Dubai: Al Jalila Foundation announced a scholarship programme for Emiratis with an aim to foster and retain medical expertise in the UAE. The amount pledged towards the programme is Dh3 million.
The announcement was made during a media roundtable on Wednesday.
Students who want to pursue postgraduate studies in the UAE have to submit applications by August 1, 2013. (More information is available at www.aljalilafoundation.ae.)
The scholarship programme dovetails with the non-profit’s vision of making the UAE’s heath sector sustainable through its three pillars — medical research, education and treatment. The scholarships will be sustained through fundraising initiatives.
The Foundation was set up by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai
The scholarship programme is also in line with the goals of UAE Vision 2021 which hopes to harness the full potential of UAE’s national human capital and encourage more Emiratis to enrol in higher education.
Speaking to Gulf News, the CEO of the Foundation Dr Abdul Kareem Sultan Al Olama, said that the programme encourages a local generation of medical professionals.
On capacity building, Dr Al Olama said, one of the Foundation’s goals is to identify bright minds and facilitate further learning.
“We want bright Emiratis to specialise and give back to the community. We need to strengthen the country’s medical capacity in so many different fields,” he said.
Dr Al Olama said that the choice of medical discipline is open, but there are gaps in medical expertise that need to be filled and those that need to be strengthened. “There is a huge demand for specialists – psychologists, therapists, dentists, etc, for children with special needs. There is also need for more research in the field of genetics given the incidence of genetic disorders in the country.”
He reiterated that “Whetherifor a specialisation like paediatric psychology or speech therapy, we need to ensure local talent is retained.”
He added that the selected students will avail of medical degrees at UAE’s higher education institutes and universities accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
In a media statement, Sehamuddin Galadari, Scientist and Academic and Chairperson of Al Jalila Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Committee, said, “This programme is an example of how education —in particular the scientific disciplines — can thrive when there is a supportive national strategy in place.”
