Creating the ideal graduate

Academic Abdullah Al Shaiba on the impact of the new UAE cabinet on higher education.

There is no doubt that the new UAE cabinet, headed by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, reflects a new era in the history of the nation.

The major characteristic of this cabinet is twofold: 1) the clear and strategic vision, and 2) the new young ministers who have succeeded in various national fields and have now been assigned higher responsibilities.

The Ministry of Education has been restructured by dividing it into two ministries: igher Education and Scientific Research and Education. 

The new cabinet will deal with two kinds of challenges: new and ongoing.

A major issue will be the development of education. 

Important statement

Within this context, the most important statement that has been issued recently was ‘educational policies and programmes will not be changed even if the ministers have changed’. 

The reason for that is to avoid starting from point zero whenever a new minister takes over responsibility. 

The cabinet might also discuss and reinforce an old decision that called for the establishment of a Higher Council for Education (HCE). 

This body will supervise the implementation of the new strategy for education, brought out by Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the former Minister of Education. 

The HCE will also coordinate between the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Councils for Education in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai. 

Realistic development

According to the new leadership of the MoE, developing education in the UAE must be realistic and reasonable. 

More efforts should be focused on administrative development; putting an end to centralisation, and changing the role of the schools’ managers into ‘executive principals’. 

The major goal must be producing the ideal graduate who would compete with other local and international peers based on his/her education, personality and communication skills. 

This vision has two strong advantages 

1) The first is that Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum was the leader who created the Dubai Council for Education and he has been, in person, following all the plans and steps that have been implemented to develop education in Dubai. 

2) The second, is that the new Minister of Education Dr Hanif Hassan was the Chancellor of Zayed University, which is one of the best higher education institutions in the UAE that implements remarkable and highly effective programmes aimed at preparing UAE national women for employment. 

These two points will be the driving force towards implementing the new strategy of education.
ISSUES TO CONSIDER

The implementation of the new development plans can be affected by:  

- The requirements of schools must be studied and an appropriate environment created for instructors and students. It includes improving libraries, labs and putting in place effective maintenance programmes.

- Improving the curriculum particularly at the secondary level.

- Revision of national teachers salaries.

- Elimination of centralisation. 

- Private education regulations and schools should be reorganised based on the new developments in UAE society and population.

- UAE national students at various education levels, particularly secondary schools, must be prepared for higher education institutions. This continues to be a challenge and has resulted in: 1) many high school graduates have been found weak in areas such as English and IT skills. 2) higher education institutions spend millions annually to prepare most new students for higher education courses.