Tuesday January 31st 2012 - Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) employees now have full access to the latest publications in the field of education through a new ADEC ‘E-Resources Research Portal,’ launched in September 2011.

The portal contains subscriptions to five major databases for a wide range of media: journal articles, e-books, newspapers, dissertations and theses, country reports, case studies, video seminars, and citations and abstracts, amongst others.

All 15,000 ADEC employees can now have full-text access to over 11,000 journals and 70,000 books from more than 500 publishers, approximately 1.2 million dissertations and theses, and more than 2,000 newspapers in 54 languages from 95 countries, in addition to many other forms of media.

Speaking about the initiative, Dr. Rafic Makki, Executive Director, Office of Strategic Affairs at ADEC said: “This project will help empower every single staff member, whether a policy researcher, curriculum developer, urban planner, school principal, or teacher with nearly unlimited amounts of up-to-date and authoritative information on the latest literature and best-practices in education, as well as cater to their professional development needs.”

Interested candidates signed up for a two hour training session to learn how to access/use the portal throughout a three day workshop held at ADEC on Thursday January 26th, Sunday January 29th and Monday January 30th 2012.

“The mission of the portal is to promote and encourage ADEC staff to engage in research to better inform their work and professional capacities, and to build their e-literacy and research skills by developing the ability to better evaluate the reliability of general and online resources, and the tools required to engage in that process” continued Dr. Makki.

“In addition, it builds an foundation within ADEC for one of the priorities of the Abu Dhabi Higher Education Strategic Plan, which is to build and maintain a research ecosystem to drive an innovation-based economy by fostering an environment of scholarship and discovery.”

“The whole idea is to go beyond public information, often unfiltered, and retrieve credible and updated information and news on education or any other field.  For instance, individuals can access dissertations and theses written by doctoral candidates all over the world.  These are valuable resources for any of our staff who may be considering furthering their studies, who are already engaged in their studies, or who wish to read only the abstracts to gauge trends and gain general information on a particular topic related to their work.” added Dr. Makki.

The portal contains publications by the world’s largest and leading publishers.  Publishers include organizations such as the OECD, World Bank, UNESCO, US Department of Education, and WHO; private publishers such as Economist Intelligence Unit, Elsevier, Routledge, McGraw-Hill, and Taylor & Francis; and University Presses of Oxford, Cambridge, University of Chicago, Yale and Harvard, amongst many others.

Edexcel Educators’ Summit (EES): UAE spend of $ 2.7 billion on education in 2010 constituted 22.5 percent of its budget

Dubai, UAE, 21st November, 2011: Edexcel Educators’ Summit (EES) 2011 held last week at Al Bustan Rotana Hotel in Dubai, concluded with a firm message to Educators and learners in the Arab World: “If you assumed learning is always found in a book, think again”

The summit emphasised that attitudes to education must change along with the importance of tailoring the educational offer to the needs of the individual learner and more focus on developing a broader skill set for students as the region seeks to shape a new generation of creative high achievers and entrepreneurial thinkers that will drive innovation and possess the ability to compete in the global workplace.

These messages were reinforced several times at the two-day summit which was attended by schools, colleges and institutions from all over the Middle East & North Africa as well as local governments and businesses from the region.

In his address at the summit, H.E Dominic Jermey, UK Ambassador to the UAE, said: “The UAE places great importance on education and the UK education brand is well respected in this country. UK awarding bodies have played an important role in the UAE, both in developing qualifications and sharing UK knowledge and experience. The recent development of a National Qualifications Framework in the UAE will open up more opportunities for these organizations. Following last week’s Edexcel Educators’ Summit, we look forward to successful outcomes and continued partnerships between the two countries.”

According to UNESCO Institute of statistics report for 2008, UAE is ahead of many GCC countries in the average public expenditure on education as part of the total expenditure which stands at 23.4 percent against 11.7 percent to Bahrain, 12.9 percent to Kuwait, 19.3 percent to KSA.

Maria Sundin, organiser of the Summit and Regional Business Development Manager at Edexcel said: “EES is Edexcel’s flagship event in the region. We were very satisfied with the results of the summit, and we are glad that educators from regional schools took an active part in the sessions focused on improving their educational offer and tailoring to regional needs like employability. ’The summit stressed on the need of collaborating to provide personalised learning, enhancing the student experience and academic achievements to deliver relevant and stimulating qualifications of world class.”

Sundin further added: Delegates had a chance to listen to a session on the macroeconomic outlook on education in the region by MEED Middle East who stated that UAE’s educational spend in 2010 reached $2.7 billion representing 22.5% of its annual budget, which is a big chunk of the budget and this really symbolizes UAE’s commitment to investing in and developing its education sector.

The summit served as a platform for Edexcel to launch their new International Diploma and Edexcel’s vocational qualifications for schools that provide a practical, real-world approach to learning alongside a theoretical background. Also launched at the summit, were the Edexcel International Primary and International Lower Secondary Curriculum allowing schools to benefit from full a full Edexcel suite starting from Primary School through to Secondary School encompassing a full learning progression pathway.

Mr. John Rynsky, Assistant Principal, Kuwait English School who participated in the summit said: “We got to know about the changes happening in the UK education sector and their potential impact on what we are doing in the Middle East. Also, we learnt about achievements of BTEC and how to leverage on its wide appeal in the GCC. Students here had misconception that vocational education is only for those who don’t have a better option.”

S. Padmini, Assistant Director, Academics, PEEVES Group of Schools, said: “We have a network of schools in the KSA and this summit helped us to know better the UK curriculum as we are planning to open schools in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. The summit gave us insights on feasibility and viability of starting such a project of opening schools in the Arab world.”

Mrs. Ghada Tabikh, Al Murooj School, Abu Dhabi said: “We came to the summit to know better about changes taking place in primary and lower secondary curriculums in the world. With the global downturn, education is a key industry to invest into. We learnt about economic and geographic changes and the future of education.”

With radical and innovative educational reforms and world class systems in place, the Middle East education systems are striving to groom future generations to work in global economies. As a result, Edexcel Educators’ Summit 2011 addressed schools’ needs for providing a rigorous knowledge base as well as developing workforce behaviours such as team work, global citizenship and innovation.

Edexcel is the leading awarding body and is part of Pearson, the world’s leading learning company. Pearson offers academic and professional qualifications, teaching and learning resources, digital solutions, content and assessment. Pearson works with thousands of schools, colleges, employers and other places of learning globally and reaches over 85 million learners to help more people make progress in their lives through education.

Abu Dhabi, November 10th, 2011 - H.E. Dr. Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, Director General of Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), said that preparing students to become productive citizens who abide by values and morals is a common responsibility of school and parents. Students must be independent and active learners who are capable of shouldering responsibility.

Dr. Al Khaili visited Mohammed bin Khalifa School, Al Zaydia School and Al Ghadeer KG in Al Ain where he met both teaching and administrative staff, discussed issues related to education and received their feedback.

During the visit, Dr. Al Khaili said that students’ absence negatively affects the planned number of school days as well as their attainment and achievements. “As our major partners, parents should support students in learning the value of time and meet learning and discipline expectations since their early childhood in order to become independent and productive citizens,” he added.

Extended school day aims to improve student outcomes in English, Arabic, Math and Science in order for them to join higher education institutions without the need to take foundation programs which eats up 30% of the HE budget, Dr. Al Khaili indicated.

“Being the key to elevate school performance and improve student outcomes, ADEC is keen to develop the skills of teaching as well as administrative staff through providing them with top quality training programs and necessary resources,” the Director General said.

Al Khaili indicated that ADEC will conduct a survey among merged schools to identify the preferences of teachers regarding transfer to other schools without affecting the teaching process.

“ADEC will consider the proposal raised by some C1 schools to seek the knowledge and experience of retired educators to deal with student misconduct issues”, he added.

Dr. Al Khaili emphasized the importance of creating an optimal classroom environment as a key to encourage students to actively participate in the
learning process. “ADEC’s New School Model, which is scheduled to be implemented across all schools in the emirate during the coming few years, will help Abu Dhabi schools meet the highest international standards” he explained.

Providing quality education comes on top of our prudent leadership priorities as it will help achieve the goals of Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 aiming at developing a knowledge-based economy.

During his visit, Dr. Al Khaili discussed the possibility of rolling out the merging of C1 male and female student and providing C1 students with a more attractive uniform.

Celerant YouGov Poll finds that only 45% in UAE and KSA think sustainability is very important

A YouGov poll has found that only 45% of people in work think sustainability is very important for their businesses and is frequently considered in decision making (UAE: 51%; KSA: 38%). Furthermore, just under one fifth (17%) said they felt sustainability was of no importance and that it was rarely or never considered in decision making.

The poll, commissioned by Celerant Consulting in October 2011 surveying over 1,100 respondents in the UAE and KSA, also highlighted concern over the perceived cost of putting sustainability at the heart of business strategy. 80% of those polled said that cost was a barrier to the implementation of more sustainable practices in their organisation.

Over three quarters (76%) admitted to not knowing exactly how to implement a more sustainable direction for their companies with just under one third (31%) having little or no idea.

The YouGov poll was commission by Celerant Consulting, which has offices in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Muscat, to coincide with a talk on sustainability being given this evening in Abu Dhabi by HRH Prince Carlos de Bourbon Parma. HH Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, UAE Minister for Higher Education and Scientific Research will open the event.

Ian Clarkson, Founder and CEO of Celerant Consulting, said: “Attitudes and practices towards sustainability have come a long way over the past decade but there is still a long way to go. Organisations are facing pressures on both sides from those who want more environmentally-friendly operations and those who want increased cost-savings and profits.

“Sustainability does not have to mean a hit to the bottom line. At Celerant we are finding that companies which embrace sustainability see greater certainty in cost management and the sourcing of raw materials, not to mention the benefits to customers and their recruitment efforts. Education is urgently required to demonstrate the importance and benefits of sustainability. Added to this companies need help in implementing sustainable practice.”

Abu Dhabi, : In its efforts to transform education to align with international standards, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) is moving from the traditional way of managing education to a more transparent approach, whereby decisions made by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) are based on concrete and accurate data that will result in good decision making.

Those were the words of HE Dr. Mugheer Al Khaili during his tour visit at Building Future Education (BFE) MENA and BETT Middle East 2011 yesterday.

“The ADEC has introduced a lot of its initiatives today, ones that were a dream for ADEC exactly two years ago. Now ADEC is sharing its achievements and first steps with students and teachers, and there are still a many more achievements to come. Abu Dhabi needs to be recognized as among the number one educational system in the region, and eventually internationally, because we believe we are heading in the right direction, and that is towards a knowledge based economy,” said Al Khaili.

Speaking about his opinion on public-private school partnership, which was the most talked about topic discussed by various speakers during BFE’s day one conference, Engineer Hamad Al Dhaheri, Infrastructure & Facilities Division Manager, ADEC said: “Even though the partnership model between the public and private sector is still  developing, we are witnessing an improvement in their willingness to work together in different areas, such as on the school curriculum, standards, quality of teaching, and licensing for teachers.”

When asked to clarify the situation across the reducing number of public schools in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Al Dhaheri explained that ADEC is closing down smaller schools and building more efficient schools. “We are reducing the number of public schools but have an overall student growth by almost three percent.”

Mr. Ahmed Al Hammadi, Senior Analyst and Co-Manager for the i-Class project at ADEC , spoke about the i-Class enhances the New School Model (NSM) while presenting the paradigm shift required to more fully realizing ADEC’s learning objectives.

“During BFE MENA there was a high level of interest in how ADEC approaches technology embedded curriculum in classrooms and schools. Students and teachers found themselves fully engaged in digital learning tools and content presented at the model classroom,” said Mr. Mehrer.

A common agreement among speakers at the conference on “Education Facilities and Design” was the notion that “education is moving forward in great stride, requiring a new curriculum, new school models, new technologies and new methodologies.”

During his presentation on “Infrastructure and Facilities Division Design Section” Mr. Alberto Treves, Section Manager for Education Facilities Design, ADEC, spoke about ADEC’s latest achievements in delivering 23 schools, that we started planning and designing in 2009.  Such schools have been benchmarked against the highest international standards and they follow the directions from the higher authority about our school buildings to be appropriate for learning, sustainable, easy to build using cost effective construction methods.”

“2011 was of big achievement for the facilities division in general. We strengthened our communication with educators by receiving feedback on how to manage and administer a school, and how to better use each educational space, and how to integrate schools with the surrounding community. ADEC introduced for the first time, a girls and boy’s school under the same roof, brought down some of the fences around schools, and achieved the highest level of sustainability of any public building in Abu Dhabi. ADEC continues to improve its design manuals which are now translated into Arabic, again for the first time, with continuous updates based on a set of lessons learnt mostly coming from the construction process,” said Treves.

Etisalat and Intel are taking part at the BETT Middle East for the first time this year. Asked to give their intake on how their experience went during BETT, Abdulla Ebrahim Al Ahmed, Senior Vice President, Business Solutions at Etisalat, said: “At Etisalat we believe that ICT can be harnessed for sociological and economic development of the country and Etisalat is proud to lead the education sector through innovative solutions and applications. Our association with BETT reinforces our commitment towards enhancing the education infrastructure in the UAE through advanced ICT deployments.  The 21st century has created both challenges and opportunities for schools and educators. Not only have the opportunities to benefit from technology increased, but the benchmark for an acceptable level of education has also been raised. I invite all members of the education sector to take full advantage and use our modern technological services to help them achieve a knowledgeable and prosperous future.”

Dr. Sabine Huber, EMEA Pedagogical Consultant, Ecosystem Manager, Intel said:  “Intel is contributing at BETT ME for the first time, and intend on contributing next year as well. Our aim through contributing is to achieve local and global presence. We have products especially designed for the education market worldwide, and this is not the only contribution we can provide. During the past two days, we have received a lot of question regarding our products from education delegates, ministers and teachers. We are currently undergoing a pilot project with ADEC through providing the Intel learning series with hardware, software and content services, which are all relevant for the schooling process in the Emirate.”

Investments, infrastructure, innovation among issues to be addressed by leading international education experts and stakeholders

Abu Dhabi, UAE, 25 October 2011 – Leading education experts, stakeholders and VIP’s from around the world are attending this year’s edition of Building Future Education MENA including HE Mohammed Ahmed Al-Bowardi, Secretary General to the Executive Council; HE Dr. Ahmed Gamal El-din Moussa, the Minister of Education in Egypt; HE Dr. Mugheer Al Khaili, Director General, ADEC; Dr. Ahmed Tobal, Associate to Minister of Education for ICT; in addition to many senior international, Middle East and GCC delegates.

In partnership with Abu Dhabi Education Council, Building Future Education MENA will host more than 80 companies and 4,000 visitors, providing a unique platform for education providers to highlight their products and services to key decision makers from institutions, ministries of education council operators, architects and investors.

Regional and international speakers from leading organisations including University College London (UCL) Wellington College, Harrow International, Abu Dhabi University, Phillips Academy Andover, SABIS and The World Bank will be speaking at high-powered conference and leading panel discussions to address challenges and opportunities confronting the education sector in the region.

Currently, the Middle East region comprises over 92500 public educational institutions and 50 million students with education budget amounted to 55 billion dollars.

Yet experts believe that the Middle East is a region ripe for even further growth and massive investments in education – to accommodate a growing school population expected to increase to 2.5 million in 2020.1

With schools under pressure to provide Arab youth new job skills and better learning for better employment opportunities, developing education curriculum and programmes as well as workforce systems will be critical in addressing record youth unemployment rates across the MENA region, where one out of four young people in the age range of 15-24 who are able and in search of employment faces the disappointment of not being able to find a job.2

HE Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, Director General, Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) believes joint collaborations are critical to achieving improvement of educational standards and service delivery.  “We have supported BFE MENA for three years now and are delighted the event continues to be an important platform where various stakeholders can discuss and address issues related to school environment, curriculum and school improvement, quality assurance, special education requirements and sustainable educational facilities.”

Andrew Pert, Regional Director of UBM Middle East, organisers of the region’s premier education exhibition, welcomed ADEC’s continuing support.  “Through BFE MENA, we have from the onset committed to working with regional stakeholders in developing the whole school environment to world-class standards – from the physical infrastructure to curriculum development and programme enhancement.  In addition, with the help of our knowledge partners, we have provided a wealth of information resources that investors and government authorities can use to make informed decisions to develop the education sector throughout the region.”

As well as an interactive exhibition floor, this year’s Building Future Education MENA will include a public awareness programme, high-level roundtable forums, and “Design my Learning Space Live!” competition.

The main conference will bring together those at the forefront of education from ministries, institutions, operators, architects and investors. The conference features in-depth panel discussions, based around specific research studies from Building Future Education MENA’s Knowledge Partners Booz & Company, Parthenon and RAND Corporation, assessing the education market in the GCC and areas of potential investment. 

The conference will also cover key topics such as world-class facilities and learning environments, curriculum and school improvement, quality assurance, special education needs and sustainable education facilities.

Building Future Education MENA will also have strong representation from the MENA region’s education ministries and councils including United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Jordon and Lebanon.

1 A Decade of Opportunity: The Coming Expansion of the Private School Market in the GCC (Booz & Company, 2011)

2 Education for Employment: Realizing Arab Youth Potential (International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group and Islamic Development Bank Group, 2011)

IDEAS introduced to support UAE Ministry’s student-centric strategy for 2010 to 2020

October 5, 2011

GETEX Autumn, the Middle East and Asia’s leading education, training and professional development event, has been positioned to complement the exponential growth of the Dubai’s education sector, which now has more than 40,000 university students currently enrolled in the emirate and at least 52 higher education institutions from just a few universities 10 years ago. GETEX Autumn will be presenting multiple options of graduate and postgraduate degrees from leading academic institutions around the world, as the event has been strategically timed to assist students looking to enrol for courses starting early 2012.

GETEX Autumn 2011 will hold its first leg at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre from October 26 to 28, while the concluding leg will be held at the Gulf Hotel in Manama, Bahrain from October 31 to November 1. This year’s edition will focus on distinct areas of higher education, targeting a much wider range of students and young working adults who are keen to explore their study options or looking for specialized courses to keep abreast with the growing competition in the global job market.

Anselm Godinho, Managing Director, International Conferences & Exhibitions (IC&E), organisers of the event, said: “GETEX Autumn 2011 provides an excellent platform to help higher secondary and undergraduate students explore their options for further studies or training. We are particularly excited to have launched the IDEAS forum this year. IDEAS which stands for ‘Innovation, Design & Engineering Arena’ is an active display of Occupational Education achievements intended to motivate aspiring Students into vocational trades.”

A diverse option of postgraduate courses that are now in great demand in the Arab World will be on offer at GETEX, including popular programs in engineering, medicine, HR, marketing & communications, humanities, natural resources, business, finance, research, accounting, languages and management. The more popular occupational course preferences such as architecture and interior design, aviation, fashion, graphic design, hospitality, photography, teaching and technical programs will also be available at GETEX Autumn.

Dubai, UAE, September XX, 2011-

Highlighting its dedication to children’s education, McDonald’s UAE partnered once again with Beit Al Khair Society for a charity campaign aimed at educating orphans this Ramadan, raising a total of AED 200,000.

The campaign encouraged McDonald’s customers to buy specially created children’s books that were developed by McDonald’s UAE. A series of four books based on different topics related to Ramadan were sold for AED 5 at McDonald’s restaurants across the UAE during the months of August and September. All proceeds accumulated were donated to Beit Al Khair Society.

Mr. Rafic Fakih, Managing Director, McDonald’s UAE commented, “We are very pleased with the results of this book campaign. We are happy to see that our customers across the UAE have contributed to the charity campaign. Not only does this benefit the orphans at the Beit Al Khair society but it also benefits the children reading the books as they learn about relevant themes such as the importance of charity and fasting. McDonald’s UAE is proud of this longstanding campaign and hopes to renew it in the years to come.”

Abidine Taher Alawadi, Managing Director, Beit Al Khair said, “ We are grateful for McDonald’s UAE’s donation as it will help many of our orphaned children with their education. We aim to use our donations in the most efficient way in order to ensure a better future for all of the children.”

The Prime Minister of the UAE on Sunday said education and Emiratisation were two key priorities to be tackled by the government.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, also the UAE’s vice-president and ruler of Dubai, said both areas represented “a national responsibility” to achieve “the aspirations of the people of the UAE and ensuring their welfare and decent living”.

Sheikh Mohammed made the comments while addressing the cabinet at a meeting, state news agency WAM reported.

The cabinet approved the UAE’s education agenda until 2020 and the three-year strategy of the National Human Resources Development and Employment Authority (Tanmia) for 2011-2013.

The education agenda will be based on the betterment of student achievement, development of the school environment, guaranteeing of equal educational opportunities for all students, programmes for promoting patriotism among students and the enhancement of administrative efficiency and effectiveness in the Ministry of Education.

The agenda also sets 10 major goals and contains a large number of initiatives for achieving them, WAM said.

The initiatives include filling the gap between the private and public education, restructuring the education system, it added.

The strategy also includes a project for licensing educational authorities at private and governmental levels across the country. A total number of 1,190 schools, among which 61 percent are government schools, will be covered by this scheme.

The approval of the 2011-2013 Tanmia strategy sets specific goals for reducing unemployment among UAE citizens and rolls out plans for continuous training and empowerment of the local workforce to enable them for job relocation and actual participation in the job market by filling of jobs in the private sector.

Activity highlights fasting tips for diabetic patients and healthy eating habits to be followed during the Holy month

Abu Dhabi, 22 August 2011

In line with its Ramadan program, Al Rahba Hospital hosted a special education activity in a tent built next to the hospital main entrance. The activity welcomed over 150 visitors from different age groups and highlighted health topics such as controlling Diabetes in Ramadan, healthy eating and fasting tips. The goal of the activity was to reach out to the general public about the importance of monitoring health and regulating eating and fasting during the Holy month and to ensure optimal lifestyle benefits during fasting.

A team comprised of doctors, nurse educators, dietitians, nurses and the Patient and Family Education committee team members interacted with the patients. Handouts and healthy cooking recipes were distributed to the patients and the doctors made sure that the patients’ questions about do’s and don’ts in Ramadan were answered.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Nellie Boma, Chief Medical Officer at Al Rahba Hospital said, “Ramadan is a time where people have the chance to regulate their eating habits and monitor their dietary intake. There are a number of steps that can be followed to enjoy a healthy Ramadan, and Al Rahba will ensure that this message reaches a large segment of Abu Dhabi residents. We are working closely with SEHA to launch several health campaigns during the Holy month.”

One of the topics discussed during the event was the consumption of caffeine. Although there’s an urge to stay awake for long hours during night in the Holy Month, caffeine drinks like tea, coffee, and cola should be taken in moderation as caffeine is a natural diuretic, stimulating faster water loss. This effect will remain until the following day.  Anything that is heavily-processed is also not going to give the body everything it needs to stay healthy. 

“Caffeine intake, healthy meals for diabetic patients and a long list of health tips to follow during the Holy month were major parts of this event and received a vast interaction from the audience.  We’re reaching out to the community to ensure that healthcare needs are met during this holy and spiritual month, and we wish everyone a happy – and healthy- Ramadan,” Dr. Boma concluded.

The 163-bed hospital in Abu Dhabi, UAE, is managed by Johns Hopkins Medicine International and owned and operated by Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC (SEHA).