The UAE ranked 40th
in the United Nations Human Development Index in 2014, maintaining its position
in the last year among the 187 countries included in the index, which measures
the performance of countries according to several criteria, which are, the
quality of life and health, standard of living, knowledge accessibility, and
education accessibility, including higher education, and it is a rank achieved as
a result of the constant follow-up of His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak
Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, on providing
programs and educational services in accordance with the international standards
of quality and excellence, as the Ministry’s mission is to reach the highest levels
of excellence in higher education and scientific research outputs, and
contribute to the achievement of the knowledge society and human development in
the State through the provision of educational programs and services, as per
the international standards of quality and excellence, and the Ministry has made
significant strides in ensuring the quality of higher education, and has
developed a long-term strategic plan to achieve its goals.
According to the
United Nations Human Development Index in 2014, education accessibility is
measured by calculating the average number of years of education among the
adult population, which is the average number of years of education received by
the age groups of 25 years or more, and the years of education expected for the
child since they first enter school.
High-quality education
is considered a cornerstone in building the knowledge economy, hence the Ministry
was keen to continue improving the educational outcomes and bridging the gap
between the needs of the labor market and what is produced by the institutions
of higher education, which contributes to strengthening the position of the UAE
as a knowledge-based economy.
The result of index is
also attributed to the commitment in the application of standards of purposeful
education, as the UAE has spared no effort to invest in the humans, and it has
paid great attention to humans through investing heavily in the education
systems over the past years, so it has allocated a percentage of total
government spending for education, which reminds us of the words of his
Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime
Minister, Ruler of Dubai: When the appropriate circumstances are made available
to the Arab man, he becomes able to provide civilizational achievements, because
this region is a region of civilizations, and it is able to provide knowledge contributions
for mankind. It is destined to create a civilization.
It is noteworthy
that the United Nations Human Development Index is one of the many sources of
data used in The Learning Curve Report, the analytical comprehensive report on education
systems being developed by Pearson and the Economist Intelligence Unit, and the
report is intended to help learners, teachers, and governments to identify the
elements of effective teaching, and it shows the relationship between the
education sector and economic growth, which connects between the productivity
of a particular nation and the average time spent by students at school.
28/08/2014