In September 2017, Ministry of Education launched the National Strategy for Higher Education 2030. The strategy sets out to build and achieve the highest scientific and professional education standards to serve the UAE’s future generations.

The strategy seeks to provide future generations with the necessary technical and practical skills to drive the economy in both public and private sectors. It also aims to prepare a generation of Emirati professionals to sustain growth in vital sectors such as knowledge, economy, entrepreneurship and the overall development of the UAE’s labour market.

The UAE Government set four main pillars to achieve this strategy: quality, efficiency, innovation and harmonisation. The Strategy also identified 33 key initiatives to support the implementation phase. These include:

• The National Quality Framework initiative aims to develop assessment-based standards capable of taking into account the different local needs while applying an effective quality control system.

• The Transparent Classification of Outputs initiative seeks to establish clear classification mechanisms that apply to all institutions and to publish quality reports to ensure transparency.

• The Expanded Professional Experience initiative will provide a variety of career training programmes to students such as on-campus work, job shadowing, joint ventures and vocational trainings.

• The Investment in Knowledge initiative aims to increase the number of Ph.D. students by increasing support for postgraduate funding and creating incentives to pursue higher education by ensuring attractive job opportunities.

• The Competitive Research Funding initiative will create a platform to provide funding for research in vital sectors and stimulate the collaboration between higher education institutions and the private sector.

Read news coverage about the launch of National Strategy for Higher Education 2030.