The Education System in the UAE- An Overview
Introduction:
In the year 1970, education was confined to the urban areas of the UAE. Thus, if an individual was looking for higher education, they had to travel abroad. An efficient education system was put in place with the establishment of the United Arab Emirates. One of UAE’s highest priority has always been education and continues to this date. New educational initiatives are being launched at all educational levels. Additionally, some of the world’s best universities are creating programs in the UAE, thus attracting talented students from all over the world.
UAE Education System:
- The UAE education system is divided into three categories, i.e. public schools, private schools, and higher educational institutions.
- The public schools follow the Arabic curriculum while the private schools follow 15 different curriculums.
- Schools that follow national curricula from the U.K, U.S, India, and the Ministry of Education (MoE) cater to a total of 90 percent of the private school student population.
- Other curricula's include International Baccalaureate (IB), French, Canadian, German, Japanese, etc.
In the UAE, both primary and secondary education is free and compulsory in public schools for boys and girls. The main medium of instruction is Arabic, and there is equal emphasis given on the English language. Usually, in the pre-secondary standard, there is no segregation of boys and girls. However, this practice is prevalent in the post-secondary standard.
Many private schools in the UAE offer some curricula covering:
- American
- British
- French
- German
- Indian
- International Baccalaureate (IB)
- Pakistani
In addition, Arabic language classes are compulsory for any curricula.
Higher education in the UAE can be classified into Public and Private. Many Emiratis receive higher education in public institutions free of charge. The UAE offers a broad range of higher education programs for students such as an Associate’s degree, Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, Doctoral degree, and Vocational courses.
Furthermore, many colleges in the UAE are branches of international universities. Besides, many UAE colleges have their subsidiaries headquartered internationally too, as a global partnership is something which is very common.
The Emirates are exceptionally well endowed with tertiary education institutions. Some of the leading state-sponsored educational institutions include the United Arab Emirates (UAE) University, Zayed University, and Higher Colleges of Technology. Additionally, there are a number of excellent vocational and technical centres as well.
Conclusion:
The United Arab Emirates Government has undertaken several significant steps to keep the country’s education on par with the latest improvements towards quality education. They’ve made sure to upgrade their education system consistently, thereby taking education in the UAE forward with newer additions.
