Event held under the patronage of His Excellency Minister of State for Higher Education,
with participation from 19 academic institutions
Under the patronage of His Excellency Dr. Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education, the Ministry of Education convened a workshop with representatives from 19 public and private universities from across the country. The objective of the workshop was to support the second phase of the national program to integrate entrepreneurship and innovation into the curricula of higher education institutions in the UAE.
In cooperation with Stanford University, this program was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, during UAE Innovation Week in November 2015. Subsequently, academic institutions introduced courses focused on entrepreneurship and innovation into their curricula beginning in January this year.
Commenting on the importance of this initiative, His Excellency Dr. Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi noted, “One of the strategic objectives of the Ministry of Education is to prepare university graduates who are ready and able to meet the rapidly changing needs of the job market. We recognize that in order to achieve this goal, we must constantly review and improve academic curricula that enables students to expand their horizons and find innovative solutions to the challenges they will face.”
His Excellency also emphasized the government's commitment to creating an ecosystem that encourages students to explore their entrepreneurial spirit and provides them with the knowledge and skills to become future job creators.
“Developing educational curriculums that incorporate entrepreneurship and innovation will support the UAE in its transformation into a knowledge economy, helping maintain its global competitiveness over the next decade,” he added.
The workshop, hosted by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation, provided an opportunity for university representatives to share success stories from the first phase of the national program and discuss ways in which to improve integration of entrepreneurship and innovation in higher education going forward.
Key takeaways from the workshop included the importance of embedding entrepreneurship and innovation across entire university curricula to create a broader learning environment that fosters novel approaches to problem solving.
19/06/2016