Hamdan Bin Mubarak: By the directives of leaders, we foresee the future; adopt the disciplines, and support research and innovation in the areas of sustainable knowledge-based economy

Based on the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to keep the UAE on top and in the first place, especially in the global competitiveness indexes, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has been recently ranked first globally with a result of 96.6% in the “Student Movement to the State” index, achieving a large quantum leap, after it occupied the third place in the same index in 2013.

This achievement is the result of the keenness of his Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research , to implement the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, as his Excellency launched the initiatives, and formed the necessary work teams to keep on upgrading the status of the UAE in the competitiveness indexes related to the affairs of Higher Education in the State, through establishing and following up on plans and mechanisms of implementation, and ensuring achievement of the goals.

The Minister said that the achievement of such an index means that most countries in the world finds in the UAE the rich and healthy scientific environment, which meets all items that attract the students of science, institutions, and governments that support those students who choose the prestigious academic institutions in the State, and this index reflects the continuous efforts and work of the Ministry’s cadres who worked on the development of plans and strategies based on scientific, conscious, and realistic studies to anticipate the needs of the future, not only for the UAE, but also for the region and the world, in the belief of Emiratis in the rules established by the President of the State, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and his deputy, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and their brothers the Rulers of the Emirates, which always affirms that the UAE enlightens all humanity in all fields, and it always takes the initiative to provide aid, with disregard to the barriers of language, religion, color, or distinction between humans, and thus, the spirit of openness and tolerance prevailed among more than 200 nationalities living in the State, who have all the requirements of a decent life, which the UAE government is keen to make available to all residents on its lands.

Higher Education and Infrastructure

To achieve the principle of sustainability, The Ministry keeps in mind that the ultimate goal in its plans is the establishment of an infrastructure for the higher education sector in the State that takes into account the needs, requirements, and expectations of the future, translated into plans for the long, medium and short terms, in order to ensure implementation in accordance with the international standards, and whether this structure is related to the quality of disciplines approved by it, which is the umbrella of academic institutions in the State, or areas of the scientific research that require support from it, or the technological development that characterizes the State in general, and the UAE higher education in particular, so that the technology and smart requirements become the feature of UAE education, with respect to the procedures and multiple services provided by the Ministry to all its customers, such as students, faculty members, researchers, and educational and federal institutions in various fields, or supporting the provision of educational tools and supplies for the intelligent students, and motivating them to become the foundation, by encouraging them to contribute to the research , innovation, and invention of smart technology, which keeping pace with it, and even excelling in its uses, is considered the main attraction for the students in the world to join the educational institutions in the UAE.

His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, has been keen since his leadership for the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to build a base of smart infrastructure, and his Excellency emphasized the need for its availability in all aspects of higher education in the State, so that all main and support services in any of the higher education areas are accessible and consistent with the latest and smart technology.

Adoption of programs for sustainable global economy

The Ministry prepares studies on an ongoing basis to determine the disciplines that the different sectors need to bring about sustainable development, and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, signed by the UAE  within 192 countries in the world, which are the same goals that it seeks to achieve within the UAE Vision 2021, in the framework of the union that takes hold of religion, language, values ​​that have supported it, therefore, the criteria upon which the Ministry depends in the adoption of required programs and disciplines do not only emanate from the UAE economy’s need, but they also emanate from the global economy’s need, especially those linked to the knowledge and green economies, and his Excellency, thanks to his vision for the future and its requirements, has instructed, earlier this year, the need to take the required green jobs by the State into consideration, stressing that the ministries, the federal and governmental institutions, the private sector in the State, and the civil society organizations and public and private higher education institutions are required to take into account the global developments and studies that deal with the reality of employment in the countries of the world, especially those that are moving towards the green economy, which is no longer an option, rather, it has become a necessity to achieve the millennium goals of sustainable development, which is taken by the State as an irreversible strategic choice, and as a way of empowerment and transformation into a sustainable knowledge-based economy, through embracing all initiatives and projects related to the sustainable green economy, especially what is directly linked to the environment and clean energy, and he has paid special attention to this matter by focusing on the accreditation of programs that provide disciplines responsive to the needs of this trend in the long, medium and short terms, so as not to subject the State to a crisis or bottlenecks in the labor market in the future. Therefore, the Ministry has been recently concentrating on the accreditation of Master’s and Doctoral programs in the disciplines of environmental engineering, clean energy, and crisis management, and the support of disciplines based on business management and green accounting, as predictions show that the direction to the green economy option will require, at certain stages, to have jobs replacing others, and rehabilitation of some of them, so that the green investments make profit from employment during the period «2030 – 2050», in order to catch up on the usual work.

Higher Education incubator for scientific research and innovation

The Ministry is moving forward in achieving its mission of contributing to the achievement of the knowledge society and the development of higher education and scientific research in the State, through the efficient management of sending citizens to study on scholarships, in order to serve the requirements of society development, organization of the higher education institutions work and ensuring the quality of their output, and strengthening of the capacity of scientific research and innovation in accordance with high-level competitive standards. So the Ministry is doing  its best to guide the researchers and institutions and all sectors to areas of scientific research that serve and support the needs and requirements of sustainable development, contributing to the provision of grants and funding competitive research projects within all levels of researchers, students and institutions, to support the spirit of innovation and development, and establish a scientific base stemming from the environment of the UAE, which is one of the requirements of localization, as the Ministry, through its staff specialized in the management of scientific research, follows up on all the projects that are funded and sponsored, and it also forms a bridge between creators, researchers and academics all over the world, so it either sponsors conferences and scientific symposia, organizes seminars, or represents a link between the various departments of scientific conferences and those who wish to participate with their papers and scientific research or by attendance through the announcement of those conferences on its website, in addition to the huge database of researchers created to encompass the various fields of scientific research, except for agreements signed by His Excellency the Minister with many of the Ministries of Higher Education and Scientific Research in several countries around the world to cooperate in the field of supporting scientific research and innovation.