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UAE: Higher education facilities, academic programmes in universities to be restructured

Authorities are currently reworking the Arabic language, graduate studies, and general university education courses

Published: Tue 5 Apr 2022, 4:33 PM

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UAE Ministry of Education (MoE) to adopt plans to restructure academic programmes in universities, focusing on developing and improving outputs, achieving advanced global classifications for a more significant number of higher education facilities.

Dr Muhammad Yousef Baniyas, Advisor to the Ministry of Education and director of the Commission for Academic Accreditation, said, "Plans to restructure the academic programmes in universities are in progress for specialised programmes.

"We are currently working on a project to restructure academic programmes and colleges, where the commission has completed the four basic medical programmes, including medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and nursing, engineering, education, and law, administration and commerce in all the university branches."

Baniyas noted that they were currently working on restructuring the Arabic language, Islamic studies, humanities, graduate studies, and general university education courses (first-year courses for students), as well as information technology.

“In addition, our future plans include working on the remaining programmes, especially scientific disciplines (physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics), as we have not yet begun to restructure them,” he said.

The education official explained that the restructuring includes improving the admission requirements, so that the English language, mathematics, and scientific subjects are a prerequisite for studying certain academic disciplines, while the Arabic language is a condition for the disciplines taught in it. From this, it is required that a student studying law should be of high level in Arabic language.

Baniyas added that the restructuring plans include relying on the Emirates Standardised Test (EmSAT) because it is a standardised test among all public schools with 20 different curricula.

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The restructuring plans include the curriculum so that it is of depth, with solid exams, and assesses the level of the student in addition to the life skills.

It also involves practical training mandatory in all disciplines, with not less than 16 weeks for most specialities and up to 80 weeks for medicine, during the study.

Regarding professional licensing, Baniyas stressed that universities are required to monitor the performance of graduates after they graduate in the exams to practice the profession.

It is necessary for universities to have advisory committees for each specialisation, through which universities communicate with partners and employers.

Officials have stressed that the national accreditation of universities is the basis in all countries globally, as it makes it an accredited educational institution. This also gives it a legal character to work in the country, noting that the Ministry of Education encourages universities to obtain international accreditation to achieve universality and attract international students.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com



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