Education System in The UAE – An Overview

Sep 14, 2014

When the United Arab Emirates was first constituted in 1970, with less than 28,000 students, education was primarily confined to the urban areas. Proper education in the UAE could be traced back to the beginning of the 1970s. For higher education, students had to travel abroad with the government’s financing, mainly to the United States or the United Kingdom. Proper education in the UAE was introduced with the establishment of the United Arab Emirates.

The Ministry of Education supervises the education sector of the United Arab Emirates. The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) has been responsible for providing the license to the educational institutes and developing education and human resource center since 2006.

Schools

Both primary and secondary education are free and compulsory in public schools for girls and boys. Obviously, this is only free for the Emiratis and not for expatriates. The medium of instruction is Arabic and emphasis is given on the English language. Segregations of boys and girls are generally not prevalent in the pre-secondary standard, but a surmounting possibility post-secondary. You can also find a list of public schools in the United Arab Emirates for your reference.

Private schools provide a number of curricula covering:

  • American
  • British
  • French
  • German
  • Indian
  • International Baccalaureate
  • Pakistani
  • Filipino
  • Russian

Arabic language classes are compulsory for any curricula. Education can be divided into three broad classifications, namely:

  • Primary
  • Secondary
  • Tertiary

With the Emiritisation of the United Arab Emirates, the government has taken the initiative to involve all the natives of the UAE to take part in the country’s development. The Ministry of Education of the UAE is dedicated to help the Emiratis to take part in the education sector.

Higher Education in the UAE

Higher education in the United Arab Emirates can be broadly classified into:

  • Public
  • Private

Emiratis can receive higher education in public institutions free of charge. The UAE offers a wide range of higher education programs for the students. These include, among others:

  • Associate degree
  • Bachelor’s degree
  • Master’s degree
  • Doctoral degree
  • Vocational courses

Many colleges in the UAE are branches of international universities. Besides, some of the colleges headquartered in the country have their branches abroad as well. Global partnership is also quite common in the country. This has made higher education a varied affair there. The federal institutions generally cater to Emirati students who are seeking tertiary education. Private universities are affiliated to the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. The international branch campuses in the Free Zone, which are not accredited to the federal institutions, are generally accredited by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA). Students graduating from these universities can have their degrees certified by the KHDA for employment and other related purposes.

Technology Education in the UAE

The UAE Government has undertaken several significant steps to keep the country’s education at par with the latest improvements towards quality education. Upgrading their education system consistently has been the ingredient in taking education in the UAE forward with newer additions in the evolution. The UAE authorities have been improving their education by including the latest IT resources. For instance, one of their goals is to provide:

  • 1 computer to every 10 children in the kindergarten standard
  • 1 computer to every 5 children in primary schools
  • 1 computer to every 2 students in preparatory schools
  • 1 computer to every student in universities

The paperless classroom project has been a huge success in the UAE. Using the iPad for learning English has been one of the ventures of the project. Over 6,000 students were given iPads for this purpose at the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT). It was seen to have a positive effect on more than 80% of the students. According to Dr. Christina Gitsaki of HCT, “From our student survey we found that the teacher was still the top motivator in the classroom.” Now integrating technology into education cannot be successful unless the teachers are made fully equipped with relevant knowledge and skills. The Arab Bureau for Education in the Gulf States (Abegs) collaborated with the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) to accomplish this. This program would provide training to the teachers on the effective usage of technology and digital resources to implement the same in education.

With newer advancements in technology being administered in education, The UAE is not left behind in putting every resource to effective usage. Thus, they have been quite efficient in consistently upgrading the education system to keep up with the global standard.

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