Education experts in the UAE have predicted fewer scholarships and less financial aid for students who want to go abroad for higher studies.
Sally Jeffery, partner and Middle East education leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, a consulting firm, said getting scholarships will get difficult now as authorities are becoming selective while choosing candidates.
In past years, students could get a scholarship if they got an entry at a university in the top 200 in the world. But, that's not the case now in the UAE or the Gulf countries.
“We have already seen a reduction in the number of students travelling overseas and the degrees that qualify for scholarships are changing,” she said.
Every year, tens of thousands of students from the Middle East travel overseas for education on partial or full government bursaries.
Regional governments have become selective in giving out such grants as they want more students to study in local universities.
The coronavirus pandemic has put additional pressure on local governments to cut back on their overseas educational bills after heavily investing in setting up local universities and colleges.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation estimates show close to 11,500 students from the UAE studied abroad in 2017.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain offer financial aid to eligible native candidates to study abroad.
Scholarships are given to residents and citizens in these countries to study in local universities.
In the academic year 2016-2017, there were 92,470 students from the Middle East enrolled in American universities in the US, down from 100,926 the year before, according to the Open Doors Report on the International Educational Exchange.
These numbers are likely to dip further, said experts.
"In past years, students could get a scholarship if they got an entry at a university in the top 200 in the world,” said Ms Jeffery.
"But, that’s not the case now in the UAE or the Gulf countries. There is a much narrower list and Covid will probably accelerate this even further.
“They [governments in the GCC] have invested a lot in national education systems.
"Why would they fund students going overseas when there is a perfectly good programme run by one of those top-ranked universities locally?"
The liberal financial aid could be replaced by merit-based scholarships and subsidies, innovative and flexible funding models, said experts.
Maya El Hachem, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group, said the downward pressure on scholarships for overseas studies will continue.
"Governments themselves are facing difficulties and they cannot fund the full journey of students," she said.
The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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The stats: 2017 Jaguar XJ
Price, base / as tested Dh326,700 / Dh342,700
Engine 3.0L V6
Transmission Eight-speed automatic
Power 340hp @ 6,000pm
Torque 450Nm @ 3,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.1L / 100km
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Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
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- Torrijos Palace dome
From exhibitions to the battlefield
In 2016, the Shaded Dome was awarded with the 'De Vernufteling' people's choice award, an annual prize by the Dutch Association of Consulting Engineers and the Royal Netherlands Society of Engineers for the most innovative project by a Dutch engineering firm.
It was assigned by the Dutch Ministry of Defence to modify the Shaded Dome to make it suitable for ballistic protection. Royal HaskoningDHV, one of the companies which designed the dome, is an independent international engineering and project management consultancy, leading the way in sustainable development and innovation.
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What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
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The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
Company profile
Company name: Nestrom
Started: 2017
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● Company: Bidzi
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
