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Right education, right direction: Making UAE's youth stand out

Projected growth of the GCC student population

In an increasingly globalised world, today's youth will face a rising volume of competition in everything they set out to achieve. But, as the saying goes, knowledge is power, and world-class education can give emerging generations the key to knowledge.

Today, 31 per cent of the UAE population is under the age of 25 and over the coming 15 years, the MENA region will see its youth population hit 94 million, putting pressure on job markets and other areas of the economy.

Already, the World Bank is warning that 2009's youth unemployment rate of 24 per cent in the MENA region was one of the highest in the world and more than twice the rate of the over 25 bracket.

Whereas once leaving the region could provide a path to greater opportunities, today that option is less straightforward.

In a post-crisis Europe, too many young people and too few jobs has caused an average unemployment rate of 23 per cent. Analysing the evidence, the UN concluded in its state of world population 2014 report, that the under 25 age group is the most affected by global economic crises.

Yet such a stark prognosis of increased competition and insufficient opportunities, doesn’t mean to say today’s under 25s don’t have the world at their feet.

The question is how can the UAE’s three million young people skill up to stand out? The answer is education.

In response to the changing world, education has evolved dramatically. The total number of students in the GCC region is expected to grow from an estimated 10.2 million in 2011 to 11.6 million in 2016, a compound annual growth rate of 2.7 per cent.

Educational facilities are receiving more investment, more international universities are opening branch campuses in the region and flexibility in enrolment and courses are opening up even more avenues of opportunity. In higher education, there is no time like the present.

Schemes such as “accelerate your degree”, offered by Middlesex University Dubai, allow prospective students to begin their first year studies as soon as this month and progress to year two in September 2015.

For thousands of young people higher education doesn’t just mean accelerated learning and improved employment prospects, but the opportunity to see the world.

The courses offered by Middlesex University Dubai are the same as those taught to students at Middlesex University’s London campus, and transfers are available to students who wish to experience the original London campus, which dates back to 1878.

The campus, which opened in January 2005, has over 2,500 students from over 90 nationalities and offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in a wide variety of subject areas.

Projected growth of the GCC student population to 2016, at 2.7 per cent CAGR

Middlesex University Dubai offers over 20 undergraduate programmes in areas of study including media and communications, health and education, tourism and hospitality, accounting and finance, business management, marketing, engineering and information sciences, law and politics. With five of these programmes starting in both January and September.

From its home in Dubai Knowledge Village, an educational hub established in 2003, Middlesex students have the opportunity to participate in Dubai’s wider student community.

The institution prepares its students for their professional life as a skilled individual, by providing challenging academic programmes underpinned by innovative research, scholarship and professional practice.

Coached by Middlesex University’s 50 highly qualified and experienced academic staff, graduates are fitted for the modern world, committed to lifelong learning and able to contribute to the communities in which they live and work.

Middlesex University is a global university committed to meeting the needs and ambitions of a culturally and internationally diverse range of students.

In 2015, to ensure opportunity is open to as many prospective students as possible, Middlesex University Dubai offers a scholarship of up to Dh60,000 if eligible and enrolling before January 25, 2015.

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