Changes in demand have led the UAE government to make arrangements for the needs of the parents and growth of better customer service in the education industry. Visit customerservice.ae

1. Is the Education Sector of UAE Serving Its Customers Well? Part 2
There are many factors that are leading the government as well as the private sector to come up with
reforms and measures that lead to an improvement of the education industry of UAE. The UAE industry
as we can see is facing great diversity in the education industry, with unemployment rates going up
especially for the nationals of the UAE.
The expats due to their global exposure and innovative and skill oriented knowledge have gained an
edge over the Emiratis and end up capping the best private jobs. The expats are able to understand
global companies better and their education curriculum is stronger than those that the Emiratis get.
Factors that are influencing growth of the Education sector and hence demanding better customer
service
Globalization of Education
An increase in the income levels of the nationals along with the expats has led the UAE to create better
quality services since people have become more aware and expect a better standard and quality of life
than they had before. One of the needs that have largely grown due to this is the global awareness that
people have come to have and also the urbanization that has resulted due to increasing income levels of
the parents and students.
Since parents have now become more aware of education and know the value of high quality education
and strong curriculums they have started investing in education more than before and a higher rate of
parents now demand that their child studies in private institutes so they can meet the growing
challenges and market demands.
Parents now pay greater attention to key contributors like the quality of the teacher and their level of
skills, the standard and repute of the university as well as e extra activities and learning exposure
schools provide. These changes in demand have led the government to make better arrangements for
the needs of the parents and growth of better customer service in the education industry.
If the UAE’s education sector fails to provide its nationals with high quality education, then that is a poor
service to begin with and can create a lot of problems for its economy in the long run as well as
increasing reliance on expats for business decisions.
Private education development
Private education has seen a growth in the last decade which has led to the improvement of the
education sector since the high income levels and growing numbers of expats in UAE demand for it. The
government has also given a lot of incentives and encouraged the growth of the private education in
UAE.
We can see two major factors that control these efforts to increase the private institutions; one factor is
the disparity between the employment levels between the expats and the nationals of UAE. The expats

2. are given preference for private companies as well as Multinational companies, whereas the
government jobs are for the nationals.
This has increased the level of unemployment of UAE and hinders the goal of UAE becoming a stable
economy which isn’t based on oil profits. This influenced the government to increase the private sector
involvement in the education sector, since the government feels the private sector will be able to
contribute quality experience and standards to schools of UAE.
We see this as being beneficial to the education sector goals since the private sector will be able to
increase the quality of the education and set bench marks for the private as well as the government
institutions.
The UAE government has tried to give the private sector incentives to participate in the industry, by
giving free land and grants etc. Numbers show that students enrolled in UAE’s private schools increased
from 45.0 % in 2000 to 71.7 % in 2010, which is a clear demonstration of the private schools
development and competition with the Emiratis universities that believe they have no competition.
The government is showing a lot of positive effort and involvement in the education sector and has
come up with different reforms to measure progress and monitor change. UAE created a “five-point”
strategy to improve the quality of education.
What experts and professionals have to say about the education in UAE
“Since its formation, our nation’s leaders have consistently supported the importance of higher
education in order to produce a strong knowledge economy and also young leaders of tomorrow. As a
result, the UAE has developed a world class tertiary-level educational system and infrastructure. Today,
there are several higher education options in the UAE which are of international quality and standing,
including the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT). HCT has nearly 20,000 male and female students
enrolled in 17 campuses throughout the country, who learn in a technologically sophisticated
environment that encourages independent and life-long learning skills necessary to success in a fast
changing world. HCT graduates are eagerly sought by employers as they are capable of operating
effectively in today's global business environment. Our graduates make significant contributions to the
sustainable economic and social development of the country”.
Dr. TayebKamali
Vice Chancellor, Higher Colleges of Technology
“Quality education is one of the key forces in enabling the growth of GCC countries. The education
sector is set to grow, keeping with the economic growth as well as the population growth being
experienced by the GCC nations. While there are several private schools delivering quality education,
the growth in higher education options is a more recent phenomenon and also has a lot of growth
potential.

3. Private operators in the education sector face a number of challenges due to a regulated fee structure,
high set-up costs, rising real estate costs and increasing salaries of quality teachers recruited from the
international market. Attention from the regulatory body in addressing these challenges will provide a
further boost to the education sector”.
PoonamBhojani
Chief Executive Officer, Innoventures Education
“The education sector in the GCC is witnessing a period of tremendous growth. Rising population, higher
income levels and an increasing awareness of quality education has resulted in a positive outlook for this
sector. While a number of challenges like shortage of skilled teachers, high initial investment and
running costs exist for investors, the education sector continues to be an attractive investment option.
Although the private school market across the GCC is highly fragmented, it still offers significant
opportunities for new investments and ample room for consolidation for existing players”.
RohitWalia
Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Alpen Capital Group
The education sector needs to provide better skill set education
Technical skills have become compulsory to master in today’s competitive age, where companies look
for expertise and vocational training before hiring an employee. This is not only important as good
education service but also for the growth of a country’s economy, since innovation and technical growth
is what provides companies edge over another and helps them improve their own services as well as
their growth in the sector.
UAE has faced many challenges when it comes to providing its citizens with vocational training which
has become a back draw in their growth for excellence in education. Technical skill sets lack which
affect the employment levels of nationals once again and make it harder for them to compete. Officials
are trying to come up with ways to increase skills set by involving private and foreign companies, and
having them help in improving vocational training.
Challenges increasing for 2022 World Cup and Dubai World Expo
The 2020 Qatar world cup is one of the biggest events Qatar has ever hosted and educational experts
and teams are getting together to plan this huge event and bring the best out of it. Management is lined
up with plans and strategies to set the ground for such a large event.
As the plans move forward educational experts are demanding for a skilled team and workforce to
match the standards of the plan, creating a need for experts in construction and tourism industry. This
has even led to an increase in the demand for skilled laborers who will be required for the extensive
infrastructure projects set forward for the world cup. This has led to an increase in the need for

4. professionals, especially engineers and architects, who already lack in the work force by great numbers,
creating a challenge for the industries.
The problem of lacking a skilled force has also spilled into the needs of the World Expo, which has
selected Dubai as one of the forerunners in the competition to host the event. The event will be
attracting a prediction of 25 million people visiting the Emirates of which 70 percent will be from the
outside of UAE.
Mr Mark Andrews, the regional director of qualifications for Pearson, a highly famous and reputable
education company, said that projects planned for the world cup 2020 will lead to an increase in the
demand of innovative and skilled workforce.
“There is little doubt that these events will be a substantial economic boost to both Qatar and the UAE,
and lead to more jobs for both citizens and expatriates. However, the challenge will be finding enough
staff to fill these new positions in a job market already suffering from a skills shortage. We need to start
to focus on equipping more learners with the skills and qualifications necessary to fill skills gaps in the
construction and hospitality and tourism industry”, said Mr Andrews.
"Pearson conducts regular industry consultation with employers who have told us they find it difficult to
hire new employees with the competencies they are looking for, such as strong communication and
English language skills, as well as IT literacy and knowledge of workplace etiquette", He added
Mr. Andrews went on discussing the need of training the employees do they go be qualified enough to
meet the gap in the education and employment sector. He mentioned a recent global study by Pearsons,
which look at the lack of connection between the education system and workplace requirements.
Study: Effective Education for Employment Program
The study showed that UAE graduates were not up to the mark of their employers and lacked in skill set
and innovation that was required by them. The study also discovered that the basic and most wanted
Skills the employees demanded were; “Commitment, an ability to manage well, disciple in terms of
delivery and personal accountability.”
"Pearson's BTEC qualifications have been developed in conjunction with industry to better fulfill
employer requirements. BTECs have a balance between traditional theory and practical application of
newly learnt knowledge, with assessment based on scenarios learners will typically encounter in their
future careers. This has made BTEC graduates much sought after by employers throughout the GCC and
beyond", commented Mr. Andrews.