Three universities receive Dh2m grant

Abu Dhabi: Three UAE universities were on Wednesday granted a total of Dh2 million by the Emirates Foundation for Philanthropy to upgrade laboratory and research infrastructure.

The grant is aimed at strengthening the country's research infrastructure as well as increasing the retention rate of students studying various sciences, Dr Abdullah Esmail Abdullah, senior adviser of science, technology and environment at the foundation, told Gulf News.

"We also want to increase the number of Emiratis who choose to pursue post-graduate education and one way of doing that is providing them with advanced laboratory and research facilities," Dr Abdullah said.

As part of the grant, the UAE University received Dh1 million to enhance its medicine and health science laboratories at the College of Engineering.

Dh500,000 was also awarded to Zayed University for the upgrade of its College of Arts and Sciences laboratory, while the University of Sharjah was given Dh500,000 for its College of Medicine and Health Sciences. "We prioritise government projects and research interests when we allocate these funds, which were collected from our partners," Dr Abdullah said.

"As such, we tend to focus on laboratories which will develop research capacities in the fields of health sciences, medicine, renewable energies, nuclear technologies, aviation and microelectronics."

The senior official added that the universities had been picked after rigorous investigations of their strategic plans and student population by the Emirates Foundation.

Annual project

The foundation plans to award different institutions every year so that research and development capacities can be developed all over the country.

Last year, as part of the first round of grants made by the organisation, a little more than Dh2 million was awarded to four universities, which included the Abu Dhabi University, the American University of Sharjah, the Al Ain University and the American University in Dubai.