UAE universities must overhaul their courses and teaching methods to keep pace with artificial intelligence and the rapidly changing demands of the jobs market, the acting Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research has said.
Dr Abdulrahman Al Awar called for closer collaboration between universities and industry. He warned that emerging technologies were transforming the skills employers require and creating an urgent need to rethink how students are taught.
He was speaking at the Zayed Education Foundation’s Partnerships for the Future event, in Abu Dhabi, where 12 institutions came together to strengthen collaboration and expand opportunities for home-grown scholars.
“Economies and job markets are undergoing a radical and rapid change, and it is happening at a very rapid pace,” Dr Al Awar said. “New technologies, including artificial intelligence, are creating new opportunities and changing the skills that the market needs.
“Fundamental changes must happen in engaging higher education institutions and economic sectors and redesigning the curricula and the skills of both faculty and students.”
He said the ministry’s Outcome-Based Evaluation Framework was challenging universities to meet those demands and become more competitive in shaping the future of higher education in the UAE.
“The UAE vision for higher education is centred on creating a vibrant higher education ecosystem that is future-ready, globally competitive and connected to the needs of our students, our economy, and our society,” he said.
An updated guidebook for the framework was released earlier this year following consultations involving 735 representatives from higher education institutions across the country.
Hopes for future
Change has not just been called for from the top, but also by students. The National spoke to two Ruwwad Zayed Scholars about their hopes for the future of higher education.
Noor Odeh, a UAE resident from Jordan, is a member of the first cohort of the masters scholars and is studying computational data science at Khalifa University. She scrapped her plans to study at an Australian university to stay in the UAE.
“I want to be a changemaker. So it's not just the degree that I got excited about when I was accepted [for the scholarship]. It was more that will get to do something for my community because I will receive guidance,” she said.
She believes the future of higher education will rely on hands-on experiences and skills rather than grades and metrics.
“We need to put less focus on numbers like GPA [grade point average], and more about the skills that you're learning. What has helped me the most was not just the knowledge that I got from my degree, but the skills that I gained,” Ms Odeh said.
Fellow Ruwwad Zayed Scholar Jassem Alkhoori is studying digital transformation at Zayed University. He agrees that higher education needs to be agile and keep pace with technological development.
“I think currently the education system follows guidelines that are very outdated. Now that AI is actually overtaking most simple tasks such as screening papers, I think there should be more education on how to use these tools to help with research,” he told The National.
Hidden talents
The push for a competitive higher education sector has accelerated in recent years and has taken major steps since the founding of the country's first university, the United Arab Emirates University, 50 years ago.
Zayed Education Foundation hopes to create opportunities for 100,000 students by 2035 and recently announced the first cohort of 50 Ruwwad Zayed Scholars – exceptional Emirati and Arab students who will pursue master’s degrees at universities in the UAE.
Saeed Al Nazari, secretary general of the Great Arab Minds initiative – which recognises and empowers exceptional Arab scholars, scientists and innovators – told The National that the talented minds from the region must be nurtured.
“With whatever happening around us – conflicts, news, social media, AI – sometimes we even forget to look up to our people in this region who are doing brilliant stuff,” he said.
“This region has always been part of the momentum to move educational research forward globally. The good thing is that we have so many people who are willing to invest in knowledge economy. We just sometimes need to connect the dots.”