Abu Dhabi // Among the exhibition stands at the Building Future Education Mena show yesterday was a tantalising glimpse of the hi-tech future of the emirate's government schools.
After more than a year of research, involving Abu Dhabi academics, teachers, principals and pupils, Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) has designed a model for new school buildings to cater for future generations.
Fifteen are scheduled to open next September - and they will house boys and girls in the same buildings.
"There will be a wall to separate them," said Hamad al Dhaheri, director of infrastructure and facilities at Adec. "But the schools could actually be mixed." Facilities will be shared, but genders will be separated.
They are the start of a massive expansion of the school system. According to Mr al Dhaheri, Adec plans to build 100 schools within the next 10 years.
The first of those, currently under construction, will have a community area where pupils of different ages will mix. This, said Mr al Dhaheri, will help all pupils, because "different kids from different year groups will be able to learn from one another".
Science labs and art studios will be close to the classrooms where those subjects are taught, for ease of movement in and out of classes.
"There are no corridors, and we have a learning community," said Mr al Dhaheri. "These are so there is more one-to-one interaction between teachers and students, and for the teachers to have better control over their classes."
Mazen Chouihna, the facilities design officer at Adec, pointed out one feature that would help discipline. "Teachers will have their own station, and with the usage of interactive white boards, will have their eye on the kids, rather than having her back to them."
The schools will have a "learning community" area, where up to five different classes can come together at once.
"It is like one giant classroom, children are almost imprisoned in current classes," said Alberto Treves, head of educational facilities design at Adec.
"Why should you have only 20 kids to one teacher in one class, when you can put more kids together and more teachers?"
To ease that sense of "imprisonment", traditional wooden doors will be replaced with glass, "so the students can always see what is going on outside. The doors will be bigger, too, taking up half the total wall space. Teachers can take the group of students and work in these areas, or play."
The new schools will also ease the transition from middle school to high school by bring the age groups together. "Now these students can be combined, they will be able to work together and help each other in their education," he said.
The schools will be greener, too. At the new Abu Dhabi West on Khaleej Al Arabi street, the roof will be a solar panel, and there will be green gardens in the lobby.
"There is so much sunlight in this region, we ought to use it," said Miceal Sammon, the chief executive of Sammon group, which is working with Adec on the construction of the school. "We want to make schools cool for children, especially for this region in the world. Within the next 10 years, there will be two million more students in this region, and a need for 6,200 schools, we need to start fast.
"Emirati children here should feel privileged that the government is spending so much money on them. Children in other countries would have to pay a lot of money for this."
With construction well under way on the schools due for next year, designs for the next batch, to open in 2012, are being drawn up. "They will be the same," said Mr al Dhaheri. "They are just more cost effective."
osalem@thenational.ae
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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Credits
Produced by: Colour Yellow Productions and Eros Now
Director: Mudassar Aziz
Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Jimmy Sheirgill, Jassi Gill, Piyush Mishra, Diana Penty, Aparshakti Khurrana
Star rating: 2.5/5
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
