With the beginning of the new academic year 2014 – 2015, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has been keen to implement its own plan for the new academic year that is consistent with the strategic plan of the Ministry, and in line with the aspirations and hopes of the leadership. Such a plan contributes to the UAE’s endeavors towards its students, hoping that the students will be the leaders of the future especially that the UAE’s wise leadership has invested in their people, and made them their first priority. This was confirmed by His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan when he thanked the Ministry’s team for their efforts to implement the Ministry’s plan for the reception of the new academic year, especially that the Ministry has ranked first in the indicators of the Global Competitiveness Index (Student Attraction Indicator), and the UAE made a quantum leap in the Efficiency Enhancers indicator from the 20th to 12th place globally.
His Excellency the Minister explained that the plan focused first on the activation and development of smart and electronic services launched by the Ministry, and it continues to launch more of them, as long as there is a need for that, after it has succeeded in transforming more than 90% of its services into smart and electronic services according to the official report issued by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, which will lead to increasing the provision of services by the Ministry at different times and through various channels, to suit all categories of customers, referring to the electronic scholarship system, which is a leading portal for all matters related to studying abroad on scholarships. This portal offers more than 30 electronic services for scholarship students, as the plan includes the completion of the preparation of a special guide for the licensed higher education institutions and their accredited programs inside the State, as the guide is made available to students with the beginning of the academic year. The Ministry has also founded the National Committee for Scholarships, which aims to raise the levels of coordination between all federal and local authorities in service of the students on scholarships, and has completed the preparation of integrated database made available to all authorities, through which the analysis of and follow-up on scholarship students takes place in different educational aspects. The scholarship student portal also serves the new students and applicants for scholarships, as the students can submit their applications and needed supporting documents online, without the need to contact the Ministry, and the Ministry, through its technical teams, reviews, studies, and recommends the application, as per the standards of integrity, transparency, and justice among the students applying for internal and external scholarships.
His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan ensured that the plan is consistent with the importance attached to the subject of scholarship by the Ministry, in terms of setting its standards and conditions, the preparation of its annual plan that contains disciplines that will be offered and the countries of study, the number of scholarship students, according to the budget allocated, and in line with the requirements of the national agenda and the needs of the labor market that have been identified and studied in detail in collaboration with the federal authorities involved, coordination with the offices and cultural attaches to provide admission to students on scholarships at accredited higher education institutions abroad, the Ministry seeks to provide opportunities for students on scholarships for admission to the best universities in the world through getting acquainted with their educational systems and the academic programs offered and the international ranking of these institutions according to the criteria of the relevant international academic authorities, the nomination of the scholarship applications, the distribution of students according to the specific criteria of the scholarship, the announcement of the names of the finalists of the scholarship in a timely manner, provision of initial guidance for students obtaining scholarships, and organizing the annual personal interviews and meetings to psych them up before traveling. His Excellency pointed out that the plan is keen to follow up on scholarship students during their studies, take care of their academic, financial, social, and health affairs, and prepare educational brochures and circulars to help them adapt academically, socially and psychologically during their presence in the country of study.
The scholarship program for the academic year 2014 – 2015 is characterized by allocating a number of scholarships to the outstanding students to join the best 10 universities in the world.
His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan pointed out that the plan has achieved further success in translating the vision of the Ministry “Achieving excellence in higher education, and global competitiveness in scientific research for the UAE”, depending on the great successes achieved by the Scientific Research Department and Academic Accreditation Department for the availability of their experiences. Therefore, since the beginning of the academic year, and according to the plan, the Ministry has arranged for the strengthening of the capacity of scientific research and innovation in accordance with the high-level standards of competitiveness, reviewed and assessed the licensure applications submitted by institutions of higher education in the State, issued certificates of licensure required for those institutions, reviewed and evaluated the educational programs offered by institutions of higher education in the State and accredited them to reach the required levels of quality, reviewed and evaluated the office licensing application to attract students to enroll in higher education institutions inside the State and abroad, conducted field visits to follow up on the performance of these licensed offices, prepared certificates of license required for them, planned in advance for periodical field visits that aim to monitor the performance of the work of higher education institutions and offices and their commitment to the standards and regulations adopted, especially that the current year plan has developed a typical foundation for the best global practices related to the accreditation and licensing of higher education institutions and disciplines ,and conducted comparative studies with the best regional and global authorities in order to improve the quality of educational services provided.
His Excellency the Minister ensured that the plan is keen on the efficiency of Certificate Equivalency Department in providing special services to its customers, in order to continue to perform its duties of evaluation and equalization of academic certificates awarded by the higher education institutions abroad in a perfect manner, educating students about the attestation system in the State, checking the transferred hours for students studying in institutions of accredited private higher education abroad, educating students who wish to study abroad about the system and rules of the equivalency of certificates adopted by the Ministry and educational systems abroad, responding to the queries from individuals and institutions inside the State and abroad about the accredited universities, and the possibility of the equivalency of some qualifications issued by Arab and international institutions.
The plan is also keen to continue to continue providing the technical assistance necessary to help the higher education institutions in the preparation of what it takes in planning the educational process, including research and studies, participate in determining the rates of admission to institutions of higher education and the number of students for each institution, within the standards that are compatible with the requirements and needs of the overall development and the capacity of these institutions, implement the procedures of unified admission for students of public higher education institutions in the State, coordinate with regard to scholarships and other forms of financial support provided by higher education institutions and research centers in the State for students from other countries, organize the acceptance of foreign students to study in higher education institutions in the State, and support and promote the protection of intellectual property through the provision of competitive research grant programs, in order to register patents for researchers at licensed federal universities in the State, in coordination with the concerned authorities. In addition, the plan is set to develop and apply the international standards for serving customers, measure and improve the quality of services provided on a regular basis, develop mechanisms to receive all queries and comments received from customers and respond to them quickly, promote and sustain relationships with the strategic partners, achieve greater success in communication with beneficiaries, dealers, and interested people through the Ministry’s website and social networking pages.
Given the importance of exams that measure the efficiency of education, His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan affirmed that the plan of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to receive the new academic year is keen on the development of mechanisms for the implementation of the Ministry’s tasks in this area, in terms of the full preparation and supervision of the exams, including analysis of their results and the estimation of all possibilities in terms of quality and compliance with the standards and performance of students, in addition to the preparation of detailed periodic reports on the exams to be sent to the higher education institutions to accurately identify the levels of students applying to them.
