His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, raised the UAE flag in front of the Ministry’s building on Monday, November 3rd, 2014, within the celebrations of the UAE Flag Day, under the slogan “Raise it up high.. to keep it high”, coinciding with the anniversary of the assertion of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan as UAE President.
His Excellency the Minister said in the celebration organized by the Ministry on this occasion that, this year, the State is celebrating a decade of achievements in all areas, and this is a delightful occasion where citizens and residents express their feelings about the State’s flag, and what it represents of meanings in its symbolism, which is transmitted from generation to generation, following in the footsteps of the founding fathers.
His Excellency added that the Ministry with the support of the country’s leadership, led by His Highness the President, was able to fulfill global indicators and achievements in several axes, and the amount of the financial allocations for the Higher Education sector, which was about four billion Dirhams in the recent years, was not the only supporting factor, rather, there was an integrated national system consistent politically, socially, economically, and legislatively to support this sector, and everyone became convinced that it is the way to achieve the UAE Vision 2021, which the union spirit represents one of its most important foundations.
His Excellency also said that the Ministry adopted a strategy to set up an infrastructure of human resources that support all sectors of the State, capable of responding to the requirements of sustainable development through its successive accelerated stages.
Council for compatibility of visions, ambitions, and strategic planning
Based on the union spirit, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research made the Ministry an umbrella of the goals, visions, and ambitions of UAE students, researchers, and scientists. He established the Coordinating Council for Higher Education in order to achieve coordination and integration between higher education institutions, and achieve compatibility of the strategic plans of the universities with the national agenda of the State, from which the First Forum on Higher Education Policies emanated , which his Excellency has recently called to hold it in order to enhance communication and dialogue between public and private universities, and improve the quality and efficiency of the higher education system outputs. The Forum concluded with recommendations, most importantly, the need for academic programs review, the development of smart education, the need to monitor the public and private higher education outputs and their scientific integrity, consolidation of the partnership between the two sectors to meet the needs of the community and local market, establishment of a special information network for the labor market and its needs for graduate cadres, and continuation of communication between the public and private higher education institutions with other ministries that are interested in higher education institutions, as well as between universities and colleges in the two sectors in the field of scientific research, the importance of focusing on the areas of research and linking the research culture with innovation, creation of a mechanism to fund this research in the State, opening the way for more programs in the Master’s and Doctorate degrees, supplying the government and private research universities with qualified cadres, and increasing the number of institutes, colleges, and technical centers, and distributing them around the State.
The recommendations also included the need to provide the educational needs required for continuing education and the development of courses for career development, optimal utilization of financial resources, enacting laws to use them in a better manner, establishing an international grants fund to attract distinguished international students inside the UAE and abroad, creating an attractive environment for higher education, urging universities to seek international academic accreditation, the adoption of Arabic language in teaching some of these programs in consecration of the UAE identity, and the development of academic counseling programs.
Umbrella of scholars and incubator of innovators
His Excellency established the “National Committee for the Coordination of Scholarships and Grants” in order to guide the scholarship system, and ensure the integration and coordination between the scholarship authorities in the State, through the development of perceptions about the development of regulatory frameworks for the scholarships system in the State, in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and on the strategic priorities and clear performance indicators for the scholarship system, in coordination with higher education and the labor market sector in the State, so as to ensure the best outcome of the scholarship system and its effectiveness in line with the strategic plans of the Ministry. The Committee also works on the development of policies, regulations, and mechanisms to follow up on scholarship authorities, especially with regard to the employment of graduates, taking into account their performance and professionalism. The Committee also works to contribute to the strengthening of the role of the private sector in the provision of scholarships, and propose financial allocations and rewards for students.
The number of scholarship students during the period 2006-2014 reached 5564 students for different degrees.
The Committee’s achievements include the establishment of a national database for the scholarships system in the State, and the smart Scholarship Portal, which is an integrated and comprehensive system available for use by all students applying for scholarships, students on scholarships, Cultural Attachés, academic counselors, parents of students, and scholarship authorities. The Portal includes more than 33 services needed by the student, parent, or the scholarship authority, and it includes academic, administrative, financial and other services. His Excellency also established a national database for scholarships, which is considered an umbrella that provides integrated information about Emirati students on scholarships abroad in order to feed the scholarships policies and programs in the State, as the database contains, in addition to all the information related to students, more than 20 fixed analytical reports to enable relevant decision-makers to draw their policies and their future plans based on accurate information, and this system enables the user to build the analysis he needs according to his requirements.
The Ministry seeks to provide its support services for the higher education sector electronically to save time and effort, and achieve customer’s happiness, so it raised its e-Readiness to 90 percent, and it is expected to reach 100% by the end of 2014, in addition to seeking to convert all of its services to become smart. The Ministry also attached great importance to the special needs persons and created a share of those services for them through the electronic communication service, in order to receive the various services of the Ministry through someone who is specialized in sign language.
Leading Emirati institutions of international standards
No wonder that the UAE is the fourth globally as an attractive educational destination in the world. There are about 80 private educational institutions accredited according to the international standards of the most prestigious universities in the world. Such achievement is the result of the continuous development of programs, which are nearly 797 programs in disciplines covering all sectors of the State in the various scientific degrees. This development will enable it to maintain its global achievements which was fulfilled through continuous work to achieve quality in educational programs, and linking them to the needs of the community, attracting distinguished faculty members, the effective use of modern technology, conducting the scientific research that serve the community, building strong relationships with its institutions, and establishing cooperation partnerships with the most prestigious universities and scientific institutions in the world.
These programs grant different degrees depending on the distribution; Diploma (11%), Bachelor (47%), Master’s (29%), PhD (2.6%), Higher Diploma (3%), Graduate Certificates (1.5%), and the Graduate Diploma (2.6%).
This is in addition to the governmental institutions of higher education, with the UAE University in the forefront, which offers 67 Bachelor programs, 37 Master’s programs, and 10 doctoral programs. And more than 100 programs in the Higher Colleges of Technology, whose branches are distributed in the UAE and its cities that support the State’s sectors with the specialties: Applied Communication, Business Administration, Engineering, Information Technology, Health Sciences, and education, as well as Zayed University, which offers Bachelor degrees at its six affiliated colleges.
Emirati women’s education
The leadership has focused on women’s education since the establishment of the State, and the Ministry paid special attention to urge the Emirati woman to complete her education in order to contribute in the building of her homeland and be a real partner in the country’s development in a sustainable manner, as they represent 71.6% of the total students in public universities, 50.1% of the total students in universities and private institutes, 62% of the total students in the Master’s and Doctoral degrees from public universities, and 43% of the total students in Master’s and Doctoral degrees from private universities. This attention made women touch all areas to make up 22.5% of the members of the Federal National Council, and 17% of the new cabinet in the UAE government, and four women represent the State in the diplomatic corps, in the capacity of Ambassador and Consul of the State, one woman in the rank of Minister Plenipotentiary of the first class, 3 women as Second Secretary, and 15 ones as Third Secretary. As for the contribution to the State’s economy, they constitute 43% of the labor market in the UAE, and Emirati businesswomen run 11 thousand projects worth 4 billion Dirhams, and make up 66% of the workforce in the general government sector, 30 % of leadership positions, 12 women occupy places in the boards of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the State, and they occupy 60% of the technical careers: medicine, pharmacy and nursing, and this high stamina of Emirati female citizens and the great care of the wise leadership have been reflected in their access to the first rank globally for respect for women in 2014, and because his Excellency always directs to preserve the achievements, he has recently called to provide scholarship opportunities to suit the Emirati woman, encourage them by the academic counselors, urge them to complete their higher studies and obtain the external or internal scholarships, and provide all the ways that help create the appropriate surrounding circumstances to enable them to continue their way to success without hindrances. The Ministry has also embraced the guidance of His Excellency the Minister and patronized the L’Oréal -UNESCO Pan Arab Fellowships for Women in Science, and it cared for the female contestants during their work.
