Education sector presents significant opportunities for partnerships

Education has been a top priority in the UAE since the federation was established, and continuing investments are being made in the education sector throughout the emirates. In Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) is working with the Ministry of Education to promote privatization in the education sector and to upgrade standards.

The ADEC’s Public-Private Partnership for Public School Management program, launched in 2006, enables leading local and regional private-education providers to manage selected public schools; international provider Nord Anglia Education was chosen to manage several schools.

Suppliers of technology and equipment for the education sector are also finding a ready market in Abu Dhabi. ADEC recently selected Alpha Data, one of the UAE’s leading systems integrators, to deploy nearly a thousand HP computers across 20 government schools in Al Ain. Through efforts like these, Abu Dhabi is steadily upgrading its network of public schools.

The emirate is also home to several world-class international primary and secondary private schools, including the American International School. Expatriates from all over the world can be certain their children will have access to an excellent education in Abu Dhabi.

Leading universities

Leading universities in the UAE include United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain and Zayed University, which has campuses in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Fast-growing recent entrants to the educational marketplace in Abu Dhabi include Abu Dhabi University, Al Hosn University, and Abu Dhabi branches of France’s Sorbonne and of New York University, which will accept its first students in 2010.

The prestigious European business school Insead, which has campuses in France and Singapore, has opened a center for executive education and research in Abu Dhabi, offering both company-specific and open-enrollment programs for executives. A British entry into the Abu Dhabi education sector is Cambridge Executive Education, which has a contract to deliver programs to Abu Dhabi’s Department of Civil Service.

Abu Dhabi’s Plan 2030 calls for transforming the emirate from an oil-based to a knowledge-based economy, and the future will certainly bring continued investment in education as well as more foreign entries to the local education sector.