Foundation programmes to be eliminated

Zayed University (ZU) aims to eradicate the need for foundation programmes at federal colleges and universities by developing strong partnerships with schools across the country.

Speaking at ZU's annual convocation last week, ZU President Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, said he expected the need for remedial programmes at universities, which equip students with supplementary education to successfully enter degree programmes, to decrease dramatically in the next few years.

"I expect ZU to work with its feeder schools and other higher education institutions over the next few years to dramatically reduce and eventually eliminate the need for remedial programmes at universities," Shaikh Nahyan said.

"A continuing objective of high priority for ZU is to develop partnerships with K-12 schools to strengthen college readiness in all school graduates," he added.

Bilingualism

Shaikh Nahyan touched on a need to strengthen and develop bilingual language proficiencies in all students at ZU. He said efforts had been made to achieve this through ZU's academic bridge programme, which is designed to ensure all graduates from the institutions are fluent in both Arabic and English.

"We all understand the importance for our students to be able to work confidently in two languages," Shaikh Nahyan said. "We must sharpen our understanding of the needs of students in that programme and promote their academic success and seek ways to expand completion rates in the bridge programme," he added.

ZU also announced the launch of its international college this year, designed to prepare students for competition in a global market.

ZU Provost Dan Johnson said: "Working through the international college, our objective is to expand opportunities for ZU students, both male and female, to participate in international service learning experiences."

The college aims to introduce students to different cultures beginning with its first study theme of internationalisation, by offering them the opportunity to mix with faculty and students of various cultures and nationalities.

"The international college will also provide a home for our new Confucius Institute and Sejong Institute to help foster the learning of the Chinese and Korean languages and cultures," Johnson said.

The start of the ZU's 13th academic year saw, for the first time, the enrolment of 245 men at its Dubai Campus. This brought its total student body on the Abu Dhabi and Dubai campus to just under 6,500, marking a 23 per cent growth this year, Johnson said.