The British University in Dubai Receives AED 200,000 Grant from Emirates Foundation to Review Career Aspirations of Emirati Children
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Recent analysis by senior educational experts reveals a distinct gap between the number of male and female Emirati teachers in public schools.
Senior Lecturer of the Faculty of Education at the British University in Dubai, Martyn Quigley, has been awarded a substantial grant of AED 200,000 by the Emirates Foundation to collect and publish findings on the career aspirations of Emirati youth.
"It is encouraging to receive such strong support for the independent research conducted at the university," said Dr. Abdulla Al Shamsi, Vice Chancellor of BUiD.
Al Shamsi added: "The ultimate aim of this project is to facilitate the country's goal of increasing the number of Emirati teachers by 90 percent over the next decade."
Statistics released by the Ministry of Education reveal that male Emirati teachers constitute only 11 percent of total number of teachers in government boys' schools nationwide. Human resource and educational experts believe a key influencing factor is the availability of qualified expat teaching resource at lower wages.
Spearheading research-based higher education, BUiD's educational faculty encourages students pursuing master's programs in education to examine challenges faced in the country's educational sphere and determine alternatives to improve the system.
Quigley will be heading an independent two year research project to identify the key career aspirations among Emirati youth and the primary influences that support or alter individual career goals.
Part of the project will include collecting data from two separate sets of Emirati students, fourth graders and eight graders, to recognise popular career goals shared by younger students and uncover the period when children drift away from their early ambitions to other fields.
"It is crucial to understand at which age and because of what particular influencing factors, children drift away from their career goals," said Quigley. "This will enable counsellors, teachers and parents to offer proper guidance for students to make rational decisions about their vocational paths."
Quigley added: "Often when students decide on a particular career, they are unaware of the level of education required to support those ambitions. This lack of awareness then leads to discouragement and a shift in professions."
BUiD will be working closely with its partners and government educational authorities on collecting primary data and aims to release initial research results by the end of this year.
-Ends-
About British University in Dubai
The British University in Dubai (BUiD) is the Middle East's first research-based, postgraduate university. The University was established to facilitate access to world-class education, training and research in the Middle East. BUiD aspires to the highest, internationally recognized British standards as reflected in its partnership with the University of Edinburgh, the University of Birmingham, the University of Manchester, Cardiff University and the Cass Business School at City University, London. Each has a five or five-star rating in the UK national Research Assessment Exercise that signifies research of international standard.
The not-for-profit university offers full and part-time Masters Degree programmes and Continuing Professional Development courses in Education, Finance and Banking, Human Resource Management, Information Technology, IT Management, Project Management and Sustainable Design of the Built Environment.
All BUiD's current Masters Programmes have received Accreditation Eligibility Status from the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research's Commission for Academic Accreditation.
The founders of the University are the Al Maktoum Foundation, the Dubai Development and Investment Authority, Rolls-Royce, the British Business Group and the National Bank of Dubai. The University is governed by a Council under the chairmanship of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
The Emirates Group, DUCAB, Atkins, Dubai Duty Free, Hyder Consulting, the Emirates Foundation, DUGAS and Deyaar are supporters of the university through financial contributions or the provision of scholarships.
For further enquiries call BUiD on +971.4.391.3626, www.buid.ac.ae
© Press Release 2009
