Development of Higher Education in UAE - Research Paper Example

? Development of higher education in UAE Contents Contents 2 3 Introduction with thesis ment 3 Body 4 Evaluation of the issues involvedin the problem 4 Past-present examination 6 Analysis of issues involved in higher education development in UAE 9 Experts: addressing the issues in higher education of UAE 10 Conclusion  11 References 12 Abstract The development of higher education in UAE is an interesting area of research looking at the change in the economic objective of the country that has led to the transition of economy driven by oil and gas industries to its economy driven by knowledge based industries. The study in this field reveals various issues and challenges in the higher education sector in the economy of UAE. The challenges lay in the areas of enrolment and attainment of higher education by the students. The low quality of teaching at the school level lies at the underlying root of the problem of enrolment in higher education. The various issues of drop out of the male students as compared to the female students have been examined. The higher education infrastructure and facilities in UAE in the past have been compared to the infrastructure development in the recent times. The changes in the financial investment trends in higher education sector of UAE as a result of the initiatives of the government have been examined in context to UAE’s economy. The effectiveness of the policies of the government in restructuring the teacher centric model of higher education towards a student centric model have been discussed in this work. Introduction with thesis statement The quality of higher education in UAE began to flourish after the inception of the first university in Abu Dhabi in 1976. The government has increasingly allocated expenditures for the purpose of educational development and currently spends 25% of the total expenditures for the development of educational sector in UAE. The literacy rate has been achieved at 90% in UAE. The developments in the field of higher education in UAE has led to increase in the literacy rate of the country, implementation of modern educational programs and the encouragement of women in higher education. The thesis statement for this piece of research work is, “Analyze the various issues involved in the growth and development of higher education in UAE and the strategies undertaken to resolve the problems”. The thesis statement is expected to play a significant role in explaining the rationale behind the increasing focus of the government on the development of higher education. The thesis statement gained importance in the view that the economy of UAE has attained rapid growth in the last forty years due to the growth of its primary sector which is the oil and gas reserves. The recent trends have shown that UAE has started to shift towards the mode of knowledge based economy due to the economic fluctuation affecting the oil and gas sector and the emergence of tourism and knowledge based businesses as partial substitutes (Fox, 2007). There are various experts who have identified the growth of higher education in the economy of UAE and the have carried out thesis work on this topic to explore in detail the issues involved in the development of higher education in the region and the ways in which these issues have been resolved. Body  The development of higher education in UAE has been studied by analyzing the issues involved in this field. The examination of the past and present scenario in the education sector of UAE helped in detailed analysis and comparison of the present developments with the past. The researches carried out by several experts on the growth of higher education in UAE provide a comprehensive idea of the factors responsible for the development of higher education in this country. Evaluation of the issues involved in the problem The study on the development of higher education in the United Arab Emirates involves several issues associated to the economic structure of the country. The economy of UAE has experienced rapid growth in the last forty years and emerged into an economic power in the international platform. The major source of the economic growth in United Arab Emirates has been the availability of huge natural resources in the country in terms of the oil and gas reserves. The oil and gas reserves have been useful indigenous resources of UAE over the years that have enabled them to attain competitive advantage. Thus the focus of the government has been mainly in the development and operations of the oil fields and reserves. In the beginning of the twenty-first century, UAE has started to shift its focus from the oil and gas driven economy to a knowledge based economy. This change has emerged mainly in response to the economic fluctuations in the international stage and to maintain the reserves already accumulated by establishing a way for sustainable economic development. The focus on the knowledge based economy has emerged as the solution to the problem as described above. The development of the knowledge based economy raised the significance of intellectual abilities through higher education of the people. The focus on the development of knowledge based business activities in the economy raised the requirement of educated and skilled manpower that were to replace the physical inputs and the natural resources or the oil and the gas reserves. The economic policies of the government in UAE shifted its focus on the development of information and communication technology, innovation, entrepreneurial capabilities, availability of educated and skilled manpower in order to support the growth of knowledge based industries (Autor, Levy and Murnane, 2003). It is a challenging task to evaluate the development and progress of the economy in terms of knowledge based performance. For this reason, the reference to the global indices could prove to be useful in indicating the relative competitiveness and the readiness of the higher education sector in stimulating the development of UAE’s economy. The global competitiveness index that has been designed by Michael porter could prove to be crucial in understanding the development of higher education in UAE but the effectiveness of the index is challenged by experts for determining the accurate developments in higher education of UAE. The issues involved in the development of higher education in UAE also include the lack of quality of higher education in the country that is required to attain competitive edge over the Gulf members and other developing economies in the world. The shortage of high quality of teachers for imparting the education to the students is an area of challenge as it hinders the path of development of higher education in UAE (Benhabib and Spiegel, 1994). The performance of the students in the higher educational courses of various subjects like analytics, finance, science and communication has deteriorated. In order to develop a skilled and educated workforce, these issues related to the establishment of high quality infrastructure in the educational systems which consisted of government investments, teacher quality and the capability of the students need to be addressed. Past-present examination The examination of the educational infrastructure of UAE in the past and its comparison with the present educational system in the country indicates the development of the higher education in the country. The development of higher education has been mainly due to the policies of the government for stimulating the growth of higher education on three major lines involving collective responsibility of the stakeholders, quality of education and prosperity of the economy. The availability of funds in the economy has increased the scope of implementation of policy initiatives. The course curricula have been restructured and the quality of the teachers and the academic infrastructure has been improved at par with the international standards. The model for higher education has been transformed from teacher centric model to student centric model. The activities of the school life of the student have been redesigned and quality of teaching and training in higher education have been set at par with the international standards in order to establish a knowledge driven economic environment (Hanushek and Kimko, 2000). The first university was set up in Al Ain in Abu Dhabi, UAE in the year 1976. The rise in the number of enrollment in the university over the years has been witnessed as a result of the policy initiatives of the government towards the development of higher education in UAE. In the year 2013, the university consisting of nine colleges have observed enrollment of more than 14000 students in the course offered in higher education. The Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies was set up in UAE in the year 1983. The institute has offered academic courses and training over the years in the field of baking and financial services. The contribution of the institute is significant in the development of higher education in UAE as they have educated candidates in the higher education courses for employment vacancies in the banks and financial institutions of the country (Gonzalez, 2010). The first four colleges dedicated to the higher education in the field of technology were established in the year of 1988. Due to the development of higher education, the higher education courses in technology now offers 75 programs in the areas of technology with a total enrollment of 15000 students consisting of men and women. An examination of the present conditions in higher education reveals that women have been encouraged to participate in higher education. The Zayed University has been set up in 1998 which is only dedicated for women in the field of higher education. The new campus has been set up in Dubai in the year 2006 which included an investment of 100.7 million dollars. Gulf Medical University is the first medical college that was set up in 1998 which invited student from all nations across the world. The economy of UAE opened its doors to foreign universities for the purpose of investment (Ridge and Farah, 2011). The New York University is one of the big investors in the development of higher education in UAE. The Dubai Knowledge village has been set up in 2003 in Dubai Internet City that has invited international universities for offering higher educational programs through the use of their training centers, e-learning modules, research and development work, etc. Analysis of issues involved in higher education development in UAE A major feature of the educational sector in the economy of UAE has been the low rate of investments by the private and the financial sector in the country. The low level of financial investments hindered the development of the educational infrastructure as well as the quality and standards of teaching in the higher educational courses in colleges and universities. The encouragement to women was also low in the higher educational courses. The number of students enrolled in the higher educational programs was relatively lower and the ratio of women and the men candidates in the higher education courses was below par as compared to the desired level. The population of UAE has grown rapidly in the recent time and with government initiatives on development of higher education, the net enrollment ratio of the higher educational institutions have revolved around 92% to 94%. Although recent developments show that there has been parity in the number of men and women in the number of students enrolled in the educational courses, the drop out for the boys in the higher educational courses have increased as compared to the women (World Bank, 2008). The drop out of the male students in higher education has ranged from 8% to 25% in the recent years. The ratio of males and females in the courses of higher education has been 3:7 in the higher education system of UAE. The women have opted for higher studies on a larger scale as compared to the men. The male students on the other hand have opted to drop out of the options of higher education due to the lucrative offers in the labor market. The gap in the enrollment numbers between the men and women in the higher educational courses is also important for explaining the gap between the males and the females in attaining higher education degrees. It has been observed that the gap between the men and women in attainment of higher education has been due to the wide gap in enrollment numbers between men and women. The issue of quality standards in higher education is another important factor in the development of higher education in UAE. The standard of teaching in the higher education classes of UAE is weaker in terms of international quality standards. The government has taken active steps in reshaping the teacher centric model in the higher education classes to student-oriented programs (Sahlberg, 2006). The teacher centric modules restricted the teachers from implementation of innovative techniques in teaching and allowed less scope and freedom to the students to practically apply the lessons acquired. All these issues have been addressed in the course of development of higher education in UAE. Experts: addressing the issues in higher education of UAE The experts who have addressed the same problem involved in the development of higher education in UAE are namely Abdulla, Ridge, Benhabib, Spiegel and others. The experts have identified the rationale for the government in shifting towards a knowledge based economy in UAE. In explaining the policies of the government and initiatives taken for the development of the higher education in UAE, the experts have addressed the same problems faced due to the prevailing conditions in the educational sector of UAE. The experts have addressed the low quality of teaching infrastructure prevalent in UAE in comparison to the international standards (Ridge, 2010). The lack of adequate financial investments in the education sector has been a major drawback for the region. The low enrolment of the students in higher education and drop out of male students in higher education as compared to female students has been prevalent. The lack of quality of teachers and restrictions to freedom of the students in the higher educational process has been addressed by these experts. The experts have appreciated the transformation to student centric model of higher education that has been put in place by the policy makers in their efforts for development of higher education in UAE (Psacharopoulos and Patrinos, 2002). Conclusion  The research on the development of higher education in UAE suggests policy initiatives that could help to address the issues prevailing in the higher education system of UAE. Although the enrolment and attainment rates in higher education of UAE have increased significantly as compared to the past, the quality of higher education in UAE needs to further improve. This could be done by focusing on the establishment of quality educational infrastructure at the secondary level. The improvement in the quality of teaching in schools would generate interest among the students on various subjects like engineering, medicine, science, etc. Thus the enrolment of students in higher educational courses is likely to improve. The drop outs are likely to reduce as the students would realize the benefits of long term engagement through attaining higher education. The education for the male students should be made mandatory. The quality of teachers needs to be improved by setting more strict standards for recruitment of teachers. The admission requirements are also required to be set at higher levels in order to maintain the high quality of education standards. References Fox, W. (2007). The United Arab Emirates: Policy Choices Shaping the Future of Public Higher Education. California: University of California. Gonzalez, G. C. (2010). Education and Employment in the Private Sector: Addressing the Skills Mismatch in the GCC. Abu Dhabi: Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR). Hanushek, E. A. and Kimko, D. D. (2000). Schooling, Labor Force Quality, and the Growth of Nations. American Economic Review, 90 (5), 1184-1208. Autor, D. H., Levy, F., and Murnane, R. J. (2003). The Skill Content Of Recent Technological Change: An Empirical Exploration. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118 (4), 1279-1333. Benhabib, J. and Spiegel, M. (1994). The Role of Human Capital in Economic Development: Evidence for Aggregate Cross-Country Data. Journal of Monetary Economics, 34(1), 143–73. World Bank. (2008). The Road Not Traveled: Education Reform in the Middle East and North Africa. Washington: The World Bank. Sahlberg, P. (2006). Education reform for raising economic competitiveness. Journal of Educational Change, 7 (4), 259-287. Ridge, N. and Farah, S. (2011). The Role of the School Curriculum in Developing a Knowledge-based Economy: The Case of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi: Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR). Psacharopoulos, G. and Patrinos, H. A. (2002). Returns to Investment in Education: A Further Update. Geneva: World Bank. Ridge, N. (2010). Teaching Quality, Gender and Nationality in the United Arab Emirates: A Crisis for Boys. Dubai: Dubai School of Government. Read More