UAE to rate varsities
dubai — UAE universities will soon be rated on the basis of the quality of education they offer. The ratings will help students determine any given university’s calibre.
The move is part of the national higher education strategy that was approved by the UAE Cabinet earlier this week. The strategy aims to propel the country’s universities to the world’s top 100 list.
Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills, said: “As per our requirements, universities will know what will be required to be labelled as one, two or three. This will help them understand that they’re not only required to operate under a licence, but also (adhere to) ... the quality that is expected by the ministry.”
dubai — All universities in the UAE will soon receive a quality rating as part of the country’s new higher education strategy.
The rating will determine the standard of the university. It will be similar to how schools in Dubai are rated; however, higher education institutions’ rating will be in numbers. Ratings will also be applied to all higher academic, research and applied institutions.
The new initiatives are all part of the UAE’s National Higher Education Strategy that was announced in September. In total, there are four pillars that are part of the strategy, including quality (classification initiative), relevance, innovation and efficiency.
The classification initiative is just one of the pillars of the national strategy, as the efficiency initiative will help reduce the number of university dropouts.
The current dropout rate at UAE federal educational institutions is 14 per cent, according to Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills.
“Globally, the dropout rate is 4 to 10 per cent. In the UAE, in federal institutions, it’s 14 per cent. In the overall sector, it’s less than that. So, we don’t have a huge rate, but it is higher than the average,” he said.
“What we want to do now is understand why that is happening: is it because the students have to change or because they don’t have enough support? All of those can be answered by looking at historical records, which will be able to predict how the situation can be addressed and resolved.”
The classification system will help universities determine a certain standard they have to reach as per the ministry’s requirements.
“The first and foremost is to look at their quality. As per our requirements, universities will know what will be required to be labelled as 1, 2, or 3. This will help the universities understand that they’re not only required to operate under a licence, but also the visibility of the quality that is expected by the ministry,” Al Falasi said.
It also aims to ensure the promotion of a student-centric system that produces more employable graduates by broadening the academic and vocational pathways relevant to the existing labour market needs.
This pillar will also ensure university students are being provided enough internship opportunities and the university curriculums are meeting the requirements of the current job market.
Through the innovation pillar, the ministry will ensure government and private funding to the “most promising” areas through competitive mechanisms — helping produce a more knowledgebased economy. One of the main missions of this pillar will be to increase the number of PhD graduates in the country threefold.
Currently, PhDs are only 840 of total graduate students (12,837) in all of UAE.
“The Higher Education strategy will be achieved and implemented over several phases, with an initial ramp up in the short-term. We want to align with our partners and increase collaborations with the private sector. In the long run, we will drive economic development with a focus on strengthening university programmes and align specialisations and research studies with the demands of the job market,” Al Falasi said.
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com