This might seem at first to be a non-question. The role of schools is to provide children with skills for later life and higher education is an essential element of each child's development. The UAE has opted for an English-medium tertiary education system, so surely it is the responsibility of schools to produce students with the language skills to take degree courses taught in English.
This policy rests on a belief that a highly educated bilingual community with good English-language skills is essential for success in the modern globalised economy. It also reflects a belief that the cutting edge of knowledge is published in English and only students who have studied in English will have access to such knowledge.
At present, because the standard of English achieved by students in public schools is in general inadequate for university, the Ministry of Higher Education spends roughly 25 per cent of its budget on university foundation programmes in English. This has brought pressure on schools to improve the level of English teaching, and is one of the principal motivations for such programmes as Madaris Al Gaad (Schools of Tomorrow) and the Public-Private Partnership project in Abu Dhabi, aimed at doubling exposure to English by teaching maths and science in that language.
There is no doubt that language proficiency is a factor of the time devoted to learning and using it. However, I doubt that just doubling exposure to English will achieve the necessary gains required. In addition, the consequences for the Arabic language need serious consideration.
Let's take, as an example, Singapore, which has opted for English as the medium of instruction throughout schools. This produces many (but by no means all) students proficient enough in English to continue at university, but it means that their first language ("mother tongue") is taught as a school subject, much in the way that English might be taught as second language.
The consequences for mother-tongue literacy are serious, particularly since the requirement for a mother-tongue qualification for entry to university was dropped. This year, for the first time, a majority (55 per cent) of children entering primary school reported English as their first language. After just over 30 years of English-medium education, English is in effect the first language of Singapore.
The move to English-medium education is also taking place in the UAE. More than 40 per cent of Emiratis send their children to private schools, largely so that they can go straight on to English-medium degree programmes. But what effect will this have on the children's Arabic? One of my students carried out research comparing the written Arabic skills of 13-year-old Arabic-speaking children in a private English-medium school (a "bilingual" group) with those studying in a private Arabic-medium school. The written output of the bilingual group was appalling; they were hardly able to string together 150 words in half an hour, much of it with unacceptable spelling and grammar.
The socio-linguistic and socio-political consequences of a move to more English-medium instruction really need to be seriously researched and considered in a wider context than the narrow goal of university entrance.
The way forward may be to continue with English as a curriculum subject as part of a rich offering of different subjects to develop the rounded citizen. The goal should be to enable the school graduate to perform general social and life functions in English and provide a base for later development for those who require it. By making the goals more achievable, the curriculum can concentrate on activities that encourage the use of English through interesting, enjoyable lessons, rather than the cramming for university entrance examinations such as the Common Educational Proficiency Assessment, which is the case at the moment.
As regards cost, which seems to be one of the main motivations for increasing the presence of English in public schools, surely it would be more cost-effective to concentrate resources on the selected group of students who need an advanced level of English for study, rather than diluting the same resources throughout a school population with mixed motivations and goals.
To add to this, there already exists a highly competent and experienced group of teachers working at the foundation level of the different tertiary institutions, and these institutions now have a wealth of experience in improving students' English skills. This expertise represents a great deal of investment over the years, which would be squandered if the foundation programmes were disbanded in favour of increased language learning in schools. These programmes can also be closely related to the specific subject skills required by the different institutions, something that cannot be done in general school English classrooms.
Thus, I believe the arguments are clear on both the social and financial levels for the maintenance of foundation language programmes in higher education institutions, along with the development of a school curriculum that concentrates on the production of well-rounded, well-balanced citizens. Within such a programme, English should not be given priority to the detriment of Arabic.
Mick Randall is a former dean of education at the British University in Dubai
Company profile
Company name: Dharma
Date started: 2018
Founders: Charaf El Mansouri, Nisma Benani, Leah Howe
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: TravelTech
Funding stage: Pre-series A
Investors: Convivialite Ventures, BY Partners, Shorooq Partners, L& Ventures, Flat6Labs
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
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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.”
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Bookshops: A Reader's History by Jorge Carrión (translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush),
Biblioasis
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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