More universities rolling out PhDs

Dubai: A lack of doctoral programmes in the UAE and an apparent demand from working professionals has sparked major interest by institutions to develop and offer Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees.

The University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD) recently announced plans to begin offering PhDs in philosophy and business administration next year. Meanwhile, the British University in Dubai (BUiD) welcomed its first batch of students to its PhD Education programme in September. It seems evident that the growing interest in offering PhDs is imperative to the development of the UAE and the region.

Moving forward

"Doctoral programmes are not just academic qualifications," said Abdullah Al Shamsi, vice-chancellor of BUiD. "It is a matter of academic research as well." Al Shamsi added that the education market is the future in the UAE and attention to doctoral programmes is important for the country's development.

"If the country wants to progress it needs to pay attention to research programmes dealing with the issues of the country to take it forward," Al Shamsi said.

He said BUiD prizes itself on being a research-based university and chose to kick off its doctoral programmes with a PhD in Education because from an institutional point of view there is a need for extensive research to be conducted on the education sector "[in order] to develop quality and something better than what we have."

Al Shamsi said: "PhD holders always have better qualifications and can lead the market in a better way."

He said other areas of research worth pursing to the benefit of the marketplace, besides the management and policies of the education sector, are demographic issues — due to what Al Shamsi referred to as the special case of the country.

"Looking at the oil and gas and renewable-energy sectors is also of great importance," he said. In addition Al Shamsi mentioned research into the construction industry due to it being the second largest in the UAE.

He said expanding into various fields of research can no longer be delayed. "We should have done it 15 years ago. If we delay it any further we will miss many opportunities."

Professional demand

A survey conducted by UOWD last week revealed that 90 per cent of the 18,000 master degree-holding professionals questioned, expressed a keen interest in furthering their education to a PhD level.

"By doing a doctoral programme people will learn the skills of interpreting information," said UOWD president Professor Robert Whelan. "Doctoral programmes give a student or employee a much higher level of ability to interpret and apply knowledge to the benefit of a business."

Whelan said education is no longer about the application of formulae. He said it is about a deep understanding of the interpretation of knowledge.

UOWD is currently in the process of having its proposed programmes approved by the UAE Commission for Academic Accreditation. According to its survey, just one per cent of professionals who expressed an interest in pursuing a PhD in the were Emirati. Asian expatriates formed the main chunk at 73 per cent.