pursue self-improvement with the support of the Ministry, to reach the goals identified in the UAE Vision 2021.
During this retreat the national steering principles that affect the development of the strategic plan for the Ministry and on top is the National Agenda 2020- 2021 for UAE, and the Ministry’s role in achieving that agenda, the results of the assessment and analysis of the current status of the Ministry in all areas was presented and to evaluate the Ministry’s strategic plan in the previous sessions and the results of the internal and external environment analysis SWOT.
At the end of retreat the first draft of the strategic plan 2017-2021 was reviewed after devising a model strategic direction, and his Excellency approved the Ministry’s vision, mission, values and objectives, and identified their priority initiatives and key activities.