Rensil D'Silva: How to Make it in Bollywood Education in the Gulf ...

EDUCATION
Education in the Gulf
the UOWD perspective
Development and diversity are the words that come to mind
when University of Wollongong in Dubai’s president muses
about higher education in the UAE.
by: Professor John Whelan
UOWD at Dubai’s Knowledge Village
I
came to the UAE a little over a year ago, to take up the position of
President at the University of Wollongong in Dubai. As the ‘new
boy in town’ I had a lot to learn, both about the history of my
own University and about the rapidly evolving higher education
environment in Dubai, and in the UAE more generally.
The first thing that strikes you in the UAE higher education environment
is diversity. There is a wonderful diversity of university students studying
here – over 100 countries of origin in UOWD alone! Indian students are a
feature of many university campuses in the UAE. There is a wide diversity
of staff too – with 35 nationalities at UOWD. This diversity adds to the
excitement and reward of living and working in Dubai.
Although many UAE Nationals choose one of the public institutions,
many attend private Universities – including UOWD. In addition, many
foreign students in the UAE are expats living here; some families have
been here for several generations. Among the students coming here to
study from other countries, India,
the GCC and non-GCC Arab
countries dominate. However,
we also have international
students from places as far afield
as Australia, the West Indies,
China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan.
This diversity is evidence of
the great progress being made in
establishing the UAE of as a ‘hub’
for world class higher education
in the Middle East region. This is
undoubtedly an objective in the
UAE. The Abu Dhabi Education
Council, for example, has a
vision of being “recognized as a
world class education system that
supports all learners in reaching
their full potential to compete in
the global market”. To this end,
this Emirate has invited some
prestigious overseas Universities to
establish campuses in that Emirate.
Earlier this year, UOWD
hosted a research symposium on
“Business Clusters: a Source of
Innovation and Knowledge for
Competitive Advantage”. At this
symposium, Dubai’s aspirations of
becoming a world class education
hub were presented by the
Director of Dubai’s ‘Knowledge
Village’ Ibrahim Jamel. Dubai’s
strategy differs from Abu Dhabi’s
Professor Robert John Whelan, President of the University of Wollongong in Dubai.
‘‘Diversity adds to the excitement and reward of living and working in the Gulf.’’
in that they are encouraging many universities from overseas to establish
branch campuses in education Free Zones, such as ‘Academic City’ – to
co-locate many higher education institutions in a cluster.
You might say that the UAE’s range of higher education options
is as diverse as the potential student population. There can be no ‘one
size fits all’ marketing approach in this heterogenous society. There
is no one size fits all teaching approach either. Some students are
already in full-time work and want classes after hours, some commute
to us from as far away as Oman and Abu Dhabi and they would prefer
weekend classes, others are more traditional full-time day-time
students. Also, students in Dubai come from a bewildering array of
high school backgrounds – CBSE, ISC and a myriad of Indian State
Board curricula, Pakistani Year 12, GCE ‘O’ ‘AS’ and ‘A’ Levels,
International Baccalaureate, American High School, Australian Year
12, Arab High School.
Some higher education institutions in this
region see their place as simply delivering a niche
‘product’ – say a business diploma – and no more.
This gives their graduates a qualification that may
have international ‘currency’, but not a campus
experience nor other less tangible benefits of
studying at a traditional university, such as being
taught by staff who are actively involved in research,
and engaging in activities that engage and benefit the
local community.
The first big issue I had to deal with, as the new
President of UOWD, was brought to me by the
Manager of our Marketing Department. He wanted
to know: “Why are our degrees not recognised in
other GCC countries?” “Are they not?” was my
initial response. His reply was: “Well, they are in
th
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ANNI V ERSARY
some countries in the region, but
not all.”
I was surprised, because
UOWD has been operating in
Dubai for 16 years. Moreover,
it is an independent, private
institution licensed by the UAE
Ministry for Higher Education
and Scientific Research, along
with 57 other private institutions
in the UAE and the three national
tertiary institutions: United Arab
Emirates University, Zayed
University, and the Higher
Colleges of Technology. Our
21 degree programs are among
the 454 programs accredited by
the Ministry’s Commission for
Academic Accreditation (the
‘CAA’).
I soon found out that this
national accreditation process
creates a clear distinction
between branches of foreign
Universities that have set up in
the Emirates, the majority of them
in education Free Zones, mostly
in Dubai. The Knowledge and
UAE’s range of higher education options is as diverse as the
potential student population.
34 The International Indian
The International Indian 35