Under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the Ministry honored its strategic partners during the forum held on Thursday morning, April 30th, 2015, at the Jumeirah Hotel in Abu Dhabi. His Excellency Dr. Saeed Hamad Al Hassani, Undersecretary of the Ministry, delivered a speech in which he welcomed the partners, and stressed the importance of partnerships characterized by the exchange of knowledge, and the transition from isolated environments to an open, flexible, coordinated, and collaborative work environments to achieve creativity and innovation, and thus contributing to the Ministry’s strategic objectives and the UAE vision 2021, to make the UAE one of the best countries in the world. Several presentations were delivered at the forum, including a presentation on the Electronic Educational Institutions Guide, which was delivered by Ms. Youmna Hamad Bodowah, Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Higher Education and Scientific Research Affairs, who explained the importance of the Guide and its advantages, and the search mechanism through it, which contributes to ensuring the quality of the educational institutions outputs through supporting the individuals to choose the appropriate academic and vocational tracks that meet the needs of the UAE labor market, as it provides the various programs and courses available at each institution, the conditions and mechanisms of admission, grants, the number of students, and other related information and links.   Ms. Enas Murshed, from Scholarship and Cultural Foreign Relations Department, presented the National Scholarship Portal, which is a smart application designed by the Ministry in translation of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai, for the smart government, through providing creative and innovative solutions in the field of smart mobile phone applications to meet the needs and exceed the expectations of customers, and it is a smart application for internal scholarship students, through which the Ministry won the Best m-Government Service Award in the second session within the education sector category. Ms. Murshed explained that the application aims to link the Ministry, its attachés abroad, and its scholarship students to a unified and integrated electronic system to continuously follow up on the academic and financial status of scholarship students, so as to take the right decisions at the right time regarding their academic status. She also explained the services provided by the application for the scholarship student, which are up to 40 electronic services. An introductory film on the Ministry’s strategy for 2015 was also displayed, out of its vision to achieve leadership in higher education and global competitiveness in scientific research in the UAE, to contribute to the achievement of the strategic objectives of the Ministry and building a knowledge-based society through efficiency in the management of scholarships for citizens to serve the community development requirements, the organization of the work of higher education institutions and ensuring the quality of their output, and strengthening the capacity of scientific research and innovation in accordance with the high-level competitive standards. The presentations were followed by a panel discussion in which partners exchanged opinions, and His Excellency Dr. Saeed Hamad Al Hassani, Undersecretary of the Ministry, Mr. Saif Rashed Al Mazroui, Minister’s Advisor, Ms. Fatima Al Zaabi, Assistant Undersecretary for Institutional and Support Services, and Ms. Youmna Hamad, Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Higher Education and Scientific Research Affairs, responded to the inquiries of the audience. The honored authorities included the following: Zayed Higher Organization for Humanitarian Care and Special Needs, Zayed University, Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, UAE University, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi Education Council, Ministry of Presidential Affairs, the UAE British Council, General Women’s Union, Ras Al Khaimah Educational Zone, Ministry of Finance, Emirates College for Advanced Education,  Abu Dhabi Vocational Education and Training Institute, the Armed Forces, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, Federal Authority for Government Human Resources, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Abu Dhabi Police, Dubai Police, Al Fujairah Educational Zone, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company – ADNOC, Scholarships Office, Expo 2020 Dubai team, Abu Dhabi Blood Bank,  Arabic Language Protection Society, Emirates News Agency, Abu Dhabi Media Company, Sharjah Media Corporation, and the Local Newspapers.