Foundation tackles brain drain

The recently launched Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation will finance the education of 100 applicants pursuing a masters degrees from a number of select, leading international universities.

"The foundation, the first in a series of initiatives, aims to help talented and ambitious students from across the region pursue further education," said Mustafa Al Ansari, director of human resources and business support at the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation.

"The prime objective of the fellows programme is to help reverse the region's brain drain and encourage talented human capital to contribute to the development of the region. The trend of students of staying back in the country of study to pursue their careers after the completion of their masters deprives our region of valuable intellectual capital," he said.

According to Ansari, the region's performance and efforts to develop knowledgeable societies that preserve local culture are far behind other parts of the world.

Scholarship Initiatives

Ansari also feels that many Arab countries lack the physical infrastructure and facilities enabling the production of quality-education products.

In this context, the highly competitive fellows programme is open to Arabs with outstanding leadership capabilities and a good academic track record. Dedication and commitment to the region's human and socio-economic progress are also key selection criteria.

The fellows programme will offer scholarships to pursue a masters degree in Business Administration (MBA), Public Administration (MPA), and Public Policy (MPP) at the top-tier international universities.

The scholarship will also cover tuition fees, cost of books, accommodation expenses, stipend, medical insurance, travel and participation in conferences.

Eligibility

Students eligible for the competitive programme must demonstrate leadership capabilities, dedication and commitment to the region's human and socio-economic progress.

Nationals of the 22 countries of the Arab league are eligible to apply. The countries include Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria Sudan, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen.

To be eligible candidates should have a bachelors degree and work experience in the Arab world. The scholarship is initially open for 100 candidates as the foundation wants to ensure that students will come back to the region to contribute and thereby, lessen the brain drain dilemma the Arab world faces.

Under the fellows programme, it will be mandatory for students to return to the region after the completion of their studies for a minimum of two years of employment in the public or private sector. A binding contract must be signed between the foundation and successful candidates, said Al Ansari.

Application procedure

The first step in the scholarship process is to secure an acceptance from a masters programme at one of the foundation's partner universities.

Thereafter, students are required to submit to the foundation a completed application form. Students may be called in to the foundation for follow-up interviews if necessary.

Facts

• The Arab world spends 0.2 per cent of its gross national product on research and development compared to the developed world's 2.5 to 5 per cent.
• Illiteracy rates are between 20 to 40 per cent, of which 18 per cent are under the age of 15, and 43 per cent are women.
• There are 3.3 researchers for every 10,000 people compared to 110 researchers for every 10,000 people in developed countries.
• Arab research is not demand driven or focused on commercialisation.
• These societies are often described as weak-knowledge societies and they lack cultural preservation. It is estimated that literary and intellectual books published in the Arab world represent only 0.8 per cent of the world output — less than those published in Turkey, according to Al Ansari.
• The Arab world translated only 100,000 books between 833 AD and 2002 — the same number translated every year in Spain.

Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation's partner universities

• University of Chicago Harris, School of Public Policy Studies
• Duke University The Fuqua School of Business
• Duke University Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy
• The University of IESE Business School University of Navarra
• INSEAD
• Harvard University The John F. Kennedy School of Government
• London Business School
• London School of Economics and Political Science
• The University of Melbourne Melbourne Business School
• Monash University
• National University of Singapore, NUS School of Business
• National University of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
• Stanford University Stanford Graduate School of Business
• The University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School
• University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
• Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs
• Cranfield University School of Management
• McGill University Desautels Faculty of Management
• The University of Queensland
• Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School
• International Institute of Management Development
• New York University Stern School of Business
• Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Paris Institute of Political Science)
• L'ecole Nationale de la Administration
• University of Cambridge, Judge Business School