Special programmes for developing future skills

TDRA Virtual Academy

Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) launched TDRA Virtual Academy, known before as the Smart Government Virtual Academy with the aim to provide training and learning courses in the fields of business, information technology and soft skills. The academy has more than 50 online courses available for free in the mentioned fields. Training services are provided in different formats which include on-site instructor-led sessions, virtual instructor-led, online sessions and self-paced training.

The SkillUp programme

SkillUp is one of the three main programmes of the Entrepreneurial Nation initiative; the other two being StartUp and ScaleUp. Launched in partnership with Emirates Schools Establishment and Bizworld, the programme aims to develop the national entrepreneurship landscape.

The SkillUp programme is divided into three categories. They are:

• The Student programme – it focuses on teaching the skills needed to establish and run companies, apart from other skills of the 21st century.
• The Volunteer programme – it offers membership in the Entrepreneurial Nation’s network of ambassadors, opportunity to participate in the Entrepreneurial Nation initiative’s events and a participation certificate, as well as the opportunity to provide mentorship to students and young entrepreneurs.
• The Teachers programme – it offers the above benefits and the opportunity to participate in an educational trip to Silicon Valley in the United States.

SkillUp has four tracks in its first phase. They are:

1. Skillup Start – it targets students from grade 8 to 12 of all nationalities
2. SkillUp Enable – it aims to instil business management and development skills in entrepreneurs who own micro-enterprises and enable them to optimise the management and sustainability of their projects
3. SkillUp Compete – it features competitions where the best and most creative start-up ideas will be selected to receive integrated support for growth
4. SkillUp Experience – it provides opportunities for internships, fellowship programmes and other similar programmes.

One Million Arab Coders

In 2017, H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched the ‘One Million Arab Coders’ initiative, an educational platform that offers free exceptional programmes for individuals interested in developing their digital skills.

Being the largest of its kind in the Arab world, the initiative aims to empower one million young Arabs with the essential future skills required for the labour market by learning coding, the language of the future.

The initiative has four tracks: front-end web development, data analysis, full-stack web development and Android development. Under the initiative, 1000 students will get high-level scholarships in one of the four tracks, the first winner will get a prize of USD one million and the first ten ranked students will get USD 50,000. Register for the One Million Arab Coders course.

Betha scholarship programme

ICT Fund’s initiative Betha (scholarship) provides scholarships to Emirati students to specialise in telecommunications and information technology, including computer engineering, electronic engineering and computer science. The initiative comes as a by-product of the growing demand for the UAE’s national human resources specialised in the telecom sector and related fields. ICT Fund has invested massively in the Betha programme to award hundreds of undergraduate and master's degrees at prestigious UAE and international universities.

Related links

• Brochure on Betha (PDF, 1 MB)

Smart Dubai’s 'EDAAD’ scheme

The Smart Dubai initiative launched its ‘EDAAD’ training programme to train new graduates from various universities across the UAE to equip them with the skills they need to engage effectively with Smart Dubai’s operations. The five-month programme aims to enhance the productivity levels of attendees and provide them with the capacity to be innovative and creative.

EDAAD includes the training of graduate students on the most important international projects. Areas covered include the basics of software development, knowledge of data structures and algorithms, project management and business analysis. The scheme has also been designed to teach soft skills such as interpersonal communication, presentation skills and teamwork.

CoDI

Centre of Digital Innovation (CoDI) was created to enable the digital journey of both the UAE’s citizens and the Government. The centre achieves this through innovation, research, education, training, skills development, seminars, quality assurance and consulting services. Read about CoDI.