Scholarships Category: Higher Education

Posted By: Suad Alhalwachi Professional of education zone
» July 14, 2010 01:04:13

It is July, and like every year, this is the time higher education scholarships of the various ministries and other sponsoring bodies are advertised and worked on. Each year around 1000-2000 UAE students travel abroad to further their education. most if not all of the undergraduate students require preparation, English is the first thing and then Foundation programme in some countries, A levels, SAT 1 and 2, is the norm, afterwards some students are enrolled on their own in any university that accept them, in a programme of their choice, or their parents choice, or their peers choice. None of the programmes are synchronised with the labour market and the future needs of the country, and none of the students are tied to contract in case of failure etc. Also in terms of follow up, there is minimal or no follow up what so ever. The government spends millions over millions on these scholarships and the outcome is not very clear. Also the government has various organisations based overseas in the countries that the students frequent, and these organisations are also funded heavily. Of course the aim is obvious, we want an educated population, fair enough, but shouldnâ��t we have a clear idea of what is going to happen when this educated population come back? Did they actually receive the right education, are we not saturated in the fields of business and finance, and suffer a huge shortage in other fields? Are the schools helping the students find their potential? Are we training them to be our future mathematicians, scientists and our future artists? Are we thinking of improving our school system so we dont spend money on the first two years of the student life? As he or she will graduate faster, and also we will have a better quality employee. What I am saying here is that the government need to think and very quickly of the following items: 1. Do we need to have cultural attaches who place students at overseas universities? Can this job be privatised so the government saves the money and spend it in other more pressing projects? 2. Can the school system be improved to allow the student to be university ready? We do not need to re invent the wheel here; most private schools are churning out university-ready students, so why canâ��t the public sector do this? Other counties\' public sector schools are functional and are working really well, why can we not follow suit? 3. Can we counsel the student and find what his real ambitions are? Can we teach them how to prepare their admission portfolio? Some students never heard this word, which is a real shame? 4. Can we privatise the follow up of the students, or insist that the university provides a greater follow up and pastoral care? 5. Some members of the ministries are not up to standard and in actual fact are harmful to the student as they are not educated and have no idea what ranking means. So shouldnâ��t the scholarship bodies choose the right staff? Or else just privatise the job to companies who spend all their time checking and working hard to have a greater dialogue with universities? 6. Shouldnâ��t the government find out what the labour market needs and to align its scholarships to further improve the nationalisation of jobs? I know that I may sound edgy, I donâ��t mean too, I feel sad however when i find some things are not spent on, and other things are deprived.