Education trends for 2022 and beyond

More and more universities will encourage students in their entrepreneurship efforts and act as incubation hubs, writes Professor Ammar Kaka, provost and vice principal at Heriot-Watt University Dubai

01 STUDENT MOBILITY WILL GROW AGAIN

The past year witnessed a significant decline in the flow of international students crossing borders to pursue higher education, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, in 2022, we expect to see global student mobility making a cautious comeback. We are already seeing that several international students are willing to get themselves vaccinated and undergo quarantine in return for on-campus study and the experience of living abroad. There will also be students who begin a study programme in one country, and then look to transfer to a campus in another country to continue learning. While the pandemic is by no means over, student mobility in 2022 is likely to grow and is being driven by a strong desire to get back on track with academic and career goals after months of disruption, the availability of vaccines and the need to ‘not miss out’ on a holistic university experience.

02 HOW WE LEARN AND HOW WE TEACH WILL CHANGE

The pandemic has already brought about several changes to the way we teach and the way we learn, and this will continue to gain momentum this year. One, the need for lifelong learning will continue to grow and we will also see a change in the profile of learners themselves. For example – the university student of today may not necessarily be an 18-year-old, but a working adult who attends college part time, or may even be juggling childcare. And for this new demographic of learners, universities will look for ways to make education more flexible so they can take it up alongside their daily lives, such as by pioneering new work-based learning, including apprenticeships, micro credentials and focused online programmes to develop a specific set of skills.

Two, the forced adoption of some teaching techniques by the pandemic, such as blended learning, are here to stay and will play a key role in education delivery in 2022 and beyond. Another is assessments, as students will need to adapt to exam settings after at least a couple of years of being assessed by projects or open books exams. Universities too will need to think about how students should be assessed.

And three, AI will continue to automate certain tasks, for example grading homework and tests, so educators can focus on other quality tasks such as spending more time with students. Tutoring and self-study programmes will advance even more, and AI will also play an important role in the admissions process.

03 THERE WILL BE AN INCREASE IN INDUSTRY-ACADEMIA COLLABORATION

Industry and academia partnerships have several benefits: they give students and faculty additional funding and resources to undertake research as well as diversify their research areas. They give industry a view into what the next big opportunity is going to be and access to talent, and society benefits from a skilled workforce that can positively impact the economy. 2022 will see academia and industry working together to identify major industry challenges and research gaps and trying to find solutions, which will ultimately result in a pathway for commercialisation. More and more universities will encourage students in their entrepreneurship efforts and act as incubation hubs, backed by industry.

04 THE EDUCATION LANDSCAPE WILL BECOME MORE COMPETITIVE

The education landscape in the UAE will become more competitive, given the recent growth in this space. We will see more universities coming up, many of them with significant capacity, leading to competition growing quite significantly. Students will have wider choices in higher education as well as access to more scholarships. This could help with bridging the gap, as in the past, some students could not afford to study and live in Dubai. At the same time, education is much more than just textbook knowledge. The ever-evolving job market requires educational institutes to keep up with the changing needs so that they can equip students with the right soft and technical skills. Institutes that pay far more attention to the overall growth of a student will emerge as winners than those that are still focused on just textbook learning. From new work-based learning, including apprenticeships, micro credentials and focused online programmes to develop a specific set of skills, to advocating mental health and physical well-being, institutes should be able to offer developmental growth to students if they want to succeed in a competitive landscape.

“The ever-evolving job market requires educational institutes to keep up with the changing needs so that they can equip students with the right soft and technical skills”

2021 has been the best year in more than a decade for Gulf stocks thanks to booming oil prices. And investors expect further gains in 2022, driven by the football World Cup in Qatar and new listings.

The region’s stocks are on track for their best annual performance since 2007, with a return of 36 per cent including dividends [as of mid-December]. That compares with 20 per cent for the MSCI World Index, which tracks developed world markets, and a 1.9 per cent loss for the MSCI Emerging Market index.

And Gulf equities have plenty of catalysts ahead, according to fund managers and strategists. Dubai has announced plans to list 10 state companies, including the main utility Dubai Electricity & Water Authority, in a bid to lure investors. World Cup-host Qatar, meanwhile, is spending billions of dollars on infrastructure and preparations for the event.

With the outlook for oil prices uncertain after 2021’s near 50 per cent gain for Brent crude and with the risks surrounding the Covid pandemic, those initiatives could pick up some of the slack, supporting stocks in the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, according to Mohammed Ali Yasin, chief strategy officer at Al Dhabi Capital.

“The outperformance of the main GCC markets will continue in 2022, although with a different momentum in selected markets,” said Yasin. He expects Dubai and Qatar-listed stocks to lead gains in 2022, followed by Saudi and Abu Dhabi.

Hasnain Malik, the Dubai-based head of research at Tellimer, sees other potential positive catalysts including the prospect of a renegotiated Iran nuclear deal, a wind-down of the war in Yemen, and deeper normalisation of ties with Israel. The improving geopolitical situation “should make for a healthy backdrop for the GCC,” he said.

The outlook for the region’s equities is not without risks: those include the Covid resurgence and its potential impact on travel and the World Cup, as well as rich equity valuations.

GCC markets – with the exception of Qatar – are expensive relative to other emerging-market oil exporters. The MSCI GCC Countries Combined Index is trading at about 16 times expected earnings in the next 12 months, a premium of 30 per cent to emerging-market stocks. This compares with an average premium of 13 per cent over the past 10 years.

But as Gulf governments carry on with their efforts to diversify their economies and output stays buoyant, earnings growth will remain strong, underpinning equity gains into 2022, said Divye Arora, a Dubaibased portfolio manager at Daman Investments.

Dubai’s plans to list a swathe of companies in 2022 are a bid by the emirate to lure investors after years of declining volumes and a string of delistings. Abu Dhabi and Riyadh’s markets have already benefited from an IPO boom this year.

Positioning looks favourable also. Global emerging-market active funds continue to be largely underweight in Middle Eastern equities, according to Morgan Stanley, which in November put Saudi stocks back on its buy list.

The markets’ small weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index overall is a key factor holding back investors, according to Goldman Sachs Group. Middle Eastern markets are “relatively new to the index in terms of inclusion, and will probably see money migrate over time,” said Caesar Maasry, head of the emerging markets cross-asset strategy team at Goldman Sachs.

Still, Gulf “governments are likely to enjoy elevated incomes in 2022,” said Akber Khan, senior director of asset management at Al Rayan Investment in Doha who oversees $1.3bn in assets. “The outlook for Gulf equities is unequivocally bright.”