Under the chairmanship of Hamdan bin Mubarak, the Coordinating Council for Higher Education holds its second meeting

The Coordinating Council for Higher Education and Scientific Research held its second meeting on Tuesday, 16/9/2014, under the chairmanship of His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Chancellor of United Arab Emirates, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Abu Dhabi.

To carry out its tasks and achieve the goal of its establishment to coordinate related actions, programs and functions between the official institutions of higher education in the State, and between the Council and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, and unify the speech through the Council to the concerned authorities in the country, this meeting, after studying the topics and the ideas put forward by the members, produced several recommendations, most importantly, the re-study of the foundations and mechanisms for setting the budgets of universities with the provision of clear justification and specific applicable recommendations, and the comparative re-study of the salaries of faculty members with focus on the universities in the State. It has also been instructed to submit the plan of the working group in charge of studying the capacity of universities and solutions for unaccepted students.

With regard to scholarships provided by the public universities of different countries, the Council recommended to submit a proposal by both Zayed University and the Higher Colleges of Technology during three months to identify the grants that can be offered in different disciplines, and that the two universities send a letter to the private universities to explain the importance of scholarships, and urge them to provide annual seats for the concerned countries.

The Council adopted the calendar for the two academic years 2015/2016 and 2016/2017, and a report on the situation should be provided after one year, and the Council members agreed on the need to send a proposal on the foundation program for public universities and wait for a reply regarding the foundation year, the appropriateness of the subject for them, and the agreement on reducing the foundation year to one academic year.

The Coordinating Council concluded its work with the emphasis on the importance of activating its role as a liaison with the UAE Cabinet, and it directed the public universities to its roles into account, in addition to the emphasis on the importance of activating the system projects used as a tool to follow up on the work of the teams emerging from the Council, and the proportions of the completion of initiatives, projects, and assignments.

The meeting was attended by His Excellency Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of International Cooperation and Development, President of Zayed University, His Excellency Mohammed Omran Al Shamsi, Chancellor of Higher Colleges of Technology, Dr. Abdullah Al Maghrabi , Director of Studies and Research Department at the Ministry of Presidential Affair, Dr. Saeed Al Hassani, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research , Dr. Ali Al Noaimi, Vice Chancellor of UAE University, Dr. Tayeb Kamali, Director of Higher Colleges of Technology, and Professor Reyadh Almehaideb, Vice-president of Zayed University, Dr. Mansoor Al Awar, Chancellor of the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, Dr. Ghaleb Awad El-Refae, the President of Al Ain University of Science and Technology, and Mr. Hamza Kazim, Vice-President of Masdar Institute, Prof. Mohamed Albaili, Deputy UAEU VC for Academic Affairs (Provost), Mr. Saif Al Mazroui, Assistant Undersecretary For Institutional & Support Services at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.